Metalsmiths Unite! (the blog): August 2011

Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Beth Wicker: Three Cats and a Dog Design Studio ~ Artist Interview

This week for our Artist Interview we have Beth Wicker - thanks so much for sharing with us Beth!!!

Beth Wicker

How would you describe what you do as an artist?

I'm all about creating, so I use a range of media - whatever will work to get the idea in my head out into the open. Currently my primary media is metals, but I also work in mixed media fibers, paint, make original prints, and create handmade paper.

What inspires your designs?
Patterns - I love patterns! I find them primarily in nature, but also in traces of the human presence on earth.

How long have you been involved in this type of making?
Back in the dark ages when Public Television actually taught subjects my mother would find out what art classes were coming up, get the supplies, and we would all sit in front of the television and learn whatever that class's technique was. My mother took me to adult classes by the time I was about 10, and I've been learning ever since. I did metals a bit as a kid, at home and at summer camp, but got back into it in a big way when my daughter wanted me to teach her when she was 10 - that circle of life thing going on.

Where are you located?
I live on a farm with a lovely pond, just outside of Cheraw, SC, not too far from the NC border, and about half way between Charlotte, NC and Myrtle Beach.

Do you have a website or etsy store?
I sell on Etsy - http://www.bethwicker.etsy.com
I have a website: http://www.bethwicker.com
And a Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ThreeCatsandaDog
and I just opened a shop at Handmade Artists: http://handmadeartistsshop.com/shop/ruralart

What other ways do you market your work?
I have a number of galleries and gift shops that carry my work and bring me in for trunk shows. I do retail and wholesale shows, and a good bit of custom work.

Do you teach? if so, where?
I teach through area arts commissions, generally what I call "make and take", where I bring all the tools and materials and folks leave with a finished product.

Any sage advice for newcomers that you would like to share?
Don't quit the day job yet! Making a living as an artist takes WORK! And you MUST market yourself! I see too many artists not doing enough marketing.

Where do you envision your work going in the next year?
I just took a workshop with Michael Good and learned anticlastic raising. I already do repousse' and chasing, and I see my work getting much more three dimensional in the next year. I'm also beginning to explore tableware and vessels.

Anything else you would like to share?
Love my rolling mill! I use it for texturing (back to the whole pattern thing), and keep playing with new ways to add texture, pattern and color to my work. I blog about new techniques and tools at http://bethwicker.ganoksin.com/blogs/

Beth has also been working with Ganoksin on a couple online exhibits.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder can be seen HERE.

A blurb about the exhibit:

The drive to adorn the human body is surely as old as human kind.

Early jewelry was made of bones, shells, sticks, and whatever other materials the people could find and shape. Over time the ability to mine and shape metal developed, and jewelry was made from bronze, silver, gold, platinum and other metals. Gold has long been thought of as a “precious” metal, and today it is joined by silver and platinum as the three main materials modern jewelry is made from.

While much jewelry today is made from these three main metals, a large body of jewelry world-wide is still made from a much wider range of materials. This exhibition, “Beauty is in the Eye of the Beholder”, focuses on jewelry made primarily of materials other than gold, platinum and silver.

Jewelers today are still using found objects such as shell and bone; they are using “green” materials – upcycled and recycled objects and materials; they are using cutting edge plastics and newly developed technology; and they are using older metals such as copper, brass and bronze. Some of the more unusual materials include vinyl LP’s, velvet, VCR components, rattlesnake vertebrae, corian, canvas, paper, crab claws, magnets, synthetic rubber electrical insulation tubing, and aluminum grounding wire.

Friday, August 26, 2011

Universal Stake Holder ~ Tool Tips

A special thanks to Steve Shelby for sharing some of his tools related writing from his own blog - which you can visit HERE.

