Sawing

Sawing can be intimidating but when you learn the steps it can be enjoyable.  I love to saw metal and always see how long I can use the same blade before it gets too dull or...it breaks! (Never!)

Know the gauge of your metal and the size saw blade you should use with that blade.

My brother Tom's saw frame <3

This is an old jewelers saw frame from my older, cool brother Tom. He used this when he was in college and I was a toddler. (yes that is a dig at how old he is) He keeps everything but I was fortunate enough to receive this and a few other tools from his stash when he found out I had begun to work in metal. I have no interest in buying a new saw, even the new weird looking one that is in catalogs now, this one works great!

Load your saw blade correctly. Make sure the teeth are facing down towards the handle and facing out. 

Look carefully and use a magnifying glass if you have to!

How I load my saw:

I place my blade in the frame in the clamp closest to the handle and tighten the wing nut or thumbscrew so the blade is secure. Then I use my hip or my breast bone to compress the frame while sliding my blade into the clamp at the top of the frame, tighten the wing nut or thumbscrew and slowly release the pressure on the frame.  Check to see that your blade is held tightly in the frame by gently plucking the back side of the blade with your fingernail. You should hear a nice "ping".  You can also try it this way - place your blade in the saw and tighten both thumbscrews. Then use the third thumbscