Friendship...always an inspiration

The best kind of friends are the ones that uplift and inspire - they see the best in you and want to help you bring it out more.

I experienced that kind of inspiration this Sunday with one of my oldest and best girlfriends - and together look what we created. This painting was at the SF MOMA behind a glass frame. Immediately we were drawn to it - it had a feeling of serenity and beauty in spite of the encompassing feel of a dust storm. We placed ourselves within with the scene with the vibrant butterflies serving as our guides. A fitting picture for a friendship of so many years..transformation, beauty, and love.

From the young mischievous girls we were together to the independent strong women we are today...so nice to know that the dusty past and vibrant future can co-exist as we still gain so much from each-other and our friendship.

I remember passing through the day - thinking "I am thankful for these moments - the closeness of a true friend, the possibilities of what we could explore together, the warm sun, the moving art, and the laughter......such is life!"

Repousse' repose, or however you spell it

The ancient art of Repousse and chasing is a way to get deeper grooves and designs into your pieces - essentially making a shallow bah relief. It is done using a pitch and in our case, a cast iron pan.

Foregoing the traditional tar Repouse which is pretty smelly and difficult to deal with, Adam uses a special kind of pine sap - which has no real odor, thankfully. The first step is to melt or soften the pitch - which is usually done with a torch making the top layer unusable for the future. My instructor, Adam has actually developed a technique that uses a nifty heat gun to soften the pitch instead.

Using this heat gun instead of a torch actually saves quite a bit of the pitch and makes it usable for future / additional projects.

The next step is to then brush baby oil onto the metal which keeps it from sticking and also turning the corners of the piece down. Using chasing tools, you can then proceed to create elaborate designs that can have depth in both directions as you flip the piece and add decorative elements on both sides. The effect is quite beautiful.

Its not something I've tried yet ....but on the list, ole'

i want to

Lessons in staying true to your creative self from a master

Just got through Hugh MacLeod's book Ignore Everyone - it is filled with wisdom, inspiration and truths that resonate. And it will have you LYAO.

Some particularly poignant points for me:
- Good ideas alter the power balance
- The sovereignty you have over your own work will inspire far more people than the actual content ever will
- Doing anything worthwhile takes forever (have learned this many times from the hours I put in to making each of my jewelry pieces)
- 90% of what separates successful people from those who fail are time, effort and stamina (interesting to note how talent doesn't necessarily factor as much as tenacity)
- Pillars are a hindrance
- Never sell anything you love (this is hard for me because I LOVE everything I make)
- The more you need money, the more people tell you what to do, the less control you have, the more BS you have to swallow, the less joy it will bring
- The creative urge is a primal calling- (now that I am back to making jewelry again, I know this to be true... I must create)
- The best way to get approval is not to need it
- Power is never given, but taken
- Beware of turning hobbies into jobs (since I've tried it, I can relate to this point...my goals this time around are much simpler, to simply fund my habit.. materials and class costs)

The book like all of Hugh's work is exceptional - brilliant, hilarious, and insightful. The "Ignore Everyone" Limited edition print you see below is available for purchase on his website.

Keys to creativity by Hugh MacLeod

return of the succulents

My signature piece is back...by request..succulents - an obsession of mine, those pretty green cacti -like plants that retain water and come in so many flower like forms.

Succulents happen to be great for casting, as are many natural organic forms - however succulents are so beautiful, they come out looking like beautiful silver flowers.

I picked a few succulents from the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate park and used them to create casts. The process is one where you attach a wax sprue to the flower, which will act as a canal for the molten silver to pass through as it fills the mold. The flower and sprue are then placed into a steel tube canister called a "flask".

The next step is to mix and create investment, a plaster-like material that is poured around the piece into the flask. Then the flask is placed into a kiln for 12 hours and all the organic material plus the wax is burned out.

There are a couple of different casting techniques that I am familiar with, one that uses centrifugal arm that is wound up and that shoots molten silver into the hollow form. The other uses vacuum power to suck the molten silver down through the piece to ensure a complete cast. Both techniques involve melting silver in a crucible to the point that it is liquid.

My original succulents were made with the centrifugal technique. I then had a professional caster make several replicas, which I could then use to create other pieces such as bracelets and necklaces. I used to sell these pieces in a few shops in San Francisco, my succulent ring is actually a part of my daily wear, so recently have gotten a few requests from friends and acquaintances for that same piece.

