Bead Table Wednesday--Hammering Down to the Holidays

Wow, I can hardly believe that it is almost Christmas!  I still have a couple of presents to find and some plans to finalize.  And a little shopping...and probably some things I've forgotten about...


The last couple of days I've been working on finishing up another batch of fold formed copper cuffs.  I just can't get enough of the fold forming.  


Here's a set of pictures illustrating the various courses of hammering.  You may remember the first picture from a couple of weeks ago. This was after the first course of hammering.




This is after the second course of forging.




Hammering is finished. The curved cuff has four courses of hammering and the other had three.




I've opened the Rutger fold and done some pickling and filing. There was some interesting color on these after the pickling but it all came off when I cleaned it with steel wool.




The cuffs have been cleaned with steel wool, stamped with my initials,  and a final shaping has been done.  They'll go in the tumbler tomorrow, get patinaed, and have a finish coat applied. 




I've decided to start including more focals by other artists in my designs and have been hitting Etsy pretty hard over the last couple of months.  I have these pieces out where they will percolate for a while until I decide what to do.


These are by Martha Eason of Menagerie Studio. 







These are by Heather Powers of Humblebeads.  Hmmmm...I seem to have a theme going on.




These are by Melanie Brooks of Earthenwood. Maybe I should be careful and not let these get too close to the ones above. 




And I got some really cool found objects.  These escutcheons are from Nemisis on Etsy.






I'm going to put the long one on the bottom left on a cuff.  It looks like it will bend just fine.  I have some others I want to put on cuffs, but I'm not sure they'll survive the bending.  The three escutcheons in the upper right are nice and thick.  I may etch them. Or not. 


Check here for a giveaway for my followers.  I'll be posting another giveaway open to everyone soon. And don't forget to check out the other bead tables here.


I leave you with this, taken from a letter by Fra Giovanni in 1513.  

I am your friend

and my love for you goes deep.

There is nothing I can give you

which you have not got, 

but there is much, very much 

that while I cannot give it,

you can take.

No heaven can come to us
unless our hearts find rest in today.
Take heaven!
No peace lies in the future
which is not hidden
in this present little instant.
Take peace!


The gloom of the world
is but a shadow.
Behind it,
yet within our reach
is joy.
There is radiance and glory
in the darkness
could we but see -
and to see we have only to look.
I beseech you to look!

Life is so generous a giver,
but we, judging its gifts
by the covering,
cast them away as ugly,
or heavy or hard.
Remove the covering
and you will find beneath it
a living splendor,
woven of love,
by wisdom, with power.

Welcome it, grasp it,
touch the angel's hand
that brings it to you.
Everything we call a trial,
a sorrow, or a duty, believe me,
that angel's hand
is there,
the gift is there, and the wonder
of an overshadowing presence.
Our joys, too, be not
content with them as joys.
They, too, conceal diviner gifts.

Life is so full
of meaning and purpose,
so full of beauty
- beneath its covering -
that you will find earth
but cloaks your heaven.

Courage, then, to claim it,
that is all.
But courage you have,
and the knowledge that
we are all pilgrims together,
wending through
unknown country, home.

And so, at this time,
I greet you.
Not quite as the world
sends greetings,
but with profound esteem
and with the prayer
that for you
now and forever,
the day breaks,
and the shadows flee away. 

Fra Giovanni

Bead Table Wednesday--Show Prep

I was invited to a show at the grand opening of the Whiskey River Harley Davidson in Texarkana this Saturday.  My usual venue is arts and crafts shows so I've tried to make some unisex jewelry for this one.  My husband's cousin and aunt were also invited to vend their jewelry.  We're combining a family visit with a show so it should be fun.  (They even "bribed" my husband with Aunt Ethel's famous family cake.) 


I'm relieved that it's only supposed to be 93 degrees on Saturday. I was worried it would be 103. After the weather we've been having, 93 is quite comfortable.





Here are some finished cuffs that I learned to do with Kim St. Jean's Metal Fold Forming DVD.  They're awaiting a final finish coat to protect the antiquing.  The pod will have some beads put in it. 








This is a necklace I just finished using a house charm from Martha Eason of Menagerie Studio on Etsy.  She does some terrific polymer clay charms and I have several pieces I'm going to be using. I used Czech glass, a couple of vintage fake pearls, apatite roundels and antiqued brass wire.






