Still at work on the polymer problem - But, Snippets have arrived..

I told everyone that I was working on a line of 'Snippets" They would be smaller than the found object earrings....which I have always felt needed to look as if they carried with them an important story.  Maybe someone's story about their life, or another's vacation well spent, or of a summer love lost.  They just need to have some heft to hold the story...and be worn by a woman capable of a superb life of her own.  So here I have to show you some earrings that will be posted in MetalWerks for purchase within a day or two.

"Snippets" - My style of earring completed with a snippet of tin and complimentary components culled from around the world.  Just in these earrings there are, brass, vinyl record discs from Africa, Czech glass rounds, faceted murrini roses, shell, mother of pearl, pearls, handmade ceramic dangles, and silver to play off of the non-precious but antique tin. 

There is a photo of a couple of sets of "snippets".  I work in a way that maybe a colorist would find the most comforting.  A decision was made at the beginning to take a tin - scope out what may be an innocuous area in the design - but something that portrayed a nice texture, color, but nothing really discernible.  It had to be little more than a snippet - a tiny piece.  And the tiny piece had to be showing some wear...we people get bumps and scrapes in our lives so let's save shining and perfect for the babies of the world.   Decision number 1.   From there a color palette had to be created around the color of this tin and of whatever bead, wire, fiber, antique hoard I happen to have around.  It's not tough on this account as I have a large collection.  Decision 2 - no major shopping for beads - it had to come out of the hoard - to be released into the world.  These cabinet drawers contained beads that need to have an escape plan and a way of having their 15 minutes of fame.

It's not that "Snippets" don't have stories but I think of them at the beginning of their lives....cute, small, light in weight to cover the dog days of summer into the fall -  more interesting when the tinniest treasures are added to a dangle.  And, with enough of a mix (and the, all important tin) - that the wearer may begin to explain her new earrings in a story of her own, "These are my earrings and they are sooo cool, this is recycled tin, and this bead here is handmade glass - this one comes from the Czech Republic - and this one is an antique."   I want for each customer to have some great times wearing them so their mystique will grow as they are graciously worn throughout the years.

There are other active decisions - wear ability.  Lightly oxidized, patinas, sterling silver for earring wires - keep it simple for the Snippets and let the color and the choice of pieces do the talking.  How wonderful there are beads with iridized coatings and plenty of flash in a little trim of crystals here and there. 

I just think these are so romantic.  They are on the heavy side but not ear ripping heavy.  Ever since my article on earring weights I do quite a bit of switching components in and out to try and get the weight into the "reasonable to wear' state.

These are the first ones I've gotten photos of.  There are three snippets and then a full blown out Story Teller from that collection of earrings.  The token at the bottom of the earring is old, it is from the Honolulu Transit Authority.  It kind of dictated where this earring was going to end....even the color I and pattern I chose for in the tin.  I wanted it to be old - floral - feminine in nature.  It also had to have old fashioned piece on it - such as the dipped facets with the mustard yellow, the amethyst points (faded but still powerful).  The repurposed rhinestone - an area gone by, maybe? A dance on the beach where all she wore were those shimmering stones.  (oh - ooops, maybe a fantasy of mine from a long time ago....LOL).

Well, these will be posted soon - more and better photos will need to be taken and copy written.  I've another half a dozen pairs of various sizes sitting around waiting for their "magical moment" when I dig down into a drawer and find just the right beads to finish the job.  I know I will.

Woot woot - I love making jewelry.

Tin Re-Duex - I need a person to tell me when to stop.

Sometimes a piece you make just looks cheesy later on.  I liked the top of this earring but did not like the bottom....not enough weight there.  As an earring it worked okay.  Heavy enough to stay on but light enough not to stretch that ear lobe to your waist.  But to me it lacked a certain panache - a complete design.  It's not that I don't like simple things.  In fact, sometimes that is the best for me since I already wear glasses too much from the arm pits up can make me look like I ought to topple over.  These earrings - well - crap - I got an itch about them and just had to scratch it. 

I cut off what I thought wasn't working.  I added a little flare with a copper piece - a few rivets to hold the new copper and add some interest - and then I thought it needed a finish to balance the fact the top was visually kind of heavy.  In my stash I have the beads I've collected over the years sorted by color.  That makes it easy when you are working with a color segwey to find something fairly quickly. 

What I do sort differently (but by color) are seed beads, crystals (no matter what the size or color) are all in one plastic box, stone chips,  and so on.   Anything that reeks of same size - kind - origin - these are the only things that are separate.  Beyond those all the rest of the sparkly glass, resin, and so on are in the color sort area.  Okay, I'm off track here.