It's always interesting to get requests and a huge compliment, one of the things I find I need to work on is pricing out the true value of each piece. While many things can be found for cheaper in silver, because I hand make my pieces, I need to accurately and fairly estimate my time. While I love to make people happy and make them what they want, my time is limited and part of my love of jewelry is the creation of something new, so to make something already done involves an exchange of my time where I could be doing something else, and learning.

Either way, its great, flattering and fun - here's the latest succelent I made for Abbey, a slightly bigger version of my ring.

collaboration

Obviously inspiration comes in many forms, but at its base it is a re-interpretation of nature, objects, feelings into a different medium such as painting or in my case metal-smithing. One of the things I find exciting about my art, is the ability to transform something that currently exists in one form into something new. One of the ways I like to do this is through collaboration. Not that I've done much, but I definitely find much inspiration in other artists' work and love to share in the creative process with others.

A few years ago, I was able to collaborate with my friend Sirron Norris on a ring that I made for my brother. It involved etching his design onto a piece of metal and then forming it into a ring. It turned out amazing and its a shame that it got lost. But that experience has always stuck with me as a really fun and unique way to find inspiration from others and give their artwork an extension by transforming it into a different and utilitarian form.

Stay tuned, I have some ideas in mind for some collaborative efforts and eventually perhaps working with other artists more regularly in this way..if you know of anyone who's work could transcend other mediums - let me know.

Spider getting put to good use

My emotional attachment to a spider

I just finished my commissioned piece, the money clip and its funny even though I would never have any use for it - I am having trouble letting go. When I started making jewelry 5 years ago, I remember going through this same process...the investment of myself that goes into each piece is hard to let go of. My creations feel like part of me so letting go of them is a bit painful. I feel emotionally connected to them, which made me think of the Buddhist tenet - to be free of attachment means true freedom. Once you stop clinging and let things be, you'll be free, even of birth and death.

In the past, I got to a point where I was okay letting go and I am trying to find that place again. And there is a happiness in sharing my creations with friends and family (especially the nice ones that pay me - ha ha) so I guess in the end I will be okay in letting the spider go.

multi-tasking or A.D.D. ..and a spider comes to life

Coming up on my last class for the season and made the realization that I have a lot going on. I currently have about 5 ongoing pieces to finish still.

Here's a short list:
-Cuff bracelet inspired by Andy Goldworthy - still need to add a few more pieces and file the ends so they are not to spikey, its pretty cool
-A ring with dicroic glass made from a stamp I got from my mom's scrapbooking collection of supplies
-Same design, but most likely will make a pendant
-Still have hoop copper earrings that I enameled and am not quite happy with...might have to file off the color and see where that leaves me
-Some funky circular textured earrings I made from my copper / silver gate inspired disaster...not quite happy with the way they are laying
-Also did a mold of my cuff bracelet in order to make a couple of copies..since my mom keeps asking for one...and I may be able to sell another.
-And lastly a piece commissioned by my friend Chris, my very first since I've been making jewelry again :) Its a money clip.

I'm psyched because it is actually turning out to be very cool. It is inspired by the Nasca lines in Peru, which I am totally fascinated by although I've never been there. They are amazing drawings made in the the Peruvian desert that hold much mystery and intrigue. No one quite knows their meaning or how they got there - they can only be seen from the sky, each design is quite large and they range from images of birds to monkeys to a figure that looks like an astronaut. The design I picked is this spider. I took a copy of the design and copied onto acetate paper. Using an iron, I then placed my clean metal piece with the toner side down onto it on a hot iron and proceeded to push down on the design with a piece of leather.

This basically transfers the ink onto the metal. This picture is not of my piece but shows how its done
Here's what my spider looked like right before it was to go into the acid bath, with the design transferred onto the metal and the back covered with a special tape so to protect it from the acid.


The next step is to put the piece into an acid bath which will eat away at any metal that does not have any ink on it. And here it is in the acid bath. Everything in Adam's studio is a bit jimmy-rigged and this is no different, we used fishing wire to hang the piece design down in the acid and then set it on a machine that vibrates it to activate the acid (i think)


After etching it, I sawed its shape out and even cut out the lines around its body and legs. I am kind of rethinking the original concept because it is looking so cool, I think I like it standing on its own and having the clip attached to the spider's body but am not sure this is the right way to implement...need to discuss with Adam.