For a couple years I have wanted to replace the stump I’ve been using for my metalsmithing. It’s just too small and light, so it tends to walk away while I’m hammering. The primitive way of holding stakes is not really very good either. The holes keep getting larger, and it’s really hard to keep the stakes from moving all around, which makes it a lot harder to get the job done. Another problem is there’s no height adjustability, which at times can be very inconvenient. I wanted to make a clamping device that would securely hold any size stake, round or square. I also didn’t want it to be screwed down to the stump, since screws, no matter how big, always loosen up over time, and I also wanted it to be easy to remove, so I could use the whole surface of the stump as a work surface if I needed to.

These first pictures show the new stump, as compared to the old one, much larger (about 14″ diameter on top), and very sturdy. I sanded the top to make a nice flat surface, then gave it a couple coats of varnish, not for looks, but to slow down the the evaporation of the moisture in the log, so the work surface won’t get all cracked. I cut it from a dead elm tree, and even though dead, it is very high in moisture, extremely heavy. Elm is excellent for this purpose since it is extremely tough, the fibers being sort of woven together, so splitting is not a problem. There’s just one hole in the surface, 1-1/2″ in diameter, 6″ deep.

I made the stake holder entirely out of scrounged material, except for the L-bolts and flange nuts, which totaled about $10. It has a vise that can hold about any shape securely, down to a 5/8″ square or round. The unit is held down with two 1/2″ L-shaped anchor bolts. The short arms of the bolts are about 2″ long and fit into holes drilled horizontally into the side of the stump. The whole thing is so strong and solid, I used it to hold a 1-1/4″ diameter steel rod for bending, with no problems. If I want to take it off, it only take about 30 seconds. Putting it back on takes a minute.

The following pictures show it holding my favorite raising stake, a big 1-1/4″ round stake, showing the range of height adjustment (6″ on the tool holder + 4″ on my chair = 10″, which should be plenty), then holding a tiny rectangular tool, and a very large stake with round shank, which now stays put when I use it!

One advantage the old stump had was that I could put a short punch in one of the holes and resting the work on the surface, use the punch as a stake. To make that possible with this new setup, I made this table addition which fits snugly over the top, and works better than the old way, because the tool is held securely, and is height-adjustable. I can also put the sand bag on it for further versatility, or use it as a work surface so I don’t have to remove the stake holder every time I need a flat work surface.

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Lorena Angulo ~ Artist Interview

A special thanks To Lorena, for giving us a lovely artist interview today!


Mission San Jose, San Antonio

How would you describe what you do as an artist?

I love to transmit part of who I am and my culture with my work. I am an artist that works with pure silver, sterling, copper and bronze.

I have always loved how every culture transmits part of their history with jewelry and this was a big factor of why I decided to start fabricating my pieces.

What inspires your designs?

My designs come from my big love of my country, Mexico, my culture and traditions. I always make pieces that are close to my heart and looking for inspiration is always easy by just going back to my childhood memories in Mexico.

My first source of inspiration is the traditional folk art, especially the Milagro Hearts, Day of the dead crafts and the Trees of Life. The richness in their symbolic history is what attracts me more.

How long have you been involved in this type of making?

I took my first metals class in 2006 at the beautiful Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas. My teacher, Clare Holliday, was an angel that come to my life because she tough me how I could put all my ideas into a physical object. I felt in love with this incredible art form and since then I have not stop learning and exploring new materials and techniques.

Where are you located?

I live in San Antonio, Texas. San Antonio is the most visited city in Texas; top sights include the Alamo and other historic missions like Mission San Jose. San Antonio has beautiful museums and art events all year round.

Do you have a website or etsy store?

Yes !

My website: http://www.lorenaangulo.com/index.html

My Blog: http://blog.lorenaangulo.com/

My Etsy Shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/pueblofolkart

My Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/LorenaAnguloJewelry

What other ways do you market your work?

I do art shows and also have my work in high end stores and some galleries.

Do you teach? if so, where?

Yes, I teach regularly at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas. (http://www.swschool.org/).

I also teach at some national art events like Adorn Me! Houston. Teachers from all over the country come to teach classes during a whole week.

http://www.artunraveled.com/AdornMe12/AMartists.htm

I will also be teaching online very soon my first class will be published at CraftEDU. http://community.craftedu.com/group/lorenaangulosclassroom

Teaching is a new love I have discovered. I never imagined how fulfilling teaching can be. I love to be in contact with the students and to see their faces when they finish a piece and come to show it with so much pride. I think that I am not only teaching but learning so much from all the students I have had so far.

Any sage advice for newcomers that you would like to share?

To follow their hearts. What I mean with this is that it is very important to start creating not base on what everybody is making or what is consider to be the “in” fashion design of the moment. They have to not be afraid to create pieces that reflect who they are and makes them happy. This will reflect in the work they will do. Look for your own creative voice and style.

Where do you envision your work going in the next year?

I think my work is maturing little by little. I feel very comfortable with my style and I am not afraid to use different materials.

I want to see my work in more galleries.

I also want to continue teaching, I really enjoy doing it and being in contact with students this way.

Anything else you would like to share?

You can also visit and see my work in these sites:

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lorenaangulo/sets/

Crafthaus: http://crafthaus.ning.com/profile/lorenaangulo

Video on my work

Friday, August 19, 2011

Homemade Immersion Heater for Large Pickle Tank ~ tool tips

A special thanks to Steve Shelby for sharing some of his tools related writing from his own blog - which you can visit HERE.

I have always preferred to have my pickle solution hot, or at least warm; it works so much faster, especially for dissolving flux. Since many of the pieces I make are rather large, I have sometimes had to settle for cold pickle, since the crock-pot was too small. Recently my crock-pot developed a leak, so that was all the motivation I needed to finally do something about the situation. I had been researching heaters for a couple years, and everything I found was too expensive, so I decided to make my own.

All of the parts, except the thermostat and the indicator light, I got from McMaster-Carr, even the six-gallon bucket, which is a couple inches taller than a standard fiver. The heating element is bendable, came perfectly straight. It’s rated at 750 watts, and is made to heat air or liquid, so it doesn’t have to be fully submerged. I think it’s the same kind of elements they put in dishwashers. I just happened to have a 1970′s vintage 110 volt thermostat lying around. A regular wall thermostat won’t work for this unless a transformer is added to the circuit. The box is an outdoor-type electrical box, and the thermostat was made to screw right to the box, perfect fit! This thermostat of course reads the air temperature; a thermostat that would read the temperature of the pickle itself was way too expensive. It turned out that this one, when set on its highest setting (90ºF) maintains the pickle at just the right temperature (about 180ºF). The heating element is held in place with a simple framework made from nylon plastic, and a ring of teflon at the end. It’s secured in the box with two nylon “cord grips” that screw into the threaded holes in the bottom of the box.

This thing works great! I wish I had made it years ago. It heats up the pickle in about 1/4 of the time that the crock-pot did, even though it’s about four or five times as much liquid. Once it reaches temperature, it is off most of the time, just coming on for a minute or two about every ten minutes or so.

It probably will have to work a lot harder in the winter, when the floor is really cold, so I’m thinking about ways I could insulate the bucket. I have a few months yet to work on that.

I also made new tongs to reach to the bottom of that deep bucket. Made from a scrap of 1/2″ copper tubing, it took about fifteen minutes to make.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Magenta Trinkets - Artist Interview

Another Artist Interview this week - with Magenta Trinkets. Thanks so much for sharing with us Magenta!

Magenta Trinkets

How would you describe what you do as an artist?
I would say I am a combination jeweller /metal worker, I look at each piece I create as a miniature sculpture.

What inspires your designs?
Many things inspire my work, I love different shapes and forms in nature, I like to doodle and draw spirals and curves. My work often evolves as I work and tends not to be contrived. I can start on one piece with an idea in mind but the end result will turn out differently than I first intended it to, my mind gets busy when I work so I get my creative flow whilst I am working as well as beforehand. Sometimes I draw designs but rarely end up using them. If I hadn't studied Jewellery I would have like to have been a metal sculptor.Being creative requires originality, I strive to create unique pieces, I find some jewellery too contrived which is why I steered away from conventional and traditional jewellery. I also had to find my own style that appealed as an artistic form. I also rarely work on one piece at a time, I usually have a few pieces all at different stages until it come to the finishing, this can be a bit tedious as I don't enjoy polishing.

How long have you been involved in this type of making?
My dad got me interested in jewellery as he had been an apprentice Diamond Mounter in Hatton Garden London in the 50's. He mentioned Sir John Cass College. I had wanted to go to art school and study fine art but I hadn't got a folio together. I started at John Cass doing night classes, then part time day classes as I couldn't afford to take full time study I had to work a day job. I started studying jewellery and loved it from the word go, I also did a few jewellery design classes. I was fortunate to have very good teachers two were Cartier jewellers one of them was the Cartier foreman.

I started classes at John Cass in 1978 and studied off and on for nine years in London and also Kent.The beauty of classes is you meet like minded people, you can also learn from others.I mainly worked on pieces for my family, friends and myself initially. Then in the early 80's one of my tutors suggested that he set up an interview for me with a well known London jeweller in Jermyn Street. I felt quite daunted and ill equipped, then I also felt it would be impossible to survive on an apprentice's wage so I didn't go for the interview. In hindsight I have no regrets, although I would have learnt many skills eventually, it would have taken a long time to get there. I also think I would have felt restricted with my creativity and may have struggled with the processes of making traditional jewellery.

I have also studied painting in all mediums and Interior Design. All of which compliments my jewellery.

Where are you located?
We moved as a family to Wanaka, New Zealand nine years ago after living in the UK and Berlin Germany. The town we moved to is situated in heart of the Southern Alps and sits on a glacial lake surrounded by snow capped mountains in the winter time, it is a very picturesque and beautiful ski town and also a place that is a hub for outdoor pursuits enthusiasts both in the summer and the winter. Having said that I hope to move to Melbourne Australia later this year which will have a wider audience for me with my work and sales and also the arts.

Do you have a website or etsy store?
I have just started selling my jewellery in two online shops, I am about to open two more. One of the shops I am going to open is for FAR which stands for Friends Along The Road. This will be a collective charity shop specifically to raise funds for people in grief. FAR is run by my friend Dave he wants to build a sanctuary retreat for people in grief. I am sourcing, jewellers, artists and craftspeople to join me in the etsy shop, we will donate 15% of any sales to help FAR. So far we have two artists and two jewellers, we want to be able to offer items relating to grief such as memorial jewellery or art.
http://www.senseofashion.com/MagentasTrinkets
http://www.etsy.com/shop/magentastrinkets

What other ways do you market your work?
I used to exhibit and sell in a local co operative shop in our town, I also had my work in galleries. I stopped doing this a few years ago as it wasn't very productive, New Zealand doesn't have a big population which makes it hard to sell here. I am hoping that online selling will be more profitable and will be looking into selling to London and Australian stores, then doing craft markets in Australia.

Do you teach? if so, where?
Teaching is something I have wanted to do for a long time, I am intending to look into it once I move the Melbourne.

Any sage advice for newcomers that you would like to share?
Think hard about your style and try to be as original as possible. I wanted to make traditional jewellery when I first started but I struggled with precision and technique. I then eventually came to realise my own style and feel more comfortable doing what I want rather than making contrived pieces. My style isn't precise because I don't want to achieve perfection, I have learn't to accept my flaws and nuances, nothing in reality is perfect.

Research your market before you give up your day job, jewellery is ideal to start as a hobby and you can find out this way how successful you will be.You don't need a huge studio with lot's of expensive equipment to start with. You can manage with very little in the way of tools and equipment and work from a table. If you do classes it helps because the school will have all the tools and equipment you need.

Where do you envision your work going in the next year?
Hopefully onwards and upwards, If I start making lot's of sales I will look into casting my pieces as I would like to sell wholesale. I also hope to run workshops and teach. I am just putting out feelers and exploring, hoping and staying positive.

