Something Unique by Lana--Huge Giveaway

Lana at Something Unique by Lana is have a huge giveaway.  She has some fantastic beads and findings from many Etsy artisans.  There are a lot of art beads included.
Check it out. It's a fantastic collection of goodies.

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.

Texture Tuesday

I know I've been doing Presentation Tuesday, but it's going to be moved to another day.  Every once in a while I want to do Texture Tuesday with Kim Klassen.  I don't know what I'm doing yet, but I figure I'll learn something.


Here's my finished photo:




I used two of Kim's textures, warmsun and yesteryear in Photoshop Elements.  I think I want to work some more on it and make the textures a little less subtle. I find that I've forgotten most of what I knew about layers in Elements so I need to read my book again. 


Here is the original:



I do have an upcoming Presentation Tuesday.  Not sure when I will post it--maybe next Tuesday if not before.

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.

Blogger Problems-The Real Blogger Status

Having trouble posting comments on blogger? Log on problems?  


Check out the solution here on the blog "The Real Blogger Status". (thanks Patty!)

Bead Table Wednesday--Annealing

Today I annealed some of the sheet that I etched previously.  



After annealing I put them in a pickle bath made from vinegar and salt, shown above.  Usually I dispose of my pickle before it gets this dark blue, but I've been wanting to use it to copperplate some tins I have so I can solder stuff onto them later.  All that blue is copper that is dissolved into the pickle.  


These sheets will have cabs set into them for pendants.




I also got a few of my copper disk earrings put together and carded. 


Most of the week I've been working on my grandmother's vintage rattan furniture. It's been in storage for a long time and we decided to fix it up for our son.  He picked out some fabric for the new cushions and chose a cheery red paint.  Granny had painted this furniture light green, yellow, dark green, white and maybe a few more previously.  It took all week but I finally got it painted.  There are three sections.  Next I have to start on the matching end table, coffee table, corner table, and so forth.  I have no idea how old this furniture is but I know it is at least 50 years old. 


Here's a shot of one section in progress.




Now I've got to get it moved without scratching it up. Luckily the weather has cooperated this week since I've been painting it outside.  This furniture reminds me of happy times at Granny's so I've enjoyed painting it, even though it was really hot. 


Check out the other Bead Table Wednesday photos:

Friday iPhone Photo Fun - Playing with Fractals

There's a cute app for the iPhone and iPad called Fast Fractal. I've been having some fun with it.  These are digital designs rather than photos. 


I think this one looks like something from Dr. Seuss:





I did some additional editing on the contrast on this one:






I'm thinking about using it as an etching pattern.  The only downside is the images are small.  I'm not sure how they'll print. 


Here's a colorful one:




Check out my set on Flickr for more fractal designs.

Bead Table Wednesday--Etching Woes

I just finished etching some copper.  I had been storing my etchant (ferric chloride) for a while and when I opened it up there was some crystalline looking debris floating on the surface of the etchant. I had never encountered that before. I stirred it up and added some fresh etchant. It looked okay.

Whatever that debris was, it floated back to the surface and partially masked the surface of the copper.  I did stir the etchant when I checked the copper during the process but that wasn't enough. 

Here's the sheet I did with text and some fish. This would have been more than one piece after I cut it up.  I think the fish will be okay--the spots look kind of like bubbles, but probably only some of the text will be usable. And it may not be usable at all.  I'll have to see what it looks like with LOS on it.  The sheets look better in person than they do in the photos, fortunately.

 These other two pieces will probably be okay, but only because I was planning on cutting in close to the design, so the odd spots will be cut off. 

My husband was nice enough to strain the etchant through a coffee filter and get rid of whatever those particles were.  


These are just the first of a big batch I need to do. Hopefully the others will be contamination free. 


Check out the other Bead Table Wednesday posts: