Copper - Patina, Rivets and Stamping

And here is another patina project - a pair of earrings that speak to you. Well, at least if you believe in HOPE and LOVE, because that's what they "say"!
I have combined a number of different techniques to make this pair and I'm hoping to come up with more than this, since I really like the result.

I have used ammonia and salt to add patina to copper plates. I actually forgot about the experiment and left the metal "under influence" for longer than intended (2,5 days to be precise), so if you look closely enough, you might notice, that snippets of the metal have been eaten off by corrosion at the edges. But I don't mind, firstly this was my first experiment with patina, secondly I was trying to make the metal look aged anyway.
The patina was so thick I even had to remove some, otherwise it wouldn't hold on well even after spraying with clear paint. I had removed more patina from waht was going to be front side of the earrings and that created a nice effect of 2-coloured patina; red and green layers.

Then I've sprayed a clear paint over the plates, so the patina wouldn't come off or stain clothes. I have applied 2 coats on each side and let dry for several hours between the coats.

In the meanwhile, I have prepared 2 pieces of copper and stamped them with words HOPE and LOVE, one for each ear.

After the paint dried on the patinaed metal peices, I had to measure where to put holes for rivets and hammer the rivets on.

And then all I had to add were 2 handmade jumprings (how good does it sound, instead just jumprings) and earwires. Tadaa!


Here is front and back of the earrings:




Hope & Love... who's in?

Some Simple Earring Designs

I'm going to be traveling for a month now (so you won't see me around for a while) and I'm going to visit my family as well - so what better to bring to family and friends than a handmade gift! In my case jewellery :-))) - what else!
Most of the earrings from my previous post have somebody's name already written all over them. And here are just a few examples of SUPER simple designs that take just a moment to create - all you need is a wire, steel block, chasing hammer - and earplugs!

New Copper Earrings

My love-affair with COPPER seems to be never-ending! Well, there are several reasons for this - copper looks amazing, copper is in vogue right now and it's fairly inexpensive! And as if I needed another reason, I have lots of copper wire at home!
Remember my "trash stash" that I got from our Engineering? I got even more! Lots of discarded copper wire! It's rubber coated (like telephone wire) - so guess what I was doing for hours and hours while watching my fav TV programs? I think you got it: stripping my precious wires off their rubber clothes!

And here is what I've been working on recently:

Copper earrings with lots of copper beads.


Just wires - hand forged and hammered:


Swirls with copper beads:

And simple hammered swirls:

And this is just a bonus - next swirly earrings will be patina-coated! This is what ammonia with salt can do:

Talking Trash

Somebody's trash - someone else's treasure...
I'm sure you've heard the saying before - and I'm sure you have tried it for yourself: passing something you don't need onto somebody who appreciated it etc.

I have always wanted to try making something like STEAMPUNK style jewellery or MIXED MEDIA. But where do I get a broken watch or cool looking computer parts without necessarily buying them? And then it dawned on me - I work in the hotel, in a biiig hotel, and something gets broken all the time. So I went to our Engineering - and guess what - all it took was putting up a little box and saying something like "OK guys, when you dismantle something and you have a bunch of wires or metal pieces left, don't throw them in trash, but put them in this box."

It's been only 2 weeks since I put up the empty box, and LOOK!!!



This is just a selection of some of the pieces that ended up in my hands.

Alhtough I had to clean some (oil/ vaseline residue), it was totally worth it! Here some of the pieces shined with a cloth:

Let's see what I'll be able to create with these!

HOPE - Bracelet With Stamped Message

I was playing with the copper sheet more and more - I have already 2 products with similar design on Etsy. This is one of those - HOPE stamped bracelet.

I really like working with stamps a lot and was thinking to order a whole alphabet on Etsy - a few sellers have some unexpensive sets for sale. Don't laught, I have only a few letters that I had made on order in India, because before that all I could find were really pricey sets. Now after exploring Etsy closer, I have discovered more possibilies.

How do you like this bracelet?

Playing With Fire

Not a long time ago I've purchased a torch in hardware store. I have finally tried to make ball end copper headpins. Not very nice, but it was the first time - I wanted to take a picture so fast, that I didn't even remember to clean the blackened layer off!

But what I'm more pleased with is my own version of rivets! This is what I did with a piece of copper sheet - there are two different colours of rivets - and if you look closely, you will see that the two sheets have a different colour too. That's because the smaller one is heat-cured (with the torch) - the lower pictures showes it better.

I think it looks quite cool!

Indian Secret - Necklace

This is a new item I made yesterday - and I put it on Etsy straight away!

Brass chain holds mother-of-pearl chip with photo transferred Hindi writing and a Rudraksh (holy nut from India that has healing powers and spiritual powers).
The red thread is Hindu holy thread that every Hindu person ties on their wrist for protection).

New Item On Etsy - Brass Key Earrings

This is a new listing I have added to my Etsy shop today!

My New Shop on ETSY.COM Finally Opened!

Yes, it's here! My shop on Etsy is finally open! At the moment there is only one item, but it will slowly fill up with more (I HOPE SO).

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6754328



Keep your fingers crossed so I can get some good views!

Copper Bracelet With Ceramic Bead (And Herringbone Weave)

I was trying all different kids of herringbone weave in the past few weeks - and this is again another thing that came up from that.

I was trying to give the bracelet a bit of organic feel by making the band with swirls. I also didn't want to overpower the weave around the bead.