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.

the need for art in my life

Had a huge revelation recently, one that I've had before and had just forgotten -the need for art in my life.

When I moved to Marin, for a variety of reasons, I stopped making jewelry... The funny thing is that Metalsmithing or jewelry-making was what at one time I felt was my true passion, perhaps it still is and I've just lost touch. Or it could also be that jewelry or crafting or creating art in general is for me a meditation. Art takes me to a different place and with jewelry especially - it always fascinated me to see the creations that would take shape before my very eyes, sometimes unexpectedly - I wonder if every artist feels this way?

Tonight, I took a first step - contacting my former jewelry instructor - Adam Clark, a genius that inspired me beyond belief. His creations bewilder the mind..in a good way. And because of him, I too was able to create pieces that bewildered and delighted (me at least)...my favorite being a pinwheel ring that actually spins when you blow it and of course my famous succulent collection. I need to dig up or take new pics so I can share.

I'm excited to get back to art, whether its jewelry or not or even glass etching that I love so much - it has been missing in my life and will no doubt enrich it again.

What place does art hold in your life? Do you like to behold and enjoy art for art's sake or do you get lost in the process of creation?

why glass etching is one of the best crafts invented

I love crafting, and i love the idea of personalized gifts. glass etching has always been one of my favorite crafts because its so easy yet the results are classy, pretty, cool and can be personalized in many ways. One of my favorite gifts to give is glass-wear with a person's initials - i think guys seem to like this gift maybe more than women - for a woman i might add flowers, bamboo or any number of pretty adornments.

the results are subtle yet really beautiful. I've also experimented with different colors of glass which also provide a neat effect - light blue in particular

To start you'll want to buy some glass etching cream..I've found Armour Etch to be the best leaving the nicest finish , but there are many brands out there that you can try - even leaving different finishes such as silver or gold glitter varieties from "Plaid" But I think simple is better and have found those to not leave as great an imprint as the Armour Etch.

Next you'll want to get a stencil, or other type of sticky design maker - masking tape works great for lines, hole punch protectors work great for polka dots, and there are all kinds of specially made stencils just for glass etching which are re-usable as opposed to a sticker which is only good for one use. For my project I used these alphabet stickers - using their outline as a stencil.


Next just place the stencil on the glass where you want your design - remember it is the hollow of the design that you'll want to etch or inside.

Then just take a brush and fill in the space left by the stencil - leave on for 10 minutes and remove the stencil - and voilà - you're left with a beautiful personalized gift.

These glasses are a present for a friend with the initials N.F. - let's hope he likes them.