Beginning Metals!

I love teaching Beginning Metals at the ISU Workspace and I am so pleased with every group! This last group really worked on different techniques and I would like to show them off here with some pictures.

The last night of class and experimentation in foldforming also invloved air chasing and sewing!  I love how organic this piece looks. It has great line and color, I think it is fabulous!

This student mastered sawing and did lots of experiementation with texture.  The ring is cut from the textured copper in the back and soldered. The "J" is riveted.

Foldforming was a hit the last night. This piece is foldformed and riveted and patina is flame.

This piece was foldformed and then the student experimented with sinking and raising and considering we didn't have a nice depression in wood to work on, she did very well. Again, flame is a favorite patina.

Exploring Nature for Inspiration and Rejuvenation

Rarely taking vacations can really make you cherish every moment of your trip.  Our family took a real -longer than a weekend - vacation - the first in 11 years this summer. We drove to Grand Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park via South Dakota and some dinosaurs and hot springs. It was wonderful. Everyone got along and it was precious time spent together as a family. Our children are getting to the age where we will soon be empty nesters so it was a last chance for us to travel together.

We hiked and explored and kept a tally of the wildlife we saw, which included TWO black bears. But as we traveled I tried to pay attention to the colors, and flora, and fauna. The landscapes and horizons. Views near and far can give ideas for projects. I took my sketch book along and also took over 2000 pictures.  I miss kodachrome but digital pictures sure save me money!!!

Flowers are a common inspiration for many and one of my favorite inspirations.

The shapes of flower petals and leaves constantly add to inspiration. One of my favorite artists is Monet who was an impressionist so his paintings used light, texture and shape but not in high detail. But when I draw for myself I want to have realistic images. Often wondered if I should have tried my hand at bio-illustration. So now when I work in metal, I am finding I want to do the same thing and obtain a realism in my shapes.

 

I am trying to challenge myself to become more abstract and stretch my creativity into an area I am not comfortable.  But still, nature is my base.

Simply being in this place is inspiring on many levels, not just artistically.

Get outside. 

Reduce, Reuse and Recycle!

The Science of Work Hardening and Annealing

I had the wonderful opportunity a couple weeks ago to work with Iowa State University Program for Women in Science and Engineering K-12 Outreach Program. They have several opportunities throughout the year for young girls to experience activities that create an interest in science, technology, engineering and math. So they contacted the ISU Memorial Union Workspace where I teach metalsmithing classes and we developed an activity so they could make something and learn something and hopefully even gain some self confidence!

I chose Foldformed Copper Bangles as their project. They turned out great!

These are samples I created for the class

Each of the 54 participants (ages 8-14 in 4 groups) received a 6x1 inch strip of 26 gauge copper. I used 26 gauge because I wanted to be sure that the youngest girls could be successful hammering and unfolding their bangles.  It worked great and if we did it again I think we will use 24 gauge, although 26 is a bit cheaper.

Now the Science

Copper is an element found on the Periodic Table of Elements.  It is a noble metal. It is made up of atoms that line up in a regular pattern that repeats, forming a crystalline structure.  Copper can be soft and it can be hard. Metals can be made stronger by deforming the crystalline structure of the molecules. This is what happens when you hit copper with your hammer. You change the molecular structure of the copper and make it hard. --Work Hardening --  To make the copper soft again, you Anneal the copper.

So as you hammer away on your beautiful copper, you notice it gets stiffer, harder to bend and the sound of your hammering will become higher pitched. The molecular arrangement of the copper has been deformed thus making the copper stronger. If you continue to hammer, the copper will become harder but also brittle. This is why paper clips are easy to break. The metal is hard, but brittle. I also learned from the ISU Engineering Students who were helping the reason why the Titanic broke into two pieces. Apparently the metal that formed the ship was too hard and brittle and that is why the ship broke in two and sunk. wow.

