Lace Box

The third project in Metals class was to make a box. So I thought "Oh, a camera box would be fun- I'll have lots of time to make something more complicated" and designed this:

I was really tempted to make it in paper and call it good! The front part would come out like a drawer and house some little photo artifacts of bygone days- BD, or Before Digital. There would be a little hook and eye to keep the drawer shut. And maybe a back piece that opened to show an old photo.

So I started on that, rollerprinting copper with a canvas texture. But I didn't get far- I'd forget my toolbox or forget stuff in the car. One day I sent half an hour searching for the metal I'd prepared, only to find it hiding in my backpack- I thought I was going crazy!

And then I hit other snags- like Mom in the hospital. And me being sick. And Hanky needing surgery. And then it became a matter of getting something done to turn in.

Crit was terrible- no one had anything finished. Including me. That doesn't happen. I was disappointed and embarrassed. But I got an extension to turn it in after the weekend and busted my butt to finish it in time.

It's a little harder to make square boxes then round boxes so I redesigned and made this:

I was inspired by the pin/earring/necklace pewter boxes that I had as a child. Those were a bit hokey though. I rollerprinted lace into the copper. I soldered and made a lid and base that actually fit together pretty well (you can't see the ring on the underside of the lid) which is a bit tricky with metal. The flowers are not permanently attached, you can take them off and wear them as pins. I rollered the copper to be thin, cut out my shapes, filed the edges and then hammered the edges to make them even thinner. Then I used a dappling block (a metal cube with different sizes of bowl shapes cut out of it) to hammer my flat shapes into a cupped flower shape.

There are holes drilled in the walls of the base so that one can string it and wear it as a pendant if desired. I didn't have time to add anything inside, but maybe I'll put a flower in there in the future. I applied patina and sanded it away just enough to really show the lace pattern. I sanded the edges and bottom to make them a brighter color for contrast.

Overall, I like my box and I'd like to do my camera still. I'm pleased that I figured out on my own how to solder the flowers and that it worked! I strung the flowers onto the wire and hung them upside down from steel cross-locking tweezers and applied solder to where the wire met the bottom flower. It flowed and worked! Then I had to twist the wire to work harden it, the heat from the torch anneals it to make it soft and you can't have a floppy pin back or it will bend and break. Then I filed the ends to be pointy enough to go through a shirt (but not too pointy!). They're held in the lid with little chunks of eraser for now.

I have a good amount of lace-textured copper left over- I should make a bracelet or something with it. I think it's pretty funny to make such girly stuff with non-girly materials and tools- metal and files and hammers and whatnot.

It's fun making stuff with big girl toys- like torches!

Oh Snap!

So the second project in my metals class was to make a ring or a pin or a pendant. You had to sweat solder an element, which is soldering a flat piece of metal to another flat piece of metal. You were to use your 1x3" sheet of sterling silver (you could add copper if you wanted, brass does not bond well to real silver) which costs $22 (versus $8 for 6x6"of copper) and was a little nerve wracking to cut into.

I was pretty busy at this point in time and nothing fabulous came to me so I went with the best idea I had- a camera ring:

I cut out a teeny tiny camera shape (with flashbulb), hammered the flashbulb into a rounded shape, and sweat soldered it to the band while it was still in strip form. I textured the camera and the band. Then comes the challenging part: aligning the ends of the band perfectly so there's no gap and soldering the ring together without undoing what I'd already soldered. Whew, I did it!

People got a kick out of having this on the side, wish I had an exclamation point stamp:

The other side had some random texture- what I'd tried for (hammering "film holes" didn't work so it just became this:

And I "signed" it with an E. It still cracks me up when people ask why there's an E on my things....HELLO!

Then there was filing/clean up work and I antiqued it with liver of sulfur so you could see the texture and lettering.

I was sick for part of this project, so I missed some work time. And I wasn't terribly motivated. I was happy just to have something to turn in. I like the ring, but it's not really resolved. At critique people liked it, but thought it could have been better, which is how I felt. I look at it as being a practice piece of sorts. I wound up getting a C+ on it. I was bummed about the C, but you can't win them all. Thankfully this project isn't weighted as heavily as the others, though this means I have to kick butt the rest of the semester. Other people made better rings, other people did worse, I was in the middle. Some people really didn't think things through- a loop for a heavy pendant that is too low will just make your pendant flip over!

The other issue I had was that cutting teeny tiny things out is hard- especially for me cause I have nerve damage in my hands. Sterling silver is softer and was more slippery to saw through then brass or copper, which didn't help. My teacher knew I was sick, but she doesn't know about my hands and I didn't want to sound like I'm copping out or making up excuses. It's frustrating.  

There's times like this that I wish I could cast things instead of fabricate them to get volume. This is one of those times. At least this ring is more comfortable/wearable than the rings I casted in the past! Those turned out big and heavy.

So I still have a bit of silver left (and really $22 isn't bad if I want to do more) so I'll have to figure out what to do with it! Maybe a pendant or another ring...

Next project? Metal boxes! Maybe I'll try another camera...



The Pin of E

The first assignment for my Fabricating class was to construct something out of sheet metal (copper, brass and nickel silver are your options) using rivets- lengths of tubing or wire that you hammered to make stuff stay in place.

You either had to have a moveable piece or have a depth of at least a quarter of an inch. I decided to make myself a pin using both metals and fabric- the challenge being to have them work well together. It's often difficult to mix media and have it be successful.