Here's the latest:

Maybe its the connection with Nasca or the fact that it is so bad-ass - either way, I'm really happy with the way it is turning out. Even though in Peru, these are quite the touristy symbols (like cable cars are to SF) ..I think they are so cool and think I see another monkey, bird or spider in my future.

recycled ring

Since I am almost done with my silver wire, I had been collecting silver scraps and unused pieces to melt down to have for my next project. So it was coincidental, that I saw a friend wearing a ring that was silver-plated and it literally made me gasp - eek, "silver plated, you have got to be kidding." So,I offered to redo one of the pieces from my "melting scraps" him.

Recently Adam had shown us a way to make rings smaller using a hydraulic press and metal dapping block. As you press the bottom plate up against the top with the press and ring inside - it essentially squeezes the inside, shrinking it in size. The problem that we encountered was that with a ring so think, the shape can start to get distorted which was happening with my ring - making it lopsided. We were able to partially resolve the shape by taking the punch and hammer the sides. The punch which looks like a rectangular block with a circle on it was also what I was using to create a concave shape (comfort fit). Only problem was that the more I used the punch, the larger the ring got - getting me to my original problem - it being too big.

After all that effort expended, ended up having to cut a segment of the ring and re-solder it shut. Then I cleaned the join up so it no longer showed a seam. After that I spent a lot of time sanding the top and bottom of the ring on a sheet of sand paper. The simple repetitive motion kind of put me into a meditative state. It was quite relaxing and seemed to release the tensions of the day. I often feel like that when I am making something..so totally engrossed in the process - I am not thinking of anything but that particular task - truly feels like I am in the present.



After some time sanding and meditating :) I went back to creating the concave form. Supposedly this also creates what's called a comfort fit ring. After it was formed, I felt the design still needed something to draw the eye to the center..something to accentuate the form so I stamped the center with punch..it created a pretty cool design. After I added some liver of sulfer, which darkened the design and gave it a nice contract.


It turned out looking pretty cool - I was afraid it might come out being too big, but my friend Sam - really liked it. And was able to get rid of his crappy silver-plated one.

Goldsworthy Inspired Cuff

My cuff is coming along - this week, Adam introduced me to a nifty tool called a cup burr that I used to round the sharp edges of my bracelet. Here, I thought I was going to have to file each of the sharp edges down using a file or sand paper. Which would have taken hours on each point. With this tool, I was able to round the points in a matter of 1-2 minutes.

I'm liking the progress but realized when I went to shape the cuff around my wrist a couple of issues...
1) its not lengthy enough and
2) the edges around the inside of my wrist are quite sharp...so I guess I'll need to add a few more pieces of silver.

Slow going - but it looks pretty cool. Kind of like Japanese writing or calligraphy - also has kind of a retro 80's feel. I like it, just hope its functional. Another challenge, striking the balance between form, beauty and intrigue.

Couldn't have said it better myself

Thought these words were incredibly deep and inspiring - came from a friend reacting to my post about the element of surprise at final outcomes..

"....it is not about knowing what I am doing so much as just opening to the small and quiet intuitions and images and the big, loud, and crushing ones- that the best things come out of something too complex and mysterious to ever completely master or understand. art like love and living life well has to do with imagination and trust and not so much knowing or certainty, courage and grace and not so much power and will."

inspiration

I am constantly inspired, by so much - looking around nature, cool iron gates. I really love rocks - especially the tiny ones from Baker Beach, shells, flowers, succulents, pods - I'm lucky that I can find inspiration almost anywhere if i take the time to slow down and look around and observe.

I find Andy Goldsworthy's work amazing. Its beautiful, surprising, and fleeting. His works of nature within nature are incredible and awe inspiring to me. Lucky for me - a small art studio in my alley feels the same - they created a piece that is obviously Andy - and seeing it inspired me to want to make it in silver, in my current obsession with cuff bracelets.

The original inspiration comes from a piece that Andy does where he suspends twigs from each-other using only the thorns and tiny branches from the twig itself. He does a piece with his signature circular design and also does entire walls as an installation in a museum.