Here are two of the etched pieces I wrote about in an earlier post.  The top one is from text written by Leonardo da Vinci.  I plan on putting these on leather cuffs but probably won't get them done in time for the show.  The leather neck cords just need a clasp and they'll be ready for a pendant.







Here's my preliminary muffin tin for the Muffin Tin Challenge over at the Art Bead Scene Blog.  I am really excited about this challenge, even though I won't be able to finish it in time to enter because of the show.  I'm still going to do it even if I finish late.  Let me tell you, there is no way I can get everything for most of my necklaces into a single muffin cup, but at least I got a lot of it. I have parts for more than 12 things in here. The planes and accompanying pieces will be earrings. I have a request for this show for cross jewelry, so I have a lot of crosses and hope to get a few more made up. I've got to dig out some turquoise to go with the coral crosses.  And I'm not sure about the blue beads with the heart and key.  I think I need smaller beads to go with Martha's heart charm. 


For a long time I've done a version of this by bagging things for necklaces in snack bags.  It's much more exciting to put it in the muffin tin. I think it's inspiring to see it there on the bead table. If you click on the photo I made a few notes on Etsy. 


Check out the other Bead Table Wednesday photos and posts.

Bead Table Wednesday--Fold Forming

If you look at Monday's post you'll see my review of Kim St. Jean's DVD--Metal Fold Forming.  Here's my first fold formed cuff made using her tutorial:





After the first dip in the liver of sulphur the cuff came out a mauve-taupe-gray.  I stopped there.  Usually I go darker but this color matches a lot of clothes I have. I used a 3600 grit sanding sponge to hit the highlights. It will finish up in the tumbler a few more minutes for a little extra polish and hardening, then I'm coating it with ProtectaClear to keep the finish just like it is. 


The two etched brass sheets in the background are my other items on the bead table this week.  I etched them a while back, along with a third piece, then annealed them. They came out with large pink splotches from the torch. This is because the heat caused the copper in the brass to come to the surface. After a lot of elbow grease and tedious time with steel wool I got one sheet clean.  I put the others away until I had more time--and fortitude--to clean them.  


Recently I stumbled across a recipe on the net for cleaning the pink off brass. It's 3 parts white vinegar and 2 parts hydrogen peroxide. I used the grocery store versions and it worked like a charm.  No more pink and very little elbow grease! If you do this don't go off and leave your metal in the solution.  It takes just a few minutes and then you should remove the items.  I rinsed them well and put them in a baking soda wash also. It is not safe to store this in a closed container so dispose of it immediately. One report said it could explode.  Maybe they were talking about industrial strength versions but I'm not sure. 


Here's what the cuff looked like before antiquing:





I like the bright look as well.  This is after steel wool and 30 minutes in the tumbler.  I will probably do a couple of cuffs and keep them bright as well a some antiqued ones.


This was so much fun.  I plan to do some more fold forming.  Tonight.


Don't forget to check out the other Bead Table Wednesday photos and blog posts.

Tutorial Monday--Metal Fold Forming with Kim St. Jean

Tutorial Monday posts are reviews of tutorials by other people (not me). I haven't done one in a long time but I was so pleased with this tutorial I wanted to spread the news.


I recently purchased a DVD class called Metal Fold Forming with Kim St. Jean.  Kim was at Adorn Me this year.  I didn't get to take one of her classes, but I heard lots of good things about them.


This DVD class is produced by Beaducation.com. If you haven't been to their site you should check it out.  They also offer this tutorial in online format. 


I love this tutorial.  Kim explains things very well, and the video is up close and well produced.  It's 81 minutes long and includes a printable class handout.


The tutorial covers:

• the creation of a cuff bracelet using fold forming
• bonus instruction in the fabrication of a pod fold pendant
• bonus material covering copper surface patina using the butane torch

Kim shows how to do the fold forming and several methods of texturing using the hammer and other tools.  I found that the bumpy texture that I've made previously with an antique center punch is what Kim refers to as "frog skin." It's a good name for it.

Here's a very short section of the introduction from You Tube.  There's a good picture of the cuff.

I hope to get my first cuff done in time for Bead Table Wednesday.  Check back later.