Adventures in Metalsmithing, Part I - Dapping Tips

In an earlier post, I stated that I was a scaredy cat when it came to metal smithing. I’m intrigued by it, but wasn’t sure how I was going to apply it towards my own jewelry style. However, I’ve tried to take at least one class in every medium of every type of bead that touches my work bench. What better way to be able to explain to customers why something is special, why this was NOT made in a factory, how it IS made, and why it costs what it does?

After my last class last summer, I purchased a very basic metal smithing kit — a saw, solder, files, and a few things I wasn’t quite sure of. They sat in a box in the corner of my studio, quietly giving me a guilt trip. So when Sue Stockman’s next class rolled around this March, I signed up. Nothing better to force me to learn something new than to pay money for it!

One of the things I like about Sue Stockman’s class is that it’s very low stress. Most serious metalsmiths spend a LOT of money and spend hours upon hours being classically trained at reputable schools. Sue herself went to college for this. Me, this would completely not work for me. I was the kid in school who loved to read but completely rebelled at being told WHAT to read. I wouldn’t do well being told what to make and would subsequently really suck at it.

Sue’s class is billed as a three-day Jewelry Intensive. On Friday night, she showed us how to use a dapping block and punch, how to fuse, how to shape a bezel around a stone, how to solder the bezel, how to solder the bezel to a backing, how to fold form, how to use a hand drill, and how to use a pitch pot for repousse. Quite a lot. And then she set us loose to come back the next day to try our hand and creating whatever we wanted.

I had three objectives. All involved fixing mistakes from class six months ago.

First, I wanted to learn to use a dapping block without folding up my form into a mess. Secondly, I wanted to make a nice bezel. And third, I wanted to use a saw without breaking all the blades and without it looking like a hyena had been chewing the edges of the silver.

So, the dapping block.

I started with two circles of brass. I learned that my mistake from last class was putting the circle of metal into too small of a space in the dapping block (that’s a dapping block in the photo above, the thing with all the depressions). Metal wants to be stretched, not abused. So, the circle of metal started out in a large depression, and I put a large dapping punch (see the picture? the long stake with the ball on the end) on top of the metal and tapped gently with a hammer. Depending upon how deep a “bowl” you want, you progressively put the metal into smaller and smaller depressions.

Here’s where my first mistake was made. To texturize the top of the dome, you put the domed disc on top of the rounded part of the punch and tap around it with the ball end of a ball peen hammer, careful not to hit the edges of the disc so as not to distort it.

However, if you slip or hit your finger, that theory tends to go out the window. So I decided to make the edges organic (yeah, organic, that’s what I’ll call it).

I drilled a hole in the top and bottom of each disc, and gave them a patination bath. This is what the bright brass looked like afterwards:

Rather dark. (This is the inside of the domes, by the way.) I flipped them over and took #000 steel wool and brushed the tops, which left the dark color in the hammer “dings”, but brightened up the brass. I gave them the barest of swipes with a polishing cloth, and added ear wires that I made, and the glass bead dangles.

You can see the edges aren’t perfectly round — but I think that worked with the overall style.

I also didn’t hit the discs evenly with the hammer, so there’s not an even pitting, another effect that I actually was going for.

So that was my first elementary, rudimentary project! I have two more, much more complicated ones to write about, but I’m still finishing them up! So stay tuned!

Lori Anderson designs and blogs from her studio in Easton, MD. You can buy her work at her website, Etsy, and craft shows, and read more about her at her blog.

Mothering and Artisting

I have found motherhood to be a shock. Having those babies changed everything of course, but most intensely, my access to unfettered time. The things that allow me to write and make art — aimless wandering, shutting down my peripheral vision and attention, focusing intently on one thing for long stretches of time, immersing myself in experimentation and not surfacing until I’ve unlocked a puzzle — all these things scrape up hard against the immovable brick wall of motherhood.

Don’t get me wrong — being a mother has proven to be a crucial catalyst in my life, one I am daily thankful for. I’m certain nothing else could have kicked me into gear the way motherhood has, nor offered such richness to my life .

My good friend Chris D., trying to explain how his daughter changed his life said, “she’s the wind that has swept my life clean and what remains is what I truly care about.” I get that now. When that first baby was born and the unending lazy spool of time was jerked out of my hands, I had to look around and figure out what was worth pursuing, what thing was worth the miniscule thimbleful of free time I might have. What did I find once the brutal sleep deprivation phase lifted? I found that art was vital to my life. And I mean vital like it reads in the dictionary.

Reading this you might think I’m a new mother. I’m not. My boys are nine and nearly seven. I was under the misapprehension that they would need me less as they got older, but I’ve found it’s only the quality of the need that has changed, not the quantity. I struggle constantly to carve out the time I need to settle deeply into my work. While I’m lucky that I have a supportive partner, I always crave more time, am always thirsty for work on my own terms and in my own rhythm.