I later watched a documentary on the Titanic and not only was the metal too brittle but the rivets of the Titanic were made of a weaker iron in the front and rear of the ship. When the ship hit the iceberg with the bow, the rivets did not hold and six seams came apart on the ship. The weakness came because there was a larger amount of slag in the iron that made up the rivets. Slag weakens the metal and in tests, metal with a higher amount of slag will not stretch as far and is more brittle than metal with less slag. I also watched a NOVA documentary about the making of viking swords. It was very interesting and helped me to understand more about work hardening and annealing and what happens at the molecular level of the metal. A sword is made of steel and worked by a blacksmith but educating yourself on a variety of art forms only adds to your own knowledge. Also the blacksmith was from nearby Wisconsin and I am now a fan. His knowledge and workmanship was remarkable. Here is a link to the NOVA episode: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/secrets-viking-sword.html

Annealing is the process of heating your copper up which helps the copper molecules get back into their nice, tidy, crystalline structure and like magic it is soft again.  I don't know about you but this blows my mind.  I love how you can work with copper over and over and over again and as long as you are careful while annealing you can work with it indefinitely.

When you anneal the copper, turn off your lamp that you use in your torch area. Dim light helps you see the color change of the copper, and that tells you the temperature of the copper. Heat your copper to a dull red. Keep it at a dull red for 10-15 seconds. To do this, keep moving your torch around and over your piece. I have to move the flame off the piece so I can see the color of the metal. You will see that the copper will first start to turn dark and then the dull red. When you move the flame away the dull red will quickly disappear as the metal instantly starts to cool. Immediately put your flame to the metal again, making passes over the metal and watching the color. Then turn off your torch and quench your piece.  Be careful though because dull red can quickly turn to bright red and that is too hot.

If you heat your copper to bright red you risk making your copper very hard -the complete opposite of annealing! So watch the color change very closely. Practice on scrap and have fun!

Trying Out Patinas

Turning Copper Green and Blue

Patina is what happens to copper and silver and other metals over time. The color of the metal changes because of the chemical reactions between the metal and the environment.  It takes many years for copper to turn green, especially where I am from in Iowa. I discovered this a few years ago when I made a rain chain for my mother-in-law and the copper turned very dark and even black in some places.  Eventually it will get some green but now I know how to speed up the process!

I have had a lot of fun learning about how to speed up patinas on copper. I have to give thanks to all the free information on the internet and in my books and hopefully this information will help you too.   After researching many recipes, I found some that I thought I could actually try with stuff I had in the house. I also wanted to work with ingredients that were not toxic and I really like the idea of creating the recipe myself as opposed to buying a jar of something pre-made. Please share what you have tried and let me know your results.

Ammonia, vinegar and salt and surprisingly saw dust are the ingredients used in different combinations to get copper to turn green or blue/green.  So far, they all turned out great, but I can generally scratch off the green with my fingernail so all material will probably need to be coated with a lacquer.

Buried Patina:
*I apologize that I can not find the actual web site that I found this information from, however I have found many others with slight variations of the bury method.  I will keep looking because I want to link to the site so the proper person gets credit. Even though she didn't invent the method but like me was just passing the information along in her blog.

 If you want a textured patina try easy, kitchen friendly Buried Patina For Blue color on copper: Add 1 part Vinegar to 4 parts Ammonia and saturate hardwood sawdust until media clumps together in a sandwich size zip-lock baggie filled with saw dust. Bury metal in media and seal the bag. Place in a warm spot and check each day to see if the color appears and is to your liking. When the color is right for you, let the piece dry out before using or sealing.  The "texture" comes from where the saturated sawdust comes in contact with the copper.

For Green color on copper: Add 1 part Vinegar to 3 parts Ammonia and saturate until media clumps together in a sandwich size zip-lock baggie filled sawdust or rolling tobacco. Bury metal in media and seal the bag. Place in a warm spot and check each day to see if the color appears and is to your liking.