The original idea was to have some pieces of photos and negatives riveted in there as well but that didn't pan out. My negatives were too brittle and kept breaking since I was bending them on the curved inner piece. I think I will have to design a flatter pin in order for that to work. The wheels in my head are spinning...

Like most projects, it evolved as I went along. I do like the "E" that I sawed/drilled on the leaf on the left. I backed it with nickel silver to really show the contrast. I started with it first, then did the other leaf, pounding texture into it. I love the rolled edge on the shantung silk- that was a happy accident when I ripped a strip to make the ruffle. The second layer in is pink cotton, which frays when torn.

This is the trial look with the negatives- too busy and no real good way to rivet on a curve, so away they went. This also shows that the copper looked disgusting with the pink until I applied a patina to the metal. I bought several colors of pink fabric because I didn't know what color would look best.

 

You really never know what you're going to get with a patina- sometimes it turns out brown or purple or whatnot. This time it turned my metal black instantly, which turned out to be serandipitous. I sanded back the black so it remained in the crevices yet still left the metal purplish and not bright orange.

Here's a view from the back- I riveted the pin back on, then the leaves and then the other pieces through the middle- a challenge with the cupped in front. Riveting is always easier with two flat surfaces.



I liked how it turned out and do have plans to wear it to upcoming YSA conferences. I have a new gray blazer that I had in mind when selecting the coloring. I had critique today and it went well- mine was one of the more "complete" offerings. My teacher said that she liked this about the best of the metal work she's seen me do (she was also my teacher for Casting two years ago) because it was more personal and interesting.

I like how it combines a lot of the things that I like, that it's a rather personal pin. I love a vintage look and I love making these kind of ruffle flowers. I love fabric. And I love typeography, which is represented in the scrollwork "E". The "E" isn't terribly obvious, it's like a little secret.

It was kinda funny that so many people asked me "Why is there an "E" on your piece?" And I would have to say "Well, E is for Elizabeth" and they would feel so stupid! It's funny to me that everyone knows me as Liz out here- it's almost like having a different personality!

Update

Well, I've now survived two whole weeks of school. I'm taking Art History (Post war to present), Art Ed, Bio 101 (dang core classes), Fabricating Metals and Woodshop. I like my metals and woodshop the best so far. I have the same teacher as when I took casting two years ago, and I enjoy her. This time around we're manipulating sheets of metal into stuff. I'm riveting these days. ;) Let's hope I can solder better this time around!

This is what I've done so far in class- my practice rivet piece. I think I'm doing a floral pin for my real project. I did a tube rivet at the top so I can put it on a necklace. It turned out kinda big so it'll really be some bling! I'm not really crazy about mixing metals or the hammered texture on the brass, but having a texture was a requirement. I do like the silhouette. The silhouette came from my print last semester, and the outline for the frame came from the gold frame I spraypainted black!

In woodshop I'm learning how to use hand carving tools (while trying *not* to carve my hand) while making an "alien fruit vessel" which is a silly project. I'm basically making something that my teacher will like because I feel so uninspired by this project. The rest of the semester will be spent making a table and I have several ideas floating through my head for that. I'm much more excited for that.

This art history class is about modern art and my teacher is a bit too right brained, she makes little sense and is hard to follow.

My dear friends John and Nancy (from my mission) came to see me Labor Day weekend- we had a nice weekend though I was a bit stressed from having started school. I also worried too much about entertaining them. It made me feel good about myself that people were willing to drive ten hours to come see me. I was excited for my dad to meet John, since they can totally talk shop. Unfortunately Mom was still in CA at the time so she missed out on seeing them. I took them to Presque Isle and then we ate lunch at Quaker Steak & Lube. They got a big kick out of all the car/motorcycle stuff everywhere. It was a nice day.

It was SO windy, we didn't make it to the other lighthouse! Could hardly breathe.

This weekend I got to go to the Sparty Fair with my sis- it's such a little fair that you can do it all in an hour and a half! Love it. We went when it was dark so I could photograph the rides in motion. We also rode a carousel that was SO clunky- you had to hang on for dear life! Something very wrong with it's motor/mechanism.

It was a chilly night, I was glad to have a coat! I rode this ride and I timed it perfect so I was the last one on (instead of having to dangle at the top while it got loaded) but didn't fare so well when unloading. A little nervewracking!

I used to help run a ride just like this when I worked at Enchanted Village many moons ago. Good times.

Well, that's all for now. September and October are filling up fast!

Final Project

Here's the two pieces I did for my final project in art. I did a pendant and a ring using wax butterflies that I molded from a plastic butterfly. I had plans to do a bracelet as well, but that proved to be too difficult for the short time allotted. I received a B, better than what I thought I'd get. I like butterflies, what can I say?

Ladybug Ring

I finally got my ring back from the display case- here's my latest finished creation. It's a ladybug (of course) on a leaf. The leaf looks a lot like a surfboard, I know, but I didn't have any wider wax to make my model from. I antiqued it so you can see the details a bit better. On Tuesday my next project is due- I have a bunch of cleanup work to do!

I really love this class- I've been wanting to learn how to cast metal since I was in high school! I was never able to take it then. My grandfather used to do this kind of stuff as well and has all the equipment in his garage...hmmmm....

I didn't make all butterfly jewelry, aren't you proud of me?