New Camera
Posted by Administrator on Jan 14, 2008
My old digital camera (a Sony Cybershot that I had for almost 4 years) broke, and since I’m running a business that operates partly online, I really needed to replace it quickly. I liked the old one a lot - it was easy to use, and took pretty good pictures of my jewelry, as well as my husband’s artwork, and was a great point-and-shoot for vacations, holidays, and pics of my pregnant belly over the last seven months.
Well - I replaced it with a Nikon D40, and I have to say, I never knew taking pictures could be this easy. It is a DSLR, so it has all kinds of manual controls that I could use if I knew more about photography, but what I love about it is that, set to automatic, and with the lens set to autofocus, it does a really good job on its own. I haven’t had time to really play with it and see what it can do, but here are a few jewelry pictures I shot over the weekend.
This one is a resin pendant I made a while ago. Resin can be tough to photograph, because it is so shiny there tends to be glare. For this shot, I just put the pendant on a background outside & snapped a few shots. I think it looks pretty good.
This is a close-up of an earring I made recently. I have always had trouble getting decent pictures of earrings for some reason, but I think this one isn’t bad. I think better lighting would have improved the shot, but it’s better than most of my previous attempts using the old camera.
I didn’t edit these at all, except to crop out the excess background. Oh yeah - both pieces are for sale in my etsy store.
Here’s a link to the camera on Amazon: Nikon D40 6.1MP Digital SLR Camera Kit with 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6G ED II AF-S DX Zoom-Nikkor Lens
New jewelry headed to Oklahoma
Posted by Administrator on Dec 30, 2007
I just sent off a few new pieces to Exhibit One Gallery in Stillwater, Oklahoma. Here is one of the necklaces, a one of a kind piece that will be for sale there in January:
It is made from Argentium sterling silver, a type of sterling silver formulated to resist tarnishing longer than regular sterling silver. It is accented with natural colored freshwater pearls, one on a handmade fine silver head pin, and a pale pink rose quartz.
Fused Pendant - Finished or Not?
Posted by Administrator on Sep 7, 2007
I just can’t decide if this fused piece is finished or not. It is scraps of Argentium sterling silver with a freshwater pearl dangle. I actually did the fusing months ago, and wasn’t sure what to do with the resulting piece of metal. Yesterday at my studio, I decided to drill two holes - one to add a bail and one to add a pearl dangle - and this is the result. I can’t decide if I love it or hate it.
What I like about it: the industrial look of the metal in contrast with the pearl, the texture of fused metal, the fact that the sheet was a scrap leftover from a pierced piece I made and the wire bits and granules were also recycled from other projects.
What I’m not sure about: I can’t quite put my finger on it, but I feel that the piece could be a lot stronger with some very minor modifications - if only I could decide what those modifications were.
Jewelry 101: Making Headpins
Posted by Administrator on Aug 8, 2007
I enjoy making my own silver head pins by melting a ball of metal at the end of a piece of wire. It’s fairly easy to do, and enables you to always have the length you need in the gauge you need for a project.
I use a slightly different technique depending on which type of silver I’m using - sterling, fine, or Argentium. Whichever metal you use, you will need a torch. I use a propane torch, but butane torches also work, although for thicker wire it can be hard to get the flame of the butane torch big/hot enough. Other options are acetylene/oxygen and oxygen/propane, but butane and propane torches are cheap & available at the hardware store.
Using fine silver is the easiest, because you don’t need flux or pickle, just a torch and some tweezers to hold the wire. A heat-resistant surface to let your headpins cool is desirable, and always be safe and use proper ventilation and eye protection when using a torch. Cut a piece of wire slightly longer than you want your headpin to be - maybe 1/2 inch longer. Hold one end of the wire with the tweezers, with the other end of the wire pointing down. Point the torch flame at the end of the wire that is away from your tweezers, and watch a little ball of metal appear! The longer you keep the torch there, the bigger the ball will be - but if it gets too big, it might fall off, so be careful.
I like to use Argentium silver for making headpins. With Argentium, I use basically the same process, except I used the tiniest little bit of flux on the wire end where I’m making the ball. If you use too much flux, you’ll have flux residue, which has to be removed, but if you use just enough, you’ll end up with a nice looking head pin that doesn’t require clean-up at all. If the wire above the ball gets slightly discolored, quickly passing the flame over the discolored part will usually turn the wire silver again.
With regular sterling silver, there is always some clean-up involved, unless you are going for the oxidized (black metal) look. I don’t bother with flux, and start by following the same process as for fine silver. You end up with a head pin that has a very blackened end. This can be cleaned up by soaking in pickle, or by using an abrasive to polish off the oxidation. I like to use a piece of a green kitchen scrubber sponge to polish off most of the oxidation, leaving a slightly rough look. If I want my headpins to be perfectly shiny, I don’t usually use sterling, since it’s easier to get nice shiny head pins with fine silver or Argentium, but if you want clean and shiny sterling head pins, use pickle to remove oxidation, and then toss the finished head pins in a tumbler with stainless steel shot and water for a few minutes.
You can also make head pins by bending the end of a piece of wire into a nice looking shape, such as a spiral. All you need for this method are some pliers and a little practice bending the wire into the shape you want without marking it. When I make head pins this way, I like to lightly hammer the shape I’ve made to harden the wire a little bit.
New Pendant
Posted by Administrator on Jun 6, 2007
I’ve been working on a new pendant style, which is based on knots. I start by making a knot with wire, then permanently fuse the ends of the wire together, creating a knot that can’t be untied. This is the first finished knot pendant, and I’m really happy with how it turned out.
Recent events have reminded me how impermanent every aspect of life can be. One thing that I explore through my jewelry work is the contrast between the durability of metal and the open, airy, delicate look of many of my metal designs. I like to keep some negative space in my jewelry, using wire in a way that mimics vines, seaweed, or a curled lock of hair - delicate, impermanent, movable states that I try to capture with the wire, the same way a photograph preserves a moment in time. Some things are beautiful because they are temporary and fluid, like water. This is what inspires many of my wire jewelry designs.
If I can evoke movement in my designs, they feel more beautiful. I’m inspired by the state an object is in while it is moving or changing, the moment when something about it is perfect because in a few seconds it will have changed forever.
