BUMP-a-LUMP

That's what we say whenever we go over a speed bump - "BUMP-a-LUMP". Don't ask me why. Its one of those things that predates any possibility of meaningful explanation, and it just 'is'. We have lots of those things in our family - I am sure you do too. :)

The phrase came to mind as I was playing with texturing some copper to use in enamelling. I wanted something bumpy that would have some relief to hold color with some high spots that could be knocked off to show the copper. Although I fried those enamel pieces, I really liked the preceeding forms and wondered what they would look like in sterling.

So, on bench night I made a couple of quick samples - and I do mean quick.

These are hand formed, no press, although I wonder if I could do something similar in the press and have exacting reproducible shapes. I like that these are all a little different though. I'm not sure what gauge I did these in, but they are VERY lightweight -almost too light. I am going to try again in a heavier gauge but these are perfectly wearable - I will clean them up a bit and oxidize them and probably suspend them from leather cord. In addition to thinking 'bump-a-limp' I also think 'sea slug'. What about you? What comes to mind when seeing these weird forms?

Thinking sea slug reminds me of another favorite phrase of my LG and I - 'say hello to my little friend'. Used in a variety of capacities and situations - from, "Here comes a snowball directly at your head!" to "look at this cool bug I just found".

Today I'd like you to say hello to a friend of mine - Stevie B. He makes cool stuff and is tremendously witty. Its a lovely combination. :) Go see him - do it now.

I didn't get back to the bench last night - LG's arm is ok, just badly bruised. He's not a 'suck it up' kinda guy, but he was fine by the time I got home from work so I knew it was no big deal. STill he took th enight off from swimteam, we had a relaxed evening and I did some computer stuff. Messed around with some 'social site' stuff - Facebook mostly. What I should be doing is updating my website. That has GOT to be a focus. I also have two more tutorials in mind, just need to do some process photos and take care of the write ups, format them, and upload. I think I am going to do a third one as well - a freebie. I hope to have them all done by Sunday evening.

Back to work for me - Ciao' all!

~Janice

TFT - Texture

It began with the hammering I did on the cuff recently. I have just been in this mood to hammer. And I've always been into texture....so last night was a great time of both. :)

But let's back up - you know I always have to give the ENTIRE rundown of my night. ;-)

I got home about 5:30 and we had an overabundance of leftovers so I threw it in microwave and oven and onto the table. Ate and was at the bench by ohhhhhh, about 6:30. YAY! Little guy didn't have soccer practice so he was home, but had homework which meant I could get right to work. Unfortunately (?) homework doesn't take little guy long and he was downstairs by 7pm. Its funny because the first two weeks of my Tuesday nights at the bench he was so excited and supportive about it. He was accomodating and actually protective of my time. Now, not so much. Its not that he begs me away from the bench or anything. He's just THERE. Talking to me, not a big deal, except part of the talking is "watch this Mom!" , "Wanna see that Mom?", "Hey Mom...."
etc etc etc. God love him. :) Occassionally he comes close to show me something (with my encouragement of course) and at one point last night when he was almost underfoot, he noticed the flexshaft foot pedal.
(((((((((((((Convo alert, feel free to bypass)

LG: "What's that Mom?"

Me: "It goes to that machine hanging there"

LG: "Oh"

LG: "What's it do? I've never seen it before."

Me: "Sure you have hon', it makes noise, grinding, polishing, etc"

LG: "But I've never seen the foot thing before"

Me: "Well each time it runs, I'm using the foot pedal"

LG: "Oh"

LG: "Well, I still want to see it."

Me: "OK, let me put a drill bit in there (finding key, grabbing drillbit, inserting, blah blah blah) - ya know, your dentist uses a thing (thats the technical term with an 8 year old) like this when she polishes your teeth and all. She has little bits and buffs and things that go in hers, its just a little smaller. OK, there we go, now let me put some wax on this bit ---"

LG: "What's the wax for?"

Me: "It helps the bit run smooth and go through the metal better"

LG: "Oh"

LG: "Mom?

Me: "Yes?"

LG: " You sure do know a lot more about jewelry making than I do."
Y
DO YOU SEE WHY I LOVE THIS LITTLE GUY SO MUCH!!??? lol

OK, back to jewelry. He played and I worked and we had a great time.

This is the only piece I 'completed', though the jumprings need to be replaced (these don't really fit well) and it needs a cord or something. I took photos of EVERY stinkin' step of this so I could write up a tutorial should there be interest.

The rivets are mostly decorative and its all one piece of metal - no soldering.

So its a good project for those just getting started with metal.

I even filed and burnished the bottom so it looks like one solid piece. (have a photo of that around here somewhere...will grab it later)

And then I whipped this baby up in like 20 minutes. . . or maybe just a bit longer.

It still needs its sweet little pink tourmaline to be set in place, maybe tonight.

I have a couple of pieces that were in progress from previous days/weeks...so I LOS'd them and still need to tumble them, but I snapped these pics anyway.

Hopefully some of al of this will make the Etsy store by the end of the weekend.

This is my little "Sprouts" ring, in honor of my garden seedlings. :)

And then a pendant which a lovely green and blue stone will go into and maybe a beaded chain of some sort. (yep, I'm really going out on a limb here!)







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The weather has been so nice here for the past couple of days, finally done with the constant rain showers, its been sunny and mild. Was able to grab this pic of little guy when we let the dogs out to romp yesterday. :)

I am hoping the weather holds out and I can get out in the garden this weekend, I need to prune my seedlings and plant some more seeds, plus I've not got a few starter plants sitting here waiting to go in the ground. With all the rain and mud I just haven't been able to get out there.

So lets pray for sun!!!

Janice

I'm a texture girl

From way back. It affects a lot of things - from the food I eat to the clothes I wear, and yes, to the jewelry I make. :) Texture can make or break things for me. I don't like corn tortillas, instead I favor flour ones, because I don't like the texture of corn tortillas.

While I make do make jewelry that is 'smooth' and more sleek - I LOVE texture! Texture can add so much to a piece - character, depth, visual interest. And there are so many ways to GET texture. From expensive rolling mills, to inexpensive options like a nail and hammer.

I surfed back through my blog and pulled some photos of pieces with textures:

This piece was textured by hammering the sterling onto concrete - in the driveway. LOVE the effect. :)

The rolling mill was used to texture the sterling in these earrings. The metal was run through the mill with window screening.

More window screening

This pendant was given texture with a quasi-fold forming technique. The granules also add a layer of texture.

Corrugation was used here to provide texture to the sterling - a nice offset to the smooth copper.

This pendant shows some chasing all around the bezel, on the wire.

More chasing...........this one using a 'professional' chasing tool.

This was done using nails and screws, etc. I did a tutorial showing how to modify nails etc to complete this pendant.

Etching can provide texture either in terms of a 'scene' or just a random pattern.

The two pieces to the left are samples of reticulation. (using heat - torch - to create texture) The earrings have an added layer of texture as holes were drilled and then the metal was run through the mill to elongate the holes.

These final earrings combine reticulation, chasing, and roller mill printing.

These are just some of the things I do with texture. I'm interested in hearing other people's favorite texturing techniques - what do you like to do?