For Bright turquoise color on copper:  Add 1 cup ammonia, 1 cup rock salt, ½ cup tap water to cotton squares until media clumps together and bury metal, seal bag, place in warm area, check each day

If you want a transparent patina to be able to see textures or etching try Liver of Sulphur (LOS) or other transparent patinas.Some of the above info came from books by Jinks McGrath

Painting vinegar/salt and ammonia/salt on copper works too. I simply painted the liquid on the copper, let it dry and reapplied. I did this at least three times and came up with some great results.

I was able to remove some of the patina with my fingernail. You can resolve this by working with  this method longer and making more applications and then seal the copper with lacquer or a fixative.

Ammonia with salt also gave a similar shade of green. This was really fun!

Intermediate Metal Techniques

HI! I started a post over a month ago about patinas and I still haven't finished it! I did however work on a handout for my "Intermediate Metals Class" which starts tomorrow so I thought I would post that. I worked a long time on it and think it might be helpful. It includes a bit on foldforming as well because foldforming is cool.

Intermediate Metal Techniques
The Workspace
April  2013

Terrie Hoefer
515-231-0841
terrie@silverleafshop.com

Welcome to Intermediate Metal Techniques! This class requires that you have taken the Beginning Metals class or have experience with several metal smithing techniques such as sawing, filing, and knowledge of terms such as hardness, gauge, annealing, etc.  This class will focus on Foldforming, Soldering, and Bezel Setting.

Foldforming is a fun technique that you can spend years learning and experimenting with. It gives wonderful texture and depth to metal and can add life and a story to your piece. Copper is wonderfully suited to foldforming. Copper can be folded over and over again, almost infinately. It anneals beautifully and can be the focus of your piece or an accent or it can be an entire sculpture.  I recommend the book “Foldforming” by Charles Lewton-Brain.  There is also an active Foldforming group on Facebook, and if you are serious about Foldforming they will let you join J

Annealing – Anneal after every fold. You can pickle but it is not necessary. Make sure you rinse well after pickling so you don’t have pickle trapped in the folds that could continue to damage your metal or your skin etc.

Hammers – There are lots of different hammers and mallets around. To begin, you can use your basic chasing hammer, ball peen hammer or even a mallet if there is a texture on your copper you want to protect. As you practice and learn how the metal moves with your hammers, you can begin to practice with forging hammers and raising hammers.  Brainpress.com has great information: http://www.brainpress.com/Foldformingtools.shtml.

Pliers – You will sometimes need flat-nosed pliers or a knife to pry open your folds. Usually you want to open them without leaving unwanted marks on your metal.

One of the most talented artists at The Workspace solders a ring

Soldering is fun to learn but takes practice. We will practice on scrap copper so you can get a feel for the heat of the flame, the different types of solder, and dealing with fire scale and other tricks to creating successful solder joins.  Safety first! Make sure you solder in a ventilated area, know and understand your torch, tie back loose hair and clothing, keep flammables away from torch area.

Solder – Solder comes in Hard, Medium and Easy. Hard melts at the highest temperature and has the most silver in it, easy melts at the lowest temperature and has a higher alloy content. Because hard solder has more silver it will tarnish slower. Always use hard solder first if you will be soldering more than once on a piece. For instance, use hard solder to solder a bezel closed. Then use medium or easy to solder the bezel to a back plate.  Medium solder melts at a slightly lower temperature so it will flow before the hard solder will. That way, your first seam won’t melt!

                Solder will not fill gaps. The two items that will be soldered together must fit tightly. When solder flows, it actually becomes part of the metal that is being soldered together. So a tight fit is very important.

               Your metal must also be very clean. Dirt, oil will prevent solder from working properly.

                Solder comes in wire and sheet. You can also buy solder that is in a syringe or already in a paste. The kind you use depends on what you are making. For most joins, wire or sheet solder can be cut into little pieces. Make sure you keep the solder labeled and separate from silver wire or other silver that you can confuse it with. Also don’t mix up hard, medium and easy solder. Keep the solder labeled and packaged. You don’t want someone to use easy solder when they need hard!

Flux – Flux prevents firescale by protecting the solder and metal from oxygen. Too much flux can bubble in the flame and cause your solder to bounce out of position. Prevent this by heating very slowly until the flux dries and turns white. We use Handy Flux, if it is dried out add some water so it is a paste and spread on your metal. You can coat your whole piece to help keep your piece from discoloring from the flame but is not necessary. Flux also needs to coat your solder.

                When flux turns clear you are approaching soldering temperature.

The Torch – We have a wonderful torch at The Workspace with four torch heads. Usually one of the smaller torch heads will produce enough heat for your jobs. If you are working with larger or thicker gauges of metal then you may need to use a larger torch head. However I am able to solder small rings with just a kitchen butane torch, but it took a lot of practice!  Please learn all safety procedures with the torch. Tie up hair and loose clothing. Keep paper and flammables away from the torch station. At the end of the night help make sure the torch tank has been turned off and the torch hose has been bled (emptied of gas). After bleeding the hose, make sure the torch head has been closed.

                The hottest part of the flame is right in front of the bright blue cone. Also a flame that is loud and hissy will have too much oxygen in it and cause firescale problems. Too bushy of a flame may not have not enough oxygen and may not be hot enough to have a successful solder.

                Solder flows toward heat!  Heat your entire piece so the metal that is farthest away from your join doesn’t continually suck needed heat away from your join. As you approach solder temperature you can focus the flame on the seam.

                Remove the flame as soon as the solder flows. Quench in water and place in the pickle pot with copper tongs. Please make sure the crock pot gets unplugged before the last person leaves!

·         Clean metal and solder with scratchy pad or sandpaper

·         Join must be tight and touch. Solder does not fill gaps!

·         Flux the piece and solder

·         Heat slowly and heat the entire piece, watch the changes in the flux

·         When flux turns clear you can start to focus the flame on where the solder needs to flow

This is a great resource to have while learning how to solder: http://art.jewelrymakingmagazines.com/Projects/Subscriber%20Projects/2010/07/14%20Soldering%20Tips.aspx

http://art.jewelrymakingmagazines.com/ is a great website with lots of free tips and projects. They even have videos that are well produced. 

Texture With A Rolling Mill

Last week in class we focused on the rolling mill. It is an awesome tool that can lead you into an infinite number of directions. A rolling mill can be used to thin metal. But for class we used the mill to add texture to metal.  Textured metal can become the focal point of a piece or the background of a piece.  Texture adds mood and character to a piece.

The rolling mill that we have at the workspace is a crude but well made tool. I believe it was made many years ago by an instructor. It is not as easy to use as a mill you could buy today, but the rollers are smooth and as long as you are careful, you can make good impressions with your materials.

Metal can be similar to clay when hit with a hammer or put through a rolling mill. A slab roller for clay is similar to a rolling mill for metal. I realize now I do not have a picture of our little machine. But because of the malleability of metal, it is pretty incredible what can be pressed into metal. See the picture of the feather below.  Two passes were made to show what a difference annealing your metal can make.

24 gauge copper with 2 presses from a  feather. Click on the photo to see a larger image and the individual barbs of the vanes in the feather. Sadly you destroy the feather in the process.  Also please note that you should only use store bought feathers. Pretty much every bird is protected by law and that includes their feathers.

The first pass can be seen with the vertical line running through the copper. The vertical line is from the shaft of the feather but the vane of the feather is not visible. But after annealing the copper you can see the second pass of the feather through the mill and you can see both the shaft and the vanes of the feather. Pretty amazing because a feather is very thin material. With a dip in liver of sulfur the vanes should even appear more clear.

Above you can see the other items I rolled through the mill - ribbon, paper ribbon, and index card cuts.

Here you can see a little sketch of buildings on index paper, then I cut out some of the windows and some of the lines with an exacto knife. I did not cut out every line or every window.  I also had some bits of triangle pieces of paper added to the piece. You can see that one of the triangles slid before rolling and looks like it is "sitting" on top of the square picture.  The other bits of white index paper are just loosely laying on the metal.

This blue paper is a ribbon that has the feel of rafia. I am not 100% that it is rafia but it made fun lines in the copper

Here is a piece of ribbon with the rougher side of the ribbon against the copper. It makes a nice texture and presses very clearly.

A student experiment. First after a few adjustments, the copper was rolled with the blue paper ribbon. Then another pass was made with a curly piece of brass wire.  The wire planished or burnished the texture of the ribbon so the curvy line is shiny and catches the light and makes a wonderful contrast to the paper texture.

This student cut out flowers from scrapbook paper and rolled her sterling silver with the flowers sandwiched between two very thin sheets of copper that she had. The copper actually pressed concentric waves into the silver as well, since it was so thin the rollers really crushed the copper.  But we liked the effect.  The results here are after a dip in liver of sulfur and a rub with sandpaper.

Not everyone worked on the roll press. Here a student is working on a sculpture of a flower.  Placing a dapping punch in a vise, protected from the vises teeth with blue painter's tape, the punch becomes a stake and he is able to get the curve he wants in the petals of his flower.

Lots of discs in copper and brass punched out with the disc cutter

Already a student has earrings finished after the third week of classes. Discs, shaped in a dapping block and large silver wire jump ring  and a splash of color with the crystal drop.  

The items are endless that you can use with metal and a rolling mill. Experiment and have fun!

The Pressure is ON!!!

OMG!! Connie Fox is following me on Pinterest!!  Pardon me while I have a slight heart attack!  I have really got to get my game on now! Some of you may be wondering why I am being so strange, or melodramatic, or whatever. Connie Fox is someone who creates fabulous works of art, writes wonderful articles and projects and if I win the lottery I am going to California to take classes from her.  I talk about her in all of my classes because her web site is really helpful, wonderful and inspirational.  She has written for Step by Step Wire - her jewelry on the cover first drew me to that magazine. She started out as a wire work artist and is now full on into metalsmithing. I love all of her designs.

So if she is following me I better have something for her to look at!! I hate when you go through those funks, and for me it is oh so very frequent - where you want to get up and work and create, but there are just too many other things going on. And then. Instead of getting up and getting stuff done - like working on getting my kids financial aid for college in order, planning my daughter's graduation party, cleaning, cleaning, laundry, and cleaning so I can then go hide and play and create.  I sit. And do nothing. 

Thank goodness for teaching at the Workspace because then I have to at least work and plan for those classes. But still I need to spend time everyday sketching, or hammering, or sawing, or reading up on techniques. So I have something to Pin for Ms. Fox!

...seriously I am NOT a stalker!
haha!

Rivets!! Part One... Because there are soooo many possibilities!!

I love rivets. Rivets can be made out of wire or tubes. The trick is to drill a hole that is the same size or just a tiny bit bigger then the wire. Use a wire gauge to measure your drill bit to match your wire.  I like to file the ends of the wire before making the rivet.  An easy way to start a rivet is hold the wire in a flame and let the wire ball up - and vola! you have something to smash with your hammer :)

16 gauge copper wire with a similarly sized drill bit ready to
clamp some silver and copper together.

Use a nail and hammer to create a dent or depression in  your metal for the drill bit.
This will keep the drill bit from sliding around and scratching your metal.

When riveting two pieces of metal together you need to drill a hole through both of them. Make sure you know where you want your rivet and drill a hole through the first piece of metal. In the above photo I am using a nail to tap a dent into the silver, this will help catch the drill bit so the drill bit won't skate around and scratch your metal while you are drilling. You can use a nail or a punch or a screw... Anything that has a little point to it that will make a nice depression for your drill bit.

Then use your first piece of metal with the drilled hole as a guide for placing the second hole in the second piece of metal. Drill the hole in the second piece of metal. Now your pieces of metal should line up as you want them when you place your rivet in your piece.