One of the things I love about art is the suspension of belief, the tricks the eye can play on you or even the mind as it struggles to comprehend the complexity and beauty of a piece of art. To me that is what makes a great artist, or at least what I am drawn to ...beauty and surprise together make my mind swirl and swoon. That's what I hope to convey in my pieces as well..Something of interest yet beautiful, something that makes you wonder - how did it come to be?

I'm starting with my wire again. This is the last of the wire that I originally pulled from the ingot I made from melting down all my old silver scraps in my first session back. I started by sawing roughly 15-20 1-1.5" pieces. Using the building picture as my guide,I slightly bent the pieces and started to play with their placement. I thought soldering 2 pieces to eachother at a time and then putting them together would be the right technique. I now have a quite a few clusters done and I think the challenge with this piece will be to be able to piece these disparate clusters together in a way that keeps the entire piece in balance and while this piece does not have the same symmetry as my last one - I think aesthetically keeping it balanced will be important. Another challenge I see with this piece is perhaps its functionality...I will need to work on smoothing the edges with a file and hope that they will be comfortable on a wrist...also Adam pointed out - it will be a sweater snagger..oh no!

jesus te ama

okay this is no place for religion, but this tiled wall is right outside my jewelry class and for some reason speaks to me. i can't deny it.

sometimes its okay to walk away

Funny, I never thought I would be learning about myself and life through making jewelry - but somehow I am. Partially, I think having an external perspective that of a blogger and wanting to bring my audience (ha ha, what audience?) something more than a technical walk-through of every piece is making me be a bit more retrospective I guess.

The recent piece I was working on was an extension of my study of iron gates. I had planned to take the circular design in this picture and recreate it using mixed metals. I also wanted it to have a more organic shape so was planning on hammering it to create texture and distort it a bit.

I started by creating copper and silver rings out of wire. And soldering the pieces together, everything looked on track. And execution didn't seem too hard. But once I started hammering to apply texture the piece, it started to fall apart - the hammering made the solder brittle causing it to crack and split in certain areas. I went through the process at least 5 times... Cleaning off old solder with a moore's disc and re-soldering, then re-hammering.
It was getting frustrating, what should have been a fairly easy piece, one that wasn't going to take too long - instead was becaming very cumbersome. At the same time, aesthetically it wasn't working for me. I wasn't liking the mixed metal combo and when I tried the partially finished piece on my wrist, just wasn't really digging it. So - I gave up. And I'm okay with it.

This got me to thinking of times when its okay to give up or walk away from something- Sometimes it takes as much strength to do that as to stick with something. Here's my short list of when its okay to walk away from something:

When you are not liking the final outcome - in this case it was aesthetic..but the final product could take the shape of many things...a friendship, a project, a career path. When you realize you're not liking the final product, whenever in the process that is - I think its okay to stop and move on to something else.

When the process is causing frustration or pain. If you are doing yourself more harm than good by sticking with something..its probably best to quit. Smoking comes to mind, as does working out while injured.

When you'd rather be doing something else. Your time is precious...well i know mine is and in a 3 hour a week jewelry class - it becomes ever more apparent. Spend time on projects I care about, not on ones I've lost interest in.

I've walked away or given up on situations before, but then I've also stuck things out - when you invest so much time, effort and care into something, its hard to walk away..but sometimes its for the best.

When you do you think its okay to be a quitter?

Completion, surprise and satisfaction

Finally finished my piece and I am happily surprised with the finished product. My last class, I had finished soldering all the pieces, but the bracelet still needed a lot of clean-up. There was a lot of solder around all the joins that needed to be filed down. The clean-up process involved using a fine moore's disk attached to a flexible shaft with a foot pedal that controls the speed of the disk rotation...makes for a quick efficient way to file edges and clean up pieces. It is important to apply an upward motion when using the Moores' disk, otherwise you can end up with multiple uneven grooves. I probably went through about 10 moore's disks s I removed the solder that had flowed in and around the joins and also smoothed out the edges and angles.

After using the moore's disk I then switched to a rubber buff that removed additional sharp edges. This tool was able to get me inside the smaller angles and remove some of the imperfections caused by joins that were not perfect matched...with perfectly flat angles. The next step was to then take the piece and apply a finishing buff on a polishing motor machine. This last step was combined with a polishing compound that I would apply to the buff itself every 30 seconds or so...and created a nice sheen, which while not overly shiny gives the piece a somewhat relaxed, sexy luster.

