Cookin' Up Some Fun on my Viking Stove

 As I mentioned in some earlier posts, I've noticed changing tastes in metals used in jewelry design toward the more rustic looks using patina-ed copper and brass, so I finally gave in and ordered me a little stash to see what I could do with it.  Well, some of the first things have started to arrive.  I only ordered pure copper so I could play a little.  I got out my ball plien hammer and a little hand held propane torch and planned a fun afternoon.  First off I ordered a steel anvil, but it's not here, so piling some papers on my marble countertop I began to gingerly hammer away at a couple of copper washers and it actually worked..mostly.  The soft surface rounded the washers a bit, but I thought that was interesing as I was getting that 'hammered' copper look.  Then I went to work on a couple of toggle clasps, loved the hammered look those got, but in my enthusiasm I damaged (knocked off) the ball end of one of the toggles--oops!  Now I was ready to try a little heat patina......

Being just slightly apprehensive about my new little torch, I decided to try some heat patina on my gas stove first just to see if it would work.  I got my handy dandy stainless salad tongs and gingerly held onto my hammered washer and started waving it back and forth across the top of the flame on my stove burner and voila color started appearing in dark oranges and reds and was I having fun!  Next over the flame came my toggles.  I may never have to use the pesky propane torch...cooking my copper was lots of fun and the results put a smile on my face...Now all I have to do is wait for the rest of my 'stuff' to arrive and figure out how to use it in some jewelry design. 

Wait till you see what I did with my beach rocks......next time..........

Raku, Enamel and Me

 Last week I splurged with some cash I had sitting in my paypal account and purchase a few enamel beads from Kristen (theBeadSwede) on etsy.  I love every thing enameled. and when I saw her shop I had to have a couple of pieces to play with.  When they arrived I was delighted--they were very well done, quick to ship, and a perfect size for using in jewelry. 

 At the same time I was digging thru my bodacious, but slowly dwindling lampwork stash and ran across some gorgeous raku  discs and orphan urchin beads by Dawn Scannell (Art Insomnia)  that I was toying with for bracelet design...I just happened to lay one of my new enameled beads next to the bracelet I was working on, and a new idea to pair them together made me think it was meant to be.

 I like asymetric, saturated color and mixing metals...so all together they went in a frenzy of organization  before I lost my excitement about these components...or decided to hoard them in my stash, because I couldn't part with them...Copper and 22k gold vermeil, an amethyst gemstone charm, an enameled copper flower charm, a whole wrist full of the most gorgeous saturated, detailed lampwork treasures and it's a bracelet!

I had so much fun with this...now I can enjoy a whole strand of favorite things together--it's like they were meant for one another.  They're off to my etsy store one day soon, but today, I think I'll just enjoy!  Thank you Dawn and Kristen for making such beauties to brighten my day!