New tutorial released!

This tutorial took forEVER to make.

I'm glad its finally done and I hope it is clear and helps lots of artists make beautiful things. :)



This tutorial uses the most basic fold forming technique, line folds, and takes the technique into 3 different directions for 3 projects in one. This lesson shows how to create folds in metal in order to create dimension and texture in your work. We will look at three different projects which take the fold formed metal in very different directions.

You will learn to use the inherent properties of metal to your advantage - Work hardness becomes your friend! Your imagination will ultimately determine what your pieces look like!

There are 39 pages, approximately 85 steps, and over 100 pictures and diagrams. There are also some bonus tips and alternative ideas.

You will automatically be taken to the tutorial upon check-out.

Your purchase signifies your agreement not to share, lend, or dsitribute this tutorial in any form without my express written permission.


I am ALWAYS available to answer any questions regardina ny of my tutorials that you purcahse, including looking at pictures of your work to help you improve. I want you to be successful! :)

Janice

TT - A little late

Tutorial coming - pics of 'fold and gold' for now.....

Yes, Tuesday Tutorial WILL be posted today, but its going to be a LATE date post - well, more like a night time post. :) Hope you'll come back tonight or check in tomorrow. I'm having a good time posting metalsmithing tutorials that I find and also sharing those of friends.

In the meantime, I said I'd try to grab a photo of the fold and gold ring now that its oxidized. I didn't get to it last night - swim team is going to be a killer! Yesterday was our first practice. My father was good enough to take LG to the pool at 5pm at which time we found out he'd be in the 6:15-6pm group. They decided to stay and wait it out, so I ran home and picked up little Lisa and took her to the vet. I returned home with Lisa around 7pm and little guy and Pop-Pop pulled in a bit after 7:15. Needless to say, dinner was on the late side last night, little guy needed a shower after being in the strong chlorine, and after he went to bed, I crashed.

Ohhhhh, No, scrap that. I did go to the bench - - got started with the 14k gold bezel - on a lovely little triangular (trillian) cut aquamarine cabochon. After fiddling with that a bit - I then crashed in front of the tv for an hour and went to bed early. (again!)

So I snapped these photos on my way to work this morning and now that I'm taking my lunch break have uploaded them.

Whatcha' think?

I don't really like the way the LOS was left on there....I may redo the LOS and use pumice instead of steel wool, but my pumice doesn't arrive until Friday, so the ring is going to stay as is for now.

:)

Don't forget to check back for the Tuesday Tutorial - if all goes well it will be up whilst its still actually Tuesday!

Oh, and for fun, here's little guy playing Ultimate Frisbee at the school fair this past Saturday.

Isn't he just too adorable?

~Janice

TFT - 05.27.09

Last night worked surprisingly well. I am finally about over my headache which made things much easier than they have been in over a week. We had leftover food, from Memorial Day, ready to go so when I got home I threw it all together, we ate, then I slipped off to the basement. (I'm getting good at this!)

My son did join me not too long thereafter, and he continues to want more of my attention than when I began this Tuesday night studio thing. He's so cute, I can't get mad, I try to engage him and I take brief (I mean really brief) breaks to watch him or do something with him. Its all fun. I enjoy it. :) Last night we danced and huggled (somewhere between a hug and a snuggle) and generally chatted a lot while I was working.

Despite my best intentions to complete some of my pieces, I really began a couple new ones. . .I can't seem to make myself stop! But I've publically committed to doing just that, stopping any new creation until I finish these and I've determined to finish everything I have in various stages by the end of the month. Oy. But seriously, remember the necklace, with the beads and bits of chain and whatnot? Thats STILL not done. So, its high time I get serious and then get some of these listed for sale.

Last night I began this sterling and charoite ring. I like how the stone is set on horizontal and the setting is no fuss. its kind of sleek which is different from a lot of my other work.




The setting needs to be cleaned up, polished and then the stone set. Right now its just in there for a test drive/fitting.




And here it is on my hand. Whatcha think?

Does it stand alone well or do you think it needs some embellishments?

I also did some work on this 'far out' pendant.



It reminds me of something from the solar system. Its sterling, fold formed, hammered, soldered.



Needs clean up and then some LOS, then the lapis and amethyst (bullet) will be set.



And by far my favorite........this ring.

Its going to be SO hard to part with this one. This is sterling, fold formed, with 14k gold balls. It just really appeals to me.

Right now it has a very rough finish and I'm not sure how high I'll take the polish...then definitely LOS to really pop the gold.





Finally, I've been remiss at sharing about the class I took with Loren Damewood on Saturday. I made a cuff bracelet and a ring (ring picture coming, along with full details of the WONDERFUL workshop)

This is a knotted fine silver cuff. It is created from ONE uninterrupted strand of fine silver wire. Cool, huh?



I ordered some fine silver wire. I don't normally use fine silver but the knotting really requires a soft wire to work with. Sterling would kink and break I am sure.

I also ordered...dun, du-dun-dun-dunnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn

14k gold sheet, bezel strip, and wire. OY. I want to make an entire ring of 14k gold. I am not sure I have gold solder though so I may have to go back and place another order. I finally ordered from Rio. . . . I had been resistant to Rio as I think their prices are higher than one needs to pay, however, that was looking at tools and other supplies. Their metals prices are very competitive, so I was pleasantly surprised and I will be back to Rio on a regular basis now. I happened over there as Thunderbird doesn't have fine silver wire or sheet. (who knew??? lol) So I tripped on over to Monsterslayer and as I was getting my order together I decided to just price out the same metals at Rio. BINGO! Just about the same on sterling and fine silver - but considerably lower on the 14k gold. So it worked well.

I'm a bit nervous about using the gold but I'm also excited. Stay tuned, hopefully there will be a success story showing up soon!

~Janice

Better late than never??

How about 'snafu Sunday' on Monday??? I just can't seem to get to the computer consistently on the weekends and this weekend ever moreso due to a little medical episode (more on that later).

The first Snafu I have been meaning to capture is one that I seem to encounter far too often (but I'm learning).

I'll call it:

Soldering too close for comfort.



The gist of it is this - you create a beautiful bezel, you've sized it just right and painstakingly soldered it to a backplate in JUST the right spot. Next you use your artistic flair to design around the bezel, maybe some granules or wire embellishments. You work had to make sure everything is positioned just right, up tight against the bezel so when you push it over th stone there won't be any gaps. You clean and polish and maybe even give it a patina. Now you're on to stone setting. The stone goes in, you begin to burnish the bezel over, so proud that you sized it all just right, moving along working catty-corner or cross and back when all of a sudden...

errrrrrrrr, grrrp. You hit a snag.

Your lovely embellishments are now a roadblock between you and a perfectly polished smooth bezel. You may end up with something like this:


My fix, if I'm lucky and I'm really thinking ahead a few steps - is to gently tilt the bezel over prior to soldering on those balls or wires. Then the bezel and the balls won't be soldered together.

But what if you already soldered it all and now you can't get your bezel burnished properly? Well, you can try to go in there with the finest sawblade you have and gently separate them.

Or you can try - CAREFULLY - a thin knifeblade or razor (at your own risk).

I used a think knifeblade to get down in the space next to these, just enough that I could then tilt the knife in towards the stone just slightly moving the bezel. Just enough to hold it.

I'm afraid there was nothing I could do with the ones at the bottom. :(

Got a solution for this type of Snafu? Leave a comment or email me your "soldering too close for comfort" solutions - I'll gather all the responses to include in the next Snafu Sunday post.

=============================

I had a chance last night to fiddle a bit. . . yep, all weekend and no bench til last night. I wish I could say it was all fun and games, but I can't. I had a little medical scare Friday night. It began at work on Friday with what I thought was an atypical migraine. It was worse than usual though so I stayed at work late (on a FRIDAY!) thinking I may feel better...I never did so I finally left at about 5:40 and drove home. Got out at home and weaved and wobbled up the driveway - was quite dizzy which is very unusual. Head splitting I went to lay down for a bit before I had to take all the fundraiser stuff up to the ball field. Fell asleep - kind of fitfully - got up at 7:45, made my way downstairs, unsteady, sat at the table and proceded to speak gibberish. Only lasted about 10-15 minutes, but its consistent with a TIA. I felt like crud most of the day Saturday though I went to baseball practice and then the soccer game with little guy. Relaxed all afternoon and evening though - began feeling more normal yesterday.

Have a doctor's appt later today. Maybe it was just a way freaky atypical migraine....but I need to let someone else diagnose it.

Anyway, from the bench last night - and these were just taken quick....didn't do a lot with lighting or anything...

This is the little fold formed sterling piece with the tourmaline now set in it. The piece needs polishing in a major way.

Pendant - sterling and fine silver and a stone -- maybe a chysocolla with malachite. (?)

Needs a chain - probably some plain chain and beady links in there...not sure yet where I want to go with that. I drilled holes in the top ends for rings of some sort.

The next two are still WIPs.

First is ocean jasper and carnelian in sterling. Tube bail on back. Stones need to be set.

Then that pesky necklace...

I sized down the bezels so the stones are ready to go in for good.....just need a final polishing and the chain needs to be finished.

And then MAYbe some LOS.

~Janice

Tutorial Tuesday!

The tutorial topic for this Tuesday is....

FOLD FORMING!



(please click photos for a larger image)

One of my favorite techniques even though I often find it very challenging to turn the pieces into actually jewelry is fold forming. (any tips for finished jewelry please leave a comment!). I love working with the general properties of the metal, moving the metal with a hammer, and the organic shapes that result.

Charles Lewton-Brain is the 'father' of fold forming having spent much time and effort condensing and recording the steps into reproducable results -hence a 'technique'! All of these links will point to tutorials by Charles, these are just a few.

Basic T-Fold
Boat Fold
Heistad cup (one of my faves!)

You may want to check out Charles' Fold Forming CD (no, I'm not affiliated, just a fan!)

More in the series

Using a simple 'fold' as a design element forges on!

The first piece is a success I think, in terms of the fold and the overall design, however the keumo-bo piece lacks pizzazz. I like the contrast between the bright silver on the fold and the oxidized part, but the overall piece is missing something. While originally planned as a pendant, it will now become one of several links for a bracelet. Repeating the element might interject some 'wow' .

and for fun, here is the holes piece after it was tumbled for a couple of hours. Its so shiney that it was hard to get a decent photo of it!

A 'line' of lines?

These are a couple of things I created last week - they have one thing in common - LINES! Maybe I can do a 'line' of lines?


Sterling and garnet

This pendant was made with the leftover from cutting the top one down to size. :)

Sterling and garnet

And this is a type of fold forming called score and fold. Sterling

The 2007 East Coast Jewelry Artists Retreat!

The 2007 East Coast Jewelry Artists Retreat went off with flying colors! Everyone had a great time and we all learned a LOT of new things!

I did my first hinged piece (and my first real pierce/sawing work)! Fabricated from sterling sheet, sterling tubing, bezel wire, MOP, and a rhodocrosite....hit some bumps on the way but end result is workable!






I also did some more fold forming! This is a score and fold copper piece with sterling and rutilated quartz.








here is a pic Wendy took in her cube.....the sterling piece isn't set yet and the chain (Jen's Pind) isn't finished...but there is my FIRST try at repousse'! Its done without a sketch or pattern, I was just trying to get the feel for the pitch and the chasing tools. Kind of looks like two catepillars though, doesn't it?





I can't wait to do this again next year!! 2008 East Coast Jewelry Artists Retreat - here I come!

More fold forming - copper pendant

I love this technique - its just a lot of fun for some reason....


This is copper and pearls:



And the bail:

Fold forming finish -

I finished two pieces last night...they have such a great organic feel to them, I LOVE them! (though I know they're not for everyone!)

The first is the one I showed the other day - it turned into a pendant with a peridot and a tube bail added:

the second is a pin: copper, sterling, CZ

I look forward to playing with this more!

Catching up...

wow, I've been on a roll again with new techniques...most are building off of old 'base' techniques - like soldering, hammering etc.


Building on the soldering, I've tried some filigree:

And I've begun some fold-forming (taking hammering to a new level!):









and chain weaving:





and have a new necklace to share! This is all hand done, from the pendant to the forged links, to the chain. :)






Hope to have a few fold formed pieces finished with stones set in them, so stay tuned!