Adventures in Metalsmithing, Part 2 — Going Green

Earlier, I wrote about my first project in my metalsmithing class, a three-day Jewelry Intensive that was meant to introduce people to the joys of wrangling metal to make pretty things, and give each person the chance to experiment on their own and find their own way in creativeness.

My instructor, Sue Stockman, has a very green approach to jewelry making. She has an intense concern for the environment, and doesn’t just talk the talk — she majorly walks the walk in every aspect of her life. To that end, she believes in metalsmithing with a minimum of chemicals. Solder and flux are a necessity — without them, you can’t marry the metals together. But in her studio, and in this class, you’ll never, ever find pickle.

No, not this pickle.

Pickle is an acid that removes the flux and oxidation and turns it nice and white. In seconds, all the icky black fire scale that occurs as soon as your torch hits the silver is gone.

But did I mention pickle is an acid? It can be sulfuric acid or nitric acid, it has to be warm to work, and it’s toxic stuff. Mmmm, warm acid fumes. Bleh. So Sue taught us how to use elbow grease rather than acid to create our jewelry.

Don’t get me wrong. There were more than a few times when we were all muttering under our breath, wishing for that pickle pot. But using files, steel wool, emery paper, and our own energy, we got that fire scale off and didn’t create toxic fumes and didn’t have to worry about pouring that stuff down a drain somewhere.

So that’s how to be green while metalsmithing.

On to my project. This is actually my third project — a very simple rose quartz pendant that I found languishing in a drawer. I goofed and drew my pattern too small and ended up with less of a negative space point than I’d intended.

However, there were two major triumps in this piece (even though you can tell it’s not finished, not polished, there’s no bail yet, etc etc etc)…..

1) I got over my fear of the saw, and sawed the entire oval out of 20 gauge sheet silver. And I only broke one saw blade!

2) I got that bezel down JUST right. There is just the tiniest bit of bezel pushed around the edges (and it took some muscle to get it done right) but it turned out beautifully, if I do say so myself. WAY different than my first bezel attempt six months ago.

I still haven’t finished all the filing around the edges. And I haven’t polished it. And it’s certainly not perfect. But making this piece gave me the confidence that I CAN do this, if I just take my time and don’t rush. I also learned that it’s possible to go green in a traditional field, which gives me hope and makes me look at other aspects of my life to see what the possibilities are

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.

Fairy Tale Charms

It’s that time again — time to turn in my charms to my Charm Exchange Group.

There are a lot of charm exchange groups on Yahoo. The one I belong to is mostly about altered art, which means taking something and turning it into something it wasn’t meant to be, but rather, something artistic. I joined the group to help me work outside my normal comfort and skill level, and it’s been a lot of fun and a definite learning experience.

So here I am, getting ready to make 15 charms to send in. I decided to start out with a Scrabble game tile. I sanded the blank side so glue would stick better, and then looked through the loads and loads of decorative papers I have in my studio (I used to make greeting cards as a job before it was all about jewelry, so, lots o’ paper).

I found a romantic, muted paper with gold glitter that reminded me of old tapestries, and I thought of old castles. So I decided that the theme of the charms would be “Fairy Tales”.

Since Scrabble tiles are small, using a paper cutter isn’t practical. So using a pencil and a ruler, I traced around each tile, first finding a pretty spot on the paper (lots of glitter, not too dark, neat pattern, etc). I then had to trim each bit of paper to size, freehand. Here’s what the leftover paper ended up looking like when I was done:

Lots of cutting, trimming, tossing out.

The bits of paper were then glued to the Scrabble tiles and coated with Modge Podge several times for a gloss. I drilled a hole through the top, inserted two bronze rings, added a deep red Swarovski crystal, and side one was done:

Now for the second side! I decided to take the letter on the Scrabble tile and associate it with a word that had a pleasant meaning — something enlightening, fun, motivating — you get the idea. I had an old, old fairy tale book and I started flipping through it to find words. This was much harder than it sounds. I got through the entire book and was still missing ONE word for the letter”O”. A much slower read later (and this was a thick book), I finally got all the words cut out.

So here’s the second side, with words glued and glazed on:

I wish that some of the words didn’t overlap the letter, but there was nothing I could do about it, as I didn’t have any more vintage books with smaller letters. Lesson learned — some letters on the tiles are wider than others — especially the “M”!

Now, on to packaging. Part of the rules of the Charm Exchange Group is to package them in a pretty way. I cut out squares of fairy-tale-esque paper:

and then wrote up a bit about the inspiration for the charms on ivory paper, set the two together with gold eyelets, and tied the charms to the cards with burgundy thread.

And there you have it! A piece of jewelry totally outside my normal parameter, using methods I wouldn’t ordinarily have though of. What do you think?

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.

Photographing Jewelry: Behind the Scenes

Today I thought I’d share the hidden part of the creative process — the photographic element.

If you want anyone to see your work (barring customers visiting your house unannounced), you’ve got to take some pictures. How to take the perfect picture is a widely discussed topic among the designers and glass artists I know — it’s just not as easy as you would think. There’s a lot more to it than point-and-shoot, and a good photo can make all the difference in making a sale.

For the past couple of years, I’ve been using a light tent, special lighting, a tripod, and a light box. Here’s my set up:

Yeah, I know, it’s a mess, but I know where everything is! On the right is a big bowl of jewelry waiting to be photographed, on the left is where the successfully snapped go, and in between is where it all happens.

Lately, though, I’ve been trying to branch out with the photos, and use natural light and close up angles to get a more artistic and interesting shot. Sometimes things just NEED a white background, but I have had fun experimenting with this new style. Here’s the set up:

Yep, that’s the floor. I sit on the floor by an open window, and without a tripod, snap the shots. There’s the big bowl of jewelry, and all the “props” I’m using today… an old book, an older bird house, various vases, candles — get creative!

The problem with this method is I’m at the mercy of the sun. This morning was bright and sunny, so I got everything together, got a cup of coffee, came back into the room — and no sun. It had gone behind the clouds, and didn’t look like it was coming back anytime soon.

Sometimes the dimmer, indirect sunlight works, as in these shots:

It’s really all a judgement call. Sometimes I have to take dozen shots in a lot of different ways to get just one useable photo, and at times like that, I feel like tearing my hair out. But it’s a necessary part of the creative process, so as with jewelry design, I’m constantly experimenting — and learning.

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.

Introduction: Lori Anderson

Hi, I’m Lori Anderson, and I’m new to Watch Me Create. I’m currently a jewelry artist, and I use handmade beads, gemstones, wire, and whatever is sparkly and pretty — but in an effort to differentiate, I’ve made a vow for 2008 to Try New Things.

I love eclectic things and have recently embraced quirky, kitschy things. Lately, I’ve been collecting vintage ephemera, making charms out of non-traditional supplies. Here are a couple I’ve done:

These are made with plastic tubing that I bought at the hardware store. I glittered the edges of the tubing, and then inserted rolled up paper from ads out of a 1952 National Geographic magazine. I capped the ends with Swarovski crystal, and added a vintage lucite butterfly dangle.

Next up are altered Scrabble tiles:

These were first painted multiple times. On one side, I glued Asian-print paper. On the other, I glued torn out bits from one of my Korean dictionaries. I sealed all that, and then glittered the edges.

A lesson learned from this experiment — don’t use the drill on the kitchen table. Nuff said.

Lori Anderson is a jewelry artist that blogs from her studio in Easton, MD.