I then took the polished piece and using a raw-hide mallet hammered around a cuff mandrel rotating it up and down as I hammered it to keep it even.

The final piece looks nothing like I imagined...its funky and kind of hippie chic, as opposed to the symmetrical, structured composition I was drawing inspiration from. Once I took the shape and formed it into a cuff, it took on an entirely different look from what I had expected. But I love it. It is precisely that element of surprise that is so satisfying for me..to think a piece will look a certain way and have it come out so differently, yet still beautiful and unique. After so many hours invested truly gives me both pride and happiness.

fuego

Molten silver about to be poured into a cast - the fire and liquid silver are mesmerizing. Fuego!

symmetry and the start of something new - torch enamel

My bracelet continues to take shape...piece by piece and it is now pretty much done. Adam helped me finish it by using wire solder to fill in the gaps within the multiple joins which make up the piece. Stick solder is a different animal than regular solder but when used correctly, can work miracles.

The next steps will be pure clean-up: Filing, removing visible solder, and using a moore's disk to clean the edges.

In the meantime, I also started a quick turn-around project. Think everyone needs these small projects to keep busy and also for the instant gratification they provide. So I am making some Spanish inspired copper hoops that I've added texture to and will also be adding color to through a process called "torch enameling"

Enameling seems to work best on copper. And adding texture
to the piece can really make the color pop even more.

I used a kick press to cut out the smaller circles of my hoops and then a saw to cut the outer circles. I then filed the edges to make them smooth and added texture by hammering the metal using a raw-hide mallet and metal stamp. Fun to get my aggressions out :)

The earrings are relatively simple project which I think I needed since my other piece is so complex. I'm also excited to learn how to torch enamel, I have done bit of enameling in the past but used a kiln instead. My next step will be to test out some of the enamel colors to see which I like best - I'm thinking I'd like them to have a translucent orange / yellow look to them.

patience is a virtue

More and more I am learning that in life the things that are worth it take time and patience to achieve. and once again with jewelry I am reminded of the same thing...the way things were going with my piece, I was starting to feel that it was coming together..and it is, but not without its mishaps such as me melting one of the main silver wires ..sad, here's the picture. So I actually had to cut it out and solder in an entirely new piece. I really thought it might be entirely ruined so I was happy to see that it could be fixed, thankfully. Patience goes hand in hand perseverance (or "heart" as MMA Faestro calls it) and that is what I keep getting reminded of.

I am also learning the same lesson in fitness, where after 5 years of training..and staying pretty much at the same level, I am now making strides I never thought possible..(I can do 5 pull-ups!!). Yep , just had to brag.

My piece is progressing, but at one point, I did feel I had bitten off a bit much. It's quite complex and now comes the point of needing to be very precise. Each small piece of wire that I saw for the design is actually being cut with an angle so that it fits nicely without any gap or space into its place. Also with the soldering process itself, I need to be very careful not to melt the other pieces as I apply heat for on each join waiting for the solder to flow. The key is simply to to proceed one step at a time. Think visualizing the end-result is good, I can see it in my head, I know I will get there..

In general - this thing called patience...I'm loving the results - in my head, my body and my mood. I know my secret recipe to happiness now, which includes fitness, having a creative outlet, and being surrounded my peeps, who appreciate that I'm sometimes a show-off and like to flex my muscles :)

And all is good

symmetry inspired by entrances

"It's like riding a bike... once you learn, you never forget" (for those of you that know me - that saying holds special meaning). Happily, the same holds true for jewelry design as well.

This week, I began my project - the creation of a silver cuff bracelet inspired by SF iron door gates. I took a piece of paper and cut the size I wanted for my bracelet, from there I redrew the design to fit within the space.

The first step was to build the frame of the bracelet. I chose to go with a thicker gauge wire for the frame than for the interior of the piece. I opted for the 10 gauge wire. Rather than trying to solder 4 pieces of wire together to form a rectangle, I used just 2 pieces of wire which were then each folded to form a letter "L" and by placing them together - create the rectangular frame. Adam showed me a technique he uses to ensure a 90 degree angle. First you saw a small triangular wedge where the corners will meet. Then you fold the pieces of the metal together until they meet. Since this first cut is not likely to get you to 90 degrees, you then simply take a saw blade and saw into the fold like in the picture.
After passing the blade a few times you are then able to close the gap more until you finally get to a 90 degree angle.