Anything else you would like to share?
Some of my other links!
Facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Magentas-Trinkets/111257445629555
Flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/photos/magentasimages/
Tumblr: http://piratepinnacles.tumblr.com/post/7225542919

Friday, August 12, 2011

Learn about Non-Ferrous Metals~

Ever wonder about Non-Ferrous metals?

written by Greig Fors

Today we are tackling alloys, fluxes, and brazing/solders

Non-Ferrous is any metal that isn’t iron. I will be talking about brass, nickel silver (cupro-nickel) and copper. Other metals like aluminum and bronze may or may not be brought up later. There is so much to cover, so this is going to be an introductory blog in two parts, just to cover the basics.

Metal is metal is metal…All metals share some of the same properties, there is ductility, malleability, conductivity, luster to name a few. Some conduct heat or electricity better or worse than other metals. There are only two non-white metals, gold and copper. Brass is any number of combinations of copper and zinc, while bronze is any number of combinations of copper and tin. There are hundreds of different alloys of each. Specifically, brass, you will probably use one of the two most common alloys that are currently produced: navy brass (also known as yellow brass or common brass) which is the most common form of sheet brass. The other is free machining brass (or navy brass with a smidge of lead in it) that is found in rod or bar stock and in many different shapes. The real downside to Free Machining Brass is that it will crack if it is bent more that 70-80 degrees. Annealing doesn’t seem to help; however, it will bend rather well at temps around 1000°F. Navy Brass in various shapes can be found, but it will be older stock and most likely at a scrap yard. Alloys will change over time as to their availability because of manufacturing needs.

Brass wire is usually navy brass and brazing rod is a brass (Cu-Zn) alloy that has trace elements for good flow characteristics and strength. There are a number of other alloys for wire and commercial braze rod that will not be discussed at this point.

This seems like a good point to also discuss fluxes. Soft solder fluxes are generally two types, those being: acid fluxes (usually zinc chloride or muriatic acid) and rosin fluxes. The old time flux was Sal ammoniac which can possibly still be found, but went out of common use forty or fifty years ago. Soldering is the term for melting a filler metal into a joint at under 842°F. These fluxes will also burn at temps above 600° F or so. The other fluxes are those for over 842°. The most common is borax. It has been used for centuries. A cheap source for borax is a box of “Twenty Mule Team” pure borax laundry soap. When melted, it forms a glass-like coating over the metal to be brazed. The other type of brazing flux is hydrofluoric acid. This flux “eats” away scale during the heating process while also covering the metal, preventing re-oxidation. There are many brands of fluxes and they come in liquid, paste or powder. There is a high temp black flux that is great for those hard to solder pieces that require an IT braze or a large mass that requires a lengthy heat time. All of these fluxes are either borax or hydrofluoric acid or some combination of both. For most of my work, I prefer to use a commercial borax/hydrofluoric acid paste flux (usually Harris brand) or their black high temp flux. The one main drawback from using the hydrofluoric acid flux is that it goes everywhere, so you must be diligent in your soldering technique, and on silver, it will eat away the silver, leaving a copper fire scale that is rather tough to get rid of.

I guess that solders/brazing filler are the next on the list. As mentioned earlier, solders are a metal filler whose flow points are under 842º and brazes are over that temperature. There are many, many alloys of solder. Flow points start at around 120ºF and go up to around 650ºF. Tix ® is one of the commonly sold low temp. solders and is used in repairing pewter and paste/costume jewelry. There are a number of others that have similar flow temperatures and bonding characteristics. The next batches of solders are the most commonly used and have flow points of between 400º and 630º. They fall into the tin/lead, tin/antimony, tin/bismuth and tin/silver categories. While lead and antimony solders are useful in industrial applications, those metals are toxic and should be avoided, along with cadmium solders. Bismuth is generally OK. When using the low temp. solders like Tix, the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) is a must read as it will tell you what is in your solder and will also advise you on toxicity. If you don’t get it with the product, it is always posted online. The solder that I generally use for soldering is the 95-5 tin/silver. It is non-toxic and has a generally higher tensile strength and better flow characteristics because of the silver and a comparatively low flow temp of around 430º. One of the great advantages of this 95-5 solder is that if you decide that you need to braze the piece, unlike the other solder alloys, you don’t need to remove it before brazing. Just make sure that all the soft solder flux is removed. Simply flux and braze with silver braze and the tin/silver alloy will re-alloy itself with the silver braze.