In the stash of blue I found a bag of miscellaneous and very old chevron beads.  The blue went well with the tin color and the theme...but I didn't want to stop there.  I guess I could of and maybe done a little something different on the bottom (no, no, no, stop it - only one re-duex to a pair of earrings).  Anyhoo, the original tin has stars.  And I've been watching entirely to much Merlin, Game of Thrones, and Syfy channel so I decided to go through the crystal stash.  Now we've got a little magic and some history in the chevrons and tin.

Voila' - I'm much happier with the look of these earrings.  But I wasn't happy enough to leave them alone...it didn't take but a day of looking and I decided they were too long and thin - off came the chevron section.  I guess in this case for these earrings I'm making the executive decision that less is more.

Pretty soon I'll have completed enough to reopen my old Etsy site for finished jewelry and start putting the pieces up for sale.

I've been working on other earring designs and will post as they are completed - I've been picking away at my pile of tin stampings.  (Smile).

Tin Heart Earrings

Have you been wondering what I did with all of those punched out pieces I did on the hydraulic press?  Sometimes it feels like I’m just one giant jewelry component maker.  I do amass a large number of parts, be it beads, metal, or ceramic.   There are lots of stashes around here for components I’ll tell you.  I’m like a raven – if it’s shiny or interesting it’s stashed around here somewhere.

This tin “thing” is speaking to me though and I’ve returned to making earrings.   I can only wear so many pair so I’ll probably revamp my old Etsy site for finished jewelry.   In keeping with the ArtWerks theme I’ve called it MetalWerks.  You can find it HERE.  It’s empty, but won’t be soon!

 

Tin Ear Parts

The best of the punched pieces (partially cleaned)

I like working with components and we all know in general I tend to make a bunch of them.  I have a hydraulic press I've had for a very long time and used to punch out a variety of shapes to work with.  It's been a long while since I've done this on a regular basis.  I thought some of the steel dies might work to punch out some of the litho steel.  After all, it's thin. 

In theory it was good.  And here is where you find out whether or not you've purchased an excellent product.  My original dies were designed by me and the designs were sent out to Sheltech to be cut from flat tool steel into pancake dies.  I slide my metal into the die and punch (with the press) out a piece I can then design with.  Generally, it's nice, crisp, and clean.  Just a snip here and file there and you're ready to go.

And, I dare say - although there are a plethora of great artists out there you'd be shocked at how many actually do this and then alter the piece for their jewelry.  Don't wince.  If they didn't start out with  those pieces we'd never be able to afford to buy some shiny object we saw in a local gallery. 

I did say this wasn't all good, right?  My original dies are from Sheltech.  I have no interest in cutting out my own dies.  I also purchased, in the past two years, some pancake dies from Potter USA.  They should be good to go....uh, but they are not.  I tried them on the litho steel (tin).  Actually, no one has a right to expect any pancake die to snap this stuff easily.  It IS steel and really isn't meant to cut in a pancake die, even with a 20 ton hydraulic press.  I was hoping for a big surprise here and didn't get it.

But, I was throughly disappointed when it didn't shear 26 gauge annealed copper without a glitch.  I mean gheeze - it should cut like butter.  New die - great press (Bonny Doon) and annealed metal.  My old dies don't do that and they've pressed out consistent clean cut pieces for a long time.  I'm no quitter so I tried unannealed 26 gauge - nope, same issue.  I'm not giving up but then I'm not investing in anymore pancake dies, for the time being, from  Potter either.  To be fair I'll try some other gauges of metal (annealed and otherwise) and we'll see how that goes and then I'll call Potter to see if I'm doing something wrong.  That is not beyond the realm of possibility either.

Gosh I hate it when things don't go the way they're planned.

 

Won't some of the new mini lampwork look good with these future earrings?

First Tin Experiment Finished

Now the work begins.  I like them.  I like that the dental tool can put waves in the tin.  I like how you can distress the tin or leave it somewhat unscathed.  On the minus side, although the steel (tin) is strong, they can be perceived as - dare I say it - "tinnish".   But, if mounted on another metal it gets a little weight without being heavy.  I actually like some of the earrings I've seen that are all tin and I will go there too but right now is for experiments.  Is some production in the future - uh, maybe,

I decided on lots of dangle and found some very old emerald green glass (old Eastern Indian bottle glass - I've had that strand for over 30 years) and made them the intermediate dangle between the earring hooks (silver) and the reclaimed and riveted tin dangles. 

Light on the ears with lots of movement - I'm old (LOL), not dead!