It is now time to work on your rivet. If you have not chosen to ball up your wire in a flame to start your rivet you will file or sand your wire so it is smooth and place it in a vise. Have just a little bit of the wire sticking up  out of the vise and clamp it down very tightly.

Here you can see the very beginnings of a head on the wire.

 Tapping with a hammer on the edge of the wire is how you grow the head of a rivet. Hit the wire at about a 45 degree angle, all around the wire. You will be hitting just the edge of the wire. You do not need to hit very hard, especially with copper, it is pretty soft. Gradually work your way around the wire many times until the rivet is big enough to not fall through the drilled holes in your work.

The rivet is seen from the underside of the copper disc.

The wire with the rivet on the end is threaded on to the copper disc.

The silver is added to the piece. Measure and trim the wire.

Finishing the rivet is easy. Trim the wire so it is only a one or two millimeters above your work. You do not need much to make the second head of the rivet. Remember as you are hammering on your steel bench block, you will also be having an effect on the backside of the piece.  This bench block in the photo is new, but not as smooth and shiny as my old bench block and it will leave a texture on the back side of this piece.  Hammer the same as you did when the wire was in the vise.  Hammer the edge of the wire first. As the head of the wire spreads out you can hammer more directly on top to finish out the spread of your rivet.

 You can choose to finish your rivet in different ways.  Hammer your rivet flat, as shown here.

Reverse side of piece.

 Or use a balled up wire, without hammering as a rivet as shown below

The smaller earrings in the center look as if they have a rivet in them.

OK technically that isn't a rivet in the earrings above because the silver is actually the ear wire. But it has the appearance of a rivet in the center earrings.

This bracelet has a stone held on by wire rivets. The rivets are on the underside of the bracelet and the sterling silver wire "grows" up and around the green kambaba jasper.

My Favorite Metalsmiths

There are so many wonderful instructors and books out there so here is a list of ...

My Favorite Web Sites

Connie Fox:  I order tools and always look at her latest educational posts or videos if she has any. http://www.jatayu.com/

Interweave Press has several magazines and a nice web site for all of them.  Lapidary Journal has gotten smaller over the years but still has good information, projects and photos: http://www.jewelrymakingdaily.com/blogs/jewelryartistmagazine/default.aspx

Rio Grande for tools, gems and display items. They also have good educational videos and I like their group on Facebook: http://www.riogrande.com/

Otto Frei, a tool resource: http://www.ottofrei.com/store/home.php

Society of American Silversmiths: http://www.silversmithing.com/index.htm

Jewelry Studies International: http://www.jewelrystudiesinternational.com/pages/home

Facebook group called “Bench Tips” by Brad Smith. I don’t know who he is but he has great tips:
http://www.facebook.com/#!/BenchTips?sk=info

Fire Mountain Gems:  http://www.firemountaingems.com/

Rings & Things: http://www.rings-things.com/

My Favorite Books:

Tim McCreight – The Man: http://www.brynmorgen.com/mccreight.html
  Complete Metalsmith (several editions, I have the student edition)
  Jewelry: Fundamentals of Metalsmithing
 And other books and dvds by him and other authors/metalsmiths

Susan Lenart Kazmer: Making Connections: A Handbook of Cold Joins for Jewelers and Mixed Media Artists. 

Jinks McGrath: The Encyclopedia of Jewelry-Making Techniques: A Comprehensive Visual Guide to Traditional and Contemporary Techniques

I have others, this is just a start. Check 'em out!

This is what Beginning Metals Class looks like.

Blank.




Nothing.




Possibilities



New Creativity.

A chance to go in any direction you want. Make jewelry, make a sculpture, make a vessel. You can do any of that and more with metals. Metal can be worked like clay as you hit it with a hammer, it moves and stretches. Metal can have textures and designs imprinted on them with pressure or chemicals. Metal can be constructed with folds and rivets.

When teaching metals I spend the majority of the time teaching the proper use of the tools. There are lots of fabulous tools. There are lots of cool techniques. But it takes a long time to get through these and practice a bit so one feels comfortable enough to work with the tools. So there is never much time to study creativity and design and form in only 5 or 6 classes...Hopefully we can use this blog as a resource for some of that.

But as always first is tools.
No wait. First is safety.
Wear eye protection
Tie your hair back.
Don't wear loose clothing or jewelry.

Sawing is the first thing to learn. I love to saw. And despite what a few artists or instructors will tell you or write in books, you can learn to saw without breaking blades left and right.  So see my post on sawing for more on that :) Sawing

Then is filing: Take the time to file. It will pay off!

Also learn about sand paper.  Grits - the smaller the number the larger the grit. I discovered that you can get 1000, 2000, 2500 grit sandpaper at the auto parts store.

Next hammers and bench blocks

Wirework!

So I still don't know everything I should probably know about this blogging thing. Like, are you supposed to start a new page every time you make a new entry or just keep adding to the same page?

And of course I wonder if anyone will read this but I guess it is ok if no one does because one thing this blog helps me do is straighten my brain. As I plan to teach my next class I have been thinking how can I present the information for my students on the blog, and I think that helps to create some order to my curriculum.  Which is good because I am a little scatter brained and when I start teaching I get excited and possibly a bit carried away.

Having the chance to do anything creative is a blessing.  Being able to do it in a warm, inviting, friendly atmosphere is wonderful.  Being able to pass on some knowledge while learning from others at the same time is priceless.

So I am working on preparing for two classes that start this week.  The one tonight is Wire Work. Take some wire; copper, silver etc and cut and file and create a headpin.  Curl the end with round pliers. Smash the end with your hammer and a steel bench block, ball up the end with a torch. Learn how to make a wrapped eye loop. Now you are ready to add some gorgeous beads. I love beads. I use only natural gemstones, no dyes.

• Full Disclosure: I struggle sometimes with using metal and gemstones in my jewelry. I love nature and have been a naturalist and am still lucky enough to help teach environmental education. Natural gemstones and metals are mined from our planet earth. That can be a huge impact on the earth. We as humans need to reduce the impact we each have on the earth.  At the same time, gemstones and copper and silver are beautiful creations.  I draw my designs from nature. My stones remind me that it is part of the earth and I am part of the earth. Take care of it. It is all we have. The gemstones I choose are not dyed, simply polished to show their natural beauty. The name "Silver Leaf" comes from one of my favorite jaspers - Silver Leaf Jasper.  So share your art with others but try to limit your impact. Purchase metal from recycled sources (ie Hoover and Strong), gems from conflict free suppliers etc.
• Hoover and Strong explain this delima pretty well on this web page:             https://www.hooverandstrong.com/harmony-at-hoover-and-strong

Then take another piece of wire - file the ends, you want them wonderfully smooth so they do not scratch or snag on clothing. Create an eye loop, string on a bead, create a second eye loop and Wala! You have a bead link!

Amethyst and freshwater pearl bead link earrings

Once you learn how to make the headpins and ear wires well, you can make them quickly. These have some sterling silver spacer beads added to help draw the eye to the gemstone.

Simple, hoop earrings with smokey quartz

Swirls and large jump rings make for  a fun bracelet, this was shot before  soldering the jump rings closed. The wire  gauge is not very thick so therefore the jump rings may come open which is why I like to solder them closed.

Lots of fun with wire work, twisting, hammering, playing...

Coil wire around a mandrel such as a knitting needle. Make nice, tight pretty coils. Now you can cut the coils apart with your wire cutters or saw them apart to create wonderful jump rings.

Take large gauge wire such as 14 or 12 gauge and make beautiful clasps. Make a swan clasp, S-Curve Clasp or a funky free form Clasp. Use your hammer to planish or give it some texture. Use the same gauge wire to make a strong jump ring for your clasp to grab a hold of to hold your beautiful creation safe on your wrist.