Brazes are the filler metal for over 842ºF. I will not get into brazes that do not relate to brass working, like gold and platinum. While they can be used, it is not cost efficient to use them on brass or copper. I will also not use the standard brass braze rods that are sold commercially, as their flow point is almost identical to the brass we work with, and the risk of melting the piece is very great.

There are the silver brazes like low, medium and hard, plus Extra low and IT. These are all silver/copper/zinc alloys. The melt and flow temps. are approximate and go as follows: Extra Easy-1125ºM(melt) & 1145ºF(flow), Easy-1235ºM & 1325ºF, Medium-1265ºM & 1390ºF, Hard-1365º & 1450ºF and IT-1330º & 1490ºF. These temperatures are gathered from a couple of different sources and since different manufacturers may alloy their brazes a little differently than other manufacturers, I can say that these temps. are average. Silver brazes are used by manufacturers outside of the jewelry field so the next place we can purchase silver braze is a welding supply. There, silver braze is sold by percentage of silver, so you won’t see easy, medium or hard, but rather, 36%silver or 50% silver, etc. These are normally sold in one ounce coils and are about a sixteenth of an inch in diameter (16ga). The last types of brazes I will cover are the copper phosphorous alloys. These are used in plumbing and refrigeration/air conditioning. They come in sticks that are either an eighth of an inch square or an eighth by a sixteenth and in either 18 or 36 inch lengths. These are called copper-phos, or if they contain silver (to give a better flow rate), are called Sil-phos. These are interesting as they do not require a flux when used on copper, although when used on brass, do require a flux. The will not work on ferrous metals. Also, left untouched, or if pickled it is a copper color, but if polished, becomes silver. These last brazes, while great for industrial brazing, do not work well for anything that needs a fine touch. They are kind of globby. There are two reasons that I bring them up: 1- they are not well known by artists, if at all. 2- They can be used quite well to build up metal and can be used for sculpting. I have a line of “Mushroom Bells” where I take a round dome and make a drip formed stem and “roots”. For the ringer, I take a piece of standard eighth inch brass rod and melt (with flux) a drop of the copper phos and melt it on the end. Then I reheat the glob and let it begin to drip and harden. When upright, it looks like a very small mushroom on a stick.

Solders are used to join parts that either cannot take high heat or don’t need to be as strong as the base metals. If you are connecting two flat pieces together face to face, then solder may be perfectly adequate for the job, however, when strength and sometimes color is an issue, then braze is very much superior. It is harder and has a much higher tensile strength than solder, plus it takes a better polish and will blend in better as far as color, although both solder and braze will stand out when the piece tarnishes.

These are the basics which you will need as far as brass, solders, brazes and fluxes. The next chapter will be constructing with brass. Copper and nickel silver will also be discussed in the next chapter as the soldering and brazing techniques are pretty much the same.

About Greig:
Greig Fors on Etsy :rockettsforge
Greig Fors Facebook FanPage :Rockett's Forge and Brass Works
Growing up, my mother was a single parent and we lived with my grandparents. My grandfather was the chief engineer for a large commercial laundry in San Francisco that took up a city block and was three stories high. I would go and visit, usually with my grandmother, and to me; it was like going to Disneyland. There were all these huge washing machines and boilers. I had a bottle of mercury to play with and then there was the machine shop. The shop had all these wonderful tools; there was a lathe, drill press, grinders and an arc welder. It was the old style shop that was run by a donkey motor that had a wide leather belt that went to a series of pulleys on the ceiling. From each pulley, there were other leather belts that went to each of the machines. Each of the machines had an idler pulley that simply rotated freely and there was a leaver to engage that pulley to make the machine run. When the donkey motor was turned on, there was this wonderful cacophony of sounds: the leather belts slapping, the whine of the pulleys and the clatter of the machines. Those sounds drowned out the rest of the world for me and were the beginning of a love affair that would last me the rest of my life.