This relentless awareness of time and its relationship to mothering and art has given me a small obsession with artists who are mothers. My favorite is Ruth Asawa, a remarkable woman and hard working artist by any standard, who had six children. Six kids in nine years. Look at her sculptures! She worked from her home studio and raised her kids, often working while they slept. She was also very active in bringing art to public schools in San Francisco, co-founding the Alvarado Arts Workshop, and later working to make SOTA (School Of The Arts) a reality.

In my dark moments when the mothering piece of my life overwhelms, I think of Ruth Asawa, close my eyes and picture one of her sensuous wire sculptures and imagine her working and experimenting in a house full of sleeping children.

Terri Lovins works and experiments in her home studio in Seattle, Washington, where her own two boys sleep while she sometimes works through the night.

Lady in a dress…

“Lady in a dress”

Take one, take two, and take three!

Inspired by a picture my nephew showed me. An Elegant female, with a Goddess type Ora; titled “Soul”

take one…

Take two…

Take three….

The last one definitely conveys the feeling of the picture. The first two took on a story of their own. I am very happy with all three. Number four has a twist; I will photo in the next couple weeks. (You can check my other blogs for that; one at Myspace, and you can visit “Art talk with Sheila Morley” here on wordpress. I update my blogs at least two times a week. Some of the info. is the same, some different. Most of all, blogging has become another art to me.)

I now have an entire pile of pictures of Ladies from the Oscars. The dresses inspire different feelings. I have many ideas for the back ground of these cameo style silluette beads.

One of my favorite parts about practicing art for living, is the constant never ending ideas. We hope we get to be here long enough to explore all of the ideas.

Sheila Morley’s website is, www.sheilamorley.com. She sells her work at auction on Ebay, and fixed prices are available at Etsy, and at her website.

A Whack on the Side of the Head: Something to stimulate ideas!

Like many creative individuals, I sometimes run out of juice, mojo, inspiration, new ideas. Whatever you like to call “it” …a slump is always certain in a creative life. The thing is…how to pull yourself up and out of that slump. In this post, I’d like to share one of my fixes for reeving up my thinking cap. No, there is no magic wand (but a nice beaded one might be cool) just something you might like to try.

As I mention in my profile, I’m an art teacher by day & bead maker/jewelry designer by night. I’ve taught for nearly 15 years and have experience with all grade levels. During a period when I taught high school students (advanced painting & drawing) I noticed that everyones ideas were looking rather similar….no one seemed to be taking the leap and trying something new.

So I introduced them to a tool that I hoped would get them thinking out of the box. Its a deck of cards and a book called, A Whack on the Side of The Head, by Roger von Oech. Maybe some of you know about this already but for those who don’t…..go check it out. This deck of cards (or ball~ his latest toy) is a fun way to stimulate your creative thinking & help pull you out of that funk.

Recently, I used these cards & their messages to help get some ideas brewing. From the deck I selected Imagine You’re the Idea, Simplify, Be Whacky and Ask What If….Although these concepts are not entirely new, they helped me focus my thinking in specific directions. As ideas came to me I began sketching them into my sketchbook, on scrap papers and playing with loose beads on my bench. Not everything works out but you are most likely on your way to discovering something.

The “What If” card, one of my favorite cards, helped me use some left over beads I had on my bench after a busy holiday season. “What if” these were the only beads I had to make something with??? By limiting myself with just the things at hand, I came up with this funky pin!

The “Imagine You’re the Idea & “Be Whacky” card helped me conceptualize the Whacky idea of making a piece of jewelry that can be worn as a necklace or two bracelets. The sketches below are my plans for the idea & now I just have to create the piece and workout any problems.

I hope I gave you another tool you might try during those uninspired moments and some insight as to how I’ve used them. I don’t necessarily use this deck of cards all the time but they are a nice “toy” to stimulate thinking.

Linda

You can see more of my work at www.lindasbellabeads.com or read my blog at www.bellabeadjewelrybylinda.blogspot.com

Accident Prone Jewelry Design

I’m often asked by customers how I come up with my designs. For the most part, they come about by one of two ways — the beads speak to me, or completely by accident.

When I say “the beads speak to me”, I don’t mean in a spooky, “I see dead people” way. What I mean is, when I see a particular strand of beads, I almost immediately visualize what I can do with them. First come the beads, and the design follows.

My favorite way of creating, though, is accidental designing. I love being accident prone. The best way to be accident prone is to have a messy work space. The more beads you have occupying your space, the more chances you have of a collision happening.

Here’s an example.

I bought a stellar set of lampwork beads in my favorite colors, pink and purple. I thought I had it in my mind what I was going to do — a lush, full, cha-cha charm bracelet that was strung, full of sterling silver and crystal.

The same day the beads arrived in the mail, a packet of copper orchid charms arrived. They ended up carelessly heaped next to each other on the table. I glanced over, and oh wow. They HAD to go together, and RIGHT NOW!

This happened from that crash-bang-boom accident:

It’s not strung, it’s certainly not silver, but I couldn’t be more pleased. So even though I had a wonderful idea in my head, being accident prone can work out to be the path to the best designs.

Lori Anderson designs and blogs from her studio in Easton, MD. You can buy her work at her website, Etsy, and craft shows, and read more about her at her blog.