Cold Connections Weekend

I spent Saturday, Sunday, and Monday teaching a Cold Connections workshop, and we all had a really fun time - but I am absolutely exhausted!

Here is a bit of what I accomplished, in between teaching duties - a lot of these pieces still need finishing touches like some jumprings, or earwires - etc., but all the metalwork is done:

busy metal workshop weekend!

This was just a quickie pic - I have a lot of post-workshop clean up to do today, and once everything is back in order, I'll sit down and finish these pieces, and take better photos (many of these will end up on Etsy). I'll post better pics and more details about each piece as the week goes on.

Here is another WIP from this weekend (naturally, it started out as a paper mock-up:

my paper bracelet

I started freehand drawing the individual sections on Saturday, adjusting their sizes and shape so that the finished bracelet would be the proper length. I knew I wanted to use one of my Picasso fused glass cabochons as the centerpiece.

I didn't even finish all the little paper segments the first day, and every time I got up to help a student, the pieces would get blown around and lost under other stuff. I'd sit back down, and wonder aloud where my "paper bracelet" had gotten to, so pretty soon everyone had taken to calling it the "paper bracelet."

Some time Sunday I finished the paper model, and took them home with the shears and the sheet copper, so I could get them all cut out.

center segment of the "paper bracelet" - stamped and ready for etching

This is the center copper segment - this is the pattern I etched on all the pieces.

I got them sanded, stamped, and into the acid yesterday morning, and was starting to set the cabochon as class ended last night. I still need to finish the stone setting, and punch holes in all the links for jump rings, and figure out what kind of clasp I'm going to use. So this one is a little bit away from being finished. I'll post some more pics of its progress later this week.

Have a great day - I'm off to put away all my "toys" and clean up! 

New Copper and Swarovski Pendant

This is another piece I created in the metal studio last Sunday:

 Here is how the copper looked after all the cutting, drilling, and sanding, in preparation for adding the frame and crystals:

This pendant actually was inspired by a distressed, rust-colored frame that I found in the scrapbooking section of Michael's. Love the scrapbooking section! So many inspiring objects and fascinating tools and ingredients there!

I noticed how the frame matched a 20 mm Red Magma Swarovski Cosmic Square I had, both in color and in shape, and started designing the pendant on paper. Once everything fit and worked on the paper model, I cut the copper and did all the smoothing, sawing, and drilling.

Next, I textured the bail, then annealed it and rolled it into placed, then grommeted it to secure it. (The rivet is hidden in the front by the frame.)

Next, I placed the Swarovski Cosmic Square in the center, and then I attached the frame to the pendant. My initial plan had been to rivet the frame to the pendant, but the frame itself was way to thick for me to pierce, so I decided to do a little free-form wiring instead, adding Swarovski crystals (in Crystal Padparadscha) as I went. I love a little bling with my pendants!

So this is the back of the finished pendant, everything all tucked away and smooth!

And the pendant is available in my Etsy shop!