A Metalsmith's Christmas

What's on my Christmas list...?  A billion tools...  Oh how very sexy!!!  Ok, maybe it's not sexy, but think of all the sexy things I can make with those tools!!!!

Actually the only thing on my Christmas list is a good hydraulic press.  Maybe a Bonny Doon press or one made by Kevin Potter.  If you are in the market for a press you should check out 

http://www.potterusa.com before you buy one.  Kevin Potter makes some great presses and they are cheaper than Bonny Doon's...  sorry Bonny...  your presses are good too.  There are lots of how-to videos on line for the different ways to use your press.

Moving on...  I have been obsessed with diamonds lately...actually for about 2 years now.  Not the actual diamonds (although I like those too), I am drooling over the diamond shape!  So when I ran across these on line I just had to post them!!!  Aren't these adorable?????!!!!!?????  I will be running to our local (brand new, just built👍) IKEA store for these...  Oh how pretty these will be on a Christmas tree!!!😋

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/60304169/

A while back I made some diamonds out of paper...just to see if I could I suppose...

Then I started making some out of sterling (baby steps, right?!)!  I think they are in my Etsy store!  I will link them if I can.

Pink Diamond Necklace

                                                                              AND

Blue Diamond Ring

I had better run!  More jewelry to make and more Christmas shopping to do!!!

Have a very Merry and Sparkly Christmas!!!

Aimee 

THE tip on soldering earring posts!

                                             

  THE tip on soldering earring posts!

 

There are a lot of excellent posts on how to solder earring posts.  I won’t be going into the basics because you can already find that on-line. Below is a link to an excellent article (with pictures) by Doug Napier.

http://jewelrymonk.com/2014/10/30/how-to-solder-a-post-onto-an-earring/

So once you have soldered the earring post onto your earring back …you are left with an annealed (soft) piece of wire sticking out of your earring.  If the wire does not bend out of place the first time you shove the nut on to the wire, you are quit lucky. 

You could tumble it or oven harden your silver…BUT the BEST way to harden that wire is to take your pliers and give it a quarter turn.  It is now work hardened!

Now clean it and polish it up!!!  It should wear without bending now!  

Experimenting with Enamels...

Seems like I do more experimenting than actually making these days.
Below are a few examples of over firing...

As a  brief description...I over fired various colors of vitreous enamels (golden clear included) over roll printed copper.

I am having a hard time telling if these are pretty or not.  They are different...but I am not sure if "pretty" is the right word for them.  I like them, of course...but then again they are my babies...so I am sort of bias.  I asked my daughter which one she liked, and she said she like the one that I didn't like.  How funny huh...my teenager thinks the opposite of me...who would have thought...!  So I am back to square one.  Should I make more of these???...or are they headed to the dumpster??

Little Houses

So what is it with little houses???...or maybe I should say whimsical houses???...
Why do we like them soooooooooooooooo much???  Inspiration for these cool little houses run the gamet from fairies, to real life architecture.



Arthur Millican is a former Disney artisan who use to build small scale tiny houses for fairies and gnomes.  Now he creates full-sized gorgeous whimsical playhouse for kids of all ages.

This adorable little house is by an amazing artist by the name of Megan Balli

Another one of Megan Balli's illustrations.

There is an awesome tutorial on how to make these cute wooden house over at the electric paperie blog

, click here  ...

 

Here's a calendar on whimsical houses.  It looks amazing!!  

I even found a book on how to paint whimsical houses on rocks...I kid you not!!

There are also little house "house plans" out there that you can purchase...in case you actually want to live in one!!  :-) 

I am not sure why we like looking at these fun houses.  Perhaps we imagine a wonderful, carefree life...?  Whatever the reason, they are all over the internet.  Take a look for yourself...

CLICK HERE for MORE IMAGES!!  :-)

I think part of the reason I love little houses so much is the fact that they are so colorful.  As an enamelist I love working with color.  My son and I made up some little houses of our own this weekend.   It was fun to watch my son think outside of the box and draw a non traditional looking house... 

So the next step is figuring out how to make a necklace out of one of these boogers...
Wish me luck!!

Have a Whimsical Day!

Maryville University had a great metal show and I wanted to share some pictures I took today of the art work displayed.  Please keep in mind that these are my photos, NOT professional photos...

A little background on the show:
The show was curated by SMM member Sherri Jaude.
The name of the show was, Contemporary Metal: Aesthetic and Commerce
On view: October 16 – November 15, 2014
Opening Reception: October 16, (Thursday) 5:00p.m. - 8:00p.m.

The contemporary world embraces a range of expression that includes functionality, the diverse use of materials, along with a balance of aesthetics and commerce. Artists today are challenged in the studio to meet this world and remain true to their voice. Presented in this exhibition is a collection of objects by invited artist’s working in metal.

Maryville University is honored to present works by Haley Bates, John Baltrushunas, Deborah Daher, Marilyn da Silva, Michael Good, Aimee Howard, Sherri Jaudés, Joe Meunch, Paulette Myers, Sarah Perkins, Lanie Kodner, Claude Mette, Rodney Roots, Sun Kyoung Kim, Warren & Diane Sauer and Billie Jean Theide. 

These piece were so well crafted.  It was amazing to see the work up close, of so many well known metalsmiths.  The details and quality were wonderful.

Lanie Kodner created a wonderfully crafted and functional silver interchangable back scratcher...