The next step was to solder both the corners I had just created as well and then solder the 2 "L" shaped pieces to eachother to create the rectangle. As a general rule of thumb, you will always start out with Hard solder, which has the highest melting temperature of the 3 types of solder with Medium being next, then Easy. I will be using Medium solder for the rest of my piece but am a bit concerned - because I have so many elements to solder in my design - each time you solder, there is a chance you will undo one of the previous joins.

The process for soldering is to add flux to the entire piece - this enables the solder to melt and to flow into the joins and also prevents the metal from oxidizing. You then heat the entire piece with the torch to dry the flux. Once the flux is dry, you can add the solder pieces to the places you want to join - in my case it was each corner of my rectangle. You then heat the piece up again until the solder melts and flows into the areas to be sealed.

Everytime you solder or even heat metal up with a torch - you need to quench it in a water bath. The next step is to put it into what's called a "pickle" which is a sulfuric acid bath that helps to clean the piece. After a few minutes in the bath, you then transfer it to a baking soda and water bath which neutralizes the acid - from there it goes into a plain water bath and you're ready to solder again.

After finishing my rectangle frame, I was ready to tackle the interior where most of the design and soldering will happen. I then went back to the original wire I had created from my first class and started to assemble my pieces. One of the challenges I quickly ran into was that it is extremely hard to make wire pieces straight. I used a raw hide mallet to hit the wire at the same time I was rolling it on a steel plate to do so, but then Adam, suggested we try another technique - brute force....here's a pic of him pulling, actually snapping it straight with all his strength. It worked and made my wire stick straight as well as shiny!

I am actually quite pleased with my progress as I can see the bracelet taking shape and form and I know I will love it. I hope that the soldering doesn't turn into too big of a challenge, but think I can probably apply something like yellow ocher which will protect the already joined pieces from coming apart with the heat.. I may try to do that.

As I went through the construction process - I started to remember some of what I love so much about the process itself. The challenge - seeing something that is difficult to create, but getting through each step takes you closer and you can feel the reward (the finished project) is near...it is very satisfying.

Acquiring the skill set takes time, and putting complex pieces together also takes time both to plan and to construct. Patience and dedication....not wanting for results instantly but knowing that with work, focus, and patience they will come guess that is what I am relearning this 2nd go around.



And here we are...looking good :)

Metalsmithing.. back at it

After a 3 year hiatus from making jewelry, I've decided to take it back up again - it is really my true passion - I love the process from start to finish and seeing what grows from my hands and mind is always a surprise and wonder.

I've started taking classes again with my old instructor Adam Clark - who is actually an amazing artist that i draw so much inspiration from. Because of him I have been able to make creations that I never knew I was capable of making. So I am excited to be in his class again. This session, I will be focusing on making a series of silver cuff-bracelets that are inspired by the iron door gates in and around San Francisco. So the foundation for my bracelets will be silver wire that I mold and form into these unique shapes..some of them will be symmetrical, others more organic and I may also play with hammering or rolling them to create flatness or different effects.

This last Wednesday, I spent most of the time in class recycling old silver scraps that i had accumulated. The process involved first melting all of the scraps in a ceramic crucible - once the silver was liquid - i took the crucible and poured it into a cast iron mold that created an ingot about the width of a pencil and about 5 inches long.

Once I had the ingot, my next step was to then roll it into wire. You have to take the ingot and thread it through various notches back and forth on the machine - after about 4 pass-throughs the metal will start to harden and need to be annealed. Silver is pretty malleable but will get hard the more contact it has with other metals or if it is hammered (there is a more scientific explanation that I'll dig up some day). That's why annealing is important - you basically heat the silver again and get it to the point where it is soft enough to work.

After about 1 hour of pulling wire through this machine I had about 8 feet of wire less than a millimeter wide. However the machine does not make the wire perfectly circular so it needed to be pulled again, this time through a draw-plate that made the wire round, shiny even smaller in diameter. I haven't measured it but I probably have about 12 feet of wire which I imagine should be good for at least 3 cuff bracelets if not more.

I haven't fully decided which design to do first but I'm thinking this symmetrical design will look cool as a bracelet.