Create any number of different shapes with 20 gauge wire after having very carefully filed, sanded and smoothed the ends of the wire, for ear wires.

That is what we will be exploring tonight and the next 2 Tuesday nights at The Workspace. 

Files - An Important Step in Finishing

My students and I grabbing the closest tool and hamming it up for the camera.

Rings class at The Workspace was very successful!  

The goal of the rings class is to learn how to do three things and learn to do them well enough that a student feels confident to continue learning and creating on their own.  Sawing, filing and soldering.  See my earlier post regarding sawing. This post will discuss filing.

Filing is very important and it can be a crucial step that helps to create a beautiful piece of art. It is important  to understand files, what they are made of and how using them properly will help in achieving a professional finish with your pieces.

Files, specifically jewelers files (also called needle files), are made of steel and like sandpaper, have a range of textures from coarse to fine. It is nice to have some coarse (00 or "rough") and some fine (all the way up to 8 or "super smooth") files.  Files quickly clean up burs and rough edges and straighten a crooked cut.  They also come in different shapes so you can file in small tight spaces and round spaces and square spaces...  So think about your end goal and choose the appropriate file for the job.  I like files that have a smooth side so while filing in a tight space you have less chance of scratching an area with the back side of the file.  Because sometimes you only need to file a certain area and the surrounding area may already have a nice finish.

It is usually taught that you must use a file in only one direction.  Some files only cut in one direction. Also, cutting in one direction will help your file to last longer. To file your piece, stroke the file along the edge that needs smoothing, firmly; then pick up the file and return to the start and cut again. Do not rub the file back and forth on your piece.

Files: A rough, round file. A flat cross-cut file (teeth going two directions). A flat file that has teeth all the way around and is a bit thicker. A file showing a smooth back side to protect the rest of your work. A flat file that only has teeth on the edges.  A fine cut file that is also a cross-cut file.

Above is a photo of just a few of the files I have.  I have not spent a lot of money on the rougher files, but as I slowly increase the size of my jewelers bench I will add higher quality fine cut files. The file on the far right is only a #2 but still is a fairly smooth file. With a nice smooth file I can quickly file the end of an ear wire about as fast as I can run a cup bur over it with my Foredom drill.  Note: all of my ear wires get tumbled with stainless steel shot to burnish the ends for an extra smooth finish that is comfortable to put in your ear and it also work hardens the wire and makes them stronger.

Not a great picture but this person is filing a piece of silver with a needle file and resting on the bench is a large flat file. Flat files are usually sold without a handle and you can have a wooden or plastic handle that you can use with your flat file.  I am not sure why they are sold this way. But I do not have a handle on my flat files. I leave them on my bench, flat, and rub my metal on the file as it lays there because I am usually using the flat file to smooth the edge of my metal that I had just completed sawing and I am attempting to get a straight, smooth, sometimes 90 degree edge.

Filing is not the end of the process when finishing jewelry. Jewelry needs to be comfortable and you don't want it to get caught in hair or snag clothing.  After filing, you move to sandpaper. Just like in filing you start with rougher sandpaper and move to finer grit sandpaper. THEN after that you can begin polishing with polishing compound and a buffer wheel or special polishing wheels made specifically for the Foredom or Dremel drills.  Tumbling is also a great option for polishing/burnishing metal.

Filing a copper ring. Note the pack of jewelers files resting on the bench. You can usually get a set of files fairly inexpensively. They will come in a few different shapes.  Note the injury to the hand in the photo did not occur during class :) 

So much fun stuff to learn, so many fun tools.

Sign up for my metals classes so you can learn more!!
http://www.sac.iastate.edu/index.cfm?nodeID=20175&audienceID=1&action=detail&eventid=27308


More pics from Rings Class

Hammering texture to copper

Cutting out a circle to add to a ring as a decorative element.