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Cathy Sutton - Artist Interview

This week we have Cathy Sutton from Manitoba Canada with us for our Artist Interview series. Thanks so much for sharing with us Cathy!!

Cathy Sutton

How would you describe what you do as an artist?
I create wearable art for women who want something entirely different from mainstream, to display and wear!

What inspires your designs?
I live right by the 13th largest fresh water lake in the world so I am inspired by the lake and all that is around it. My designs tend to be quite organic in nature. Earthy colours and textures predominate.

How long have you been involved in this type of making?
I have always been a "maker" of various things but the metalsmithing was an offshoot from making lampwork glass beads. I took a class in LampWork three and a half years ago and began stringing the beads into bracelets and necklaces. It wasn't long after that I got interested in silver soldering then that lead to purchasing silver sheet and fabricating and then casting. I took as many local classes as I could find and the rest I picked up from trial and error and the internet. So to answer the question more simply- about 3 years.

Where are you located?
I live in Winnipeg Beach, Manitoba, Canada. Winnipeg Beach is about 4 hours directly north of Fargo North Dakota. If you look on a map right at the centre of the North American continent, you'll see Winnipeg. (referred to as "The Heart of the Continent"). Winnipeg Beach is one hour north- on the shores of our huge lake. My husband and I moved to "The Beach" 6 years ago. We rebuilt our family cottage into a home. The building I use as my studio used to be my sisters and my bunk house. Built years ago to get us young teens out of the cottage when we invited friends to the beach for a week in the summer. (girls can be such noisy gigglers at night). It was the scene of many a crime...sneaking out with the neighbourhood kids for bonfires and so on. Now Nepenthe Studio is a quiet and serene place (when I'm not cursing lost gems that have gone for a roll under my bench). Nepenthe is the name that our cottage was in 1950 when my parents bought it. Nepenthe means "sleep giving drug, peacefulness, euphoria". It was the drug that Homer gave his wife when he left on his travels.

Do you have a website?
www.nepenthestudio.com

What other ways do you market your work?
Mostly I sell wholesale to stores. My jewellery is available in Manitoba at Des Art, Bijou Treasures, Artifacts Gallery, Winnipeg Art Gallery, Woodlands Gallery, Fishfly Gallery, and in British Columbia at Juvelisto and Dragonfly and Amber. I also will be represented in Influx Gallery in Calgary- as soon as I get the stuff shipped!

Do you teach? If so, where?
I teach lampwork bead making classes at Prairie Stained Glass in Winnipeg. I am still a "newbie" at jewellery making.

Any sage advice for newcomers that you would like to share?
Be brave. Try it.

Where do you envision your work going in the next year?
I am very keen on getting into a couple more stores in the East. (Ontario, Quebec and / or the Maritime Provinces). I do plan and taking an advanced stone setting class in the upcoming months. I want to hone my skills. Lots to learn!

Anything else you would like to share?
I use a technique that I call “Tortured Copper”. I heat copper sheet until its bright red screaming hot. Then I drop many little snippets of sterling on the raging hot copper. The sterling submits to the copper and turns to a shiny liquid. My torch “blows” the molten silver around in patterns creating a permanent marriage of copper and silver and lives happily ever after.

Of course some people would simply call this fusing…

Friday, August 5, 2011

New Life for an Old Hammer ~ Tool tips

A special thanks to Steve Shelby for sharing some of his tools related writing from his own blog - which you can visit HERE.

I have wanted a new raising hammer for quite a while. My old one, which I got as a student about 40 years ago, is not quite as heavy as I would like, and it is made of cast iron. The surface gets pitted (see first picture) after a little use, so I’m constantly having to resurface it.

