Thursday, October 27, 2011

Bead Table Wednesday--It's Here!

My new anvil arrived today. 



BTW-10/26/11

Here it is fresh out of the box.  It's a 35 pound anvil from Cliff Carroll's Horseshoers Supplies.  I think I'm going to be very pleased with it.  


I went to BeadFest in Arlington, TX recently and acquired some more hammers and other things, including this  very small Fretz hammer.  I'm going to use it to do things like the cuffs, only in minature.  I have earring sized fold forming projects in mind. 


BTW-10/26/11

That cuff in between the hammers is the reason why I got the anvil.  I had to anneal it about six times and it took forever because my little 4 inch bench block was bouncing around when I hit it. It was fun to make, though, and I'm going to do some more. 


I showed at Red River Revel in Shreveport earlier this month.  I've done it for several years and it's always a great show.  The weather was fantastic this year.



Red River Revel 2011--my booth

My son, Stefan,  came with me this year to help out. It was nice not being by myself. As soon as he saw the camera he started looking everywhere but at me.




booth detail at Red River Revel 2011

Here's a better shot of the cuff from earlier in the post.  I believe this is called a Rutger fold.  The red is reflected color from the tent we were in.




fold formed cuff

Here's another cuff I had at the show.  I really liked how it turned out.  The red on this cuff is from fire scale.  It was so pretty I left it on.  It was one of the first cuffs to sell at the show. 



fold formed cuff with red fire scale

And here's a pendant in progress that is a mystery.  I did finish this pendant and it sold at the show.  I didn't put the liver of sulphur patina on it until I got to the hotel in Shreveport though.  (Nothing like working until the very last minute.)  This is where the mystery comes in.  The liver of sulphur made a very brilliant iridescent patina on the brass, and a more muted patina on the copper. 



pendant in progress

The patina was a lot more colorful in person than this photo shows. I put more LOS on the copper portion to darken it, and removed the brilliant fuchsia and blues from the brass with steel wool.  The brilliant colors just didn't go with the stone.  I really want to recreate this on some more brass.  I have no idea how it happened.  If you've used LOS before you know it doesn't do much for brass.  I have a few ideas and I'm going to experiment. 


I have a book review on a great new book, Craft Activism, coming up shortly with a giveaway.  And I'm going to have another giveaway to celebrate reaching 100 followers on the blog.  Stay tuned. 


As always, check out the other bead tables on Flickr:



12 comments:

Sharyl said...

Leslie, I don't know about that anvil! You may want to consider getting a model like mine! Check it out:

Sharyl's Anvil

Seriously, enjoy your new anvil! Glad you had fun at the craft show with your son too! --Sharyl

Diane said...

Cool cuffs Leslie, and love the new anvil! Sounds like the show was a hit, which makes life simply wonderful doesn't it? BTW...which Fretz hammers are the two you bought? (Is the one on the left the small one you are using for the earrings, or is that just an optical illusion?)

Jenni said...

Your cuffs are gorgeous. Very interesting result with the LOS on the brass...I don't really know that much about it, but maybe it had something to do with the water?
I have got blues and greens before on wire, but neve a bright purple/ blue. Those hammers look great.....drool!
Jenni

Martha said...

Love the cuffs! And, your display looks great.

Laura Twiford said...

Beautiful cuffs Leslie and it's a shame the stone wasn't brighter on the pendant as that patina was gorgeous! Handsome son too!

Anonymous said...

WOW, that anvil looks like a good weapon!!!??? Your pieces are absolutely AWESOME! I hope you did well at the show. I love the earlier photo of you holding the kitty cat - so cute!!!!
Marcy

Anonymous said...

PS: Your son is a cutie!!!!
Marcy

Christine Altmiller said...

these cuffs are BEAUTIFUL! enjoy the new anvil :-)

Holly said...

Yay on the anvil! What a great tool that will prove to be for you :) And I love your cuffs - gorgeous! And your show displays look awesome! Happy it was a success, I know how hard you were preparing!

Leslie Todd said...

Thanks, everyone. I'm going to have some fun with the anvil, I think. Sharyl--you've really used your anvil, it looks like! Diane--the hammers are mostly variations of the Fretz raising hammers in different sizes. I'll post if I can figure our how to re-create the wild LOS patina on brass.

Mei Tan said...

Nice tools and handsome boy there :)
I hope my boys would be like him i.e helping me with my projects when they grow bigger.

Leslie Todd said...

Mei, you have some cute boys, too. Maybe one of them will be a jewelry maker, too.