The new raising hammers I’ve seen for sale are very expensive, and I have no idea how well they would hold up under the use I would give them, so I decided to make my own. I found a very old blacksmith hammer on Ebay for a very good price. It occurred to me that an old hammer like this would most likely be made of very good steel.

I took the head off the handle, and with a chop saw cut long bevels on the top and bottom to get the shape. This blacksmith hammer was two pounds, and my old raising hammer a little under a pound, So I figured removing this much metal would leave just about the weight I wanted.

The next two steps were rough grinding with a right-angle disc grinder, and then finer grinding with a belt sander.

After achieving an acceptable shape and smoothness, I put a burned-oil finish on it, then polished the ends. I was able to reuse the old handle, which is of excellent quality, very hard hickory.

Compared to the old hammer, not as fancy a shape, but much better quality. It weighs one pound five ounces, pretty much what I was shooting for.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

SiaCorrina Durocher - Artist Inteview

Hello and welcome - time for another Artist Interview - with Sia Durocher Hurst. Thanks so much for sharing with us Sia!

SiaCorrina Durocher

How would you describe what you do as an artist?
I create jewelry – I teach others to create jewelry – I host creativity workshops so that people can explore their creative lives – I publish a magazine which endeavors to share the concept of creative living with as many people as possible – I write – I paint … and then I create more jewelry!

What inspires your designs?

Everything inspires me – when I ride by bicycle to work I am inspired by the olive and pistachio trees – when I swimming in the sea I am inspired by the tides and the salty air – when I am scuba diving I am inspired by a world that has no need of me – when I am sitting quietly I am inspired by my own thoughts and the peace that is in my heart – when I am living my life I am inspired by all that that can mean.

How long have you been involved in this type of making?

I began my creative journey in my late teens when I moved to Central America and feel in love with an artisan there. He taught me the basics of wire working … after that I explored many areas of creativity, finally realizing that my creativity is truly living a creative and positive life – so, since about 17 years of age I have been involved in this type of making … and now in my forties I continue the adventure.

Where are you located?
I live in a small suburb of Athens, Greece – on the south side of the city. My home is about a 10 minute bicycle ride from the Aegean Sea and about 15 minutes from my studio and gallery. The back hills of Attica protect our little bay at Varkiza, where our sea is crystal clear, blue and always welcoming.

Do you have a website or etsy/artfire/1000market etc store?
Website where I sell my jewelry: http://www.siacorrina.com/
Blog where I teach a new jewelry making technique every week
http://jewelrymaking-siacorrina.blogspot.com/
Blog for Serendipity Magazine – which is always looking for contributors! http://magserendipity.blogspot.com/
I have a publication library where you can read my magazine and check out my classes! http://www.yudu.com/library/81252/SC-Library
I have a facebook page where people can ‘like’ me
http://www.facebook.com/pages/SiaCorrina-jewelry-art-accessories/186321055373

What other ways do you market your work?
I have my brick’n’mortar shop in Athens – my website – Serendipity Magazine – a couple of blogs – active in forums and online communities – run an art center in my studio – talk and talk and talk with people who are curious about creativity

Do you teach? if so, where?
Yes, I teach. I have a rather nice situation where other artists have come together in my studio space and we are all building an art center together – offering glasses in metal work, glass, textiles, painting, mosaics, bead weaving, and … I think that may be it for now! You can find more information on my website and in the publication library (both links above).

Any sage advice for newcomers that you would like to share?
Keep exploring your creativity – never say ‘no’ to an opportunity to stretch your artistic muscles and learn something new.

Where do you envision your work going in the next year?
Exactly where it is supposed to; I will find out when it happens. I have some ideas, of course, but I have no course. I am living creatively in the moment and my work is evolving along with me. I hope to enter some competitions and perhaps a submission to a magazine … just ideas … I hope to create the ideas in my head … again, just ideas!

Anything else you would like to share?
Thank you for this group and this opportunity for us all to meet and to share our experiences with one another. I wish you all the creative best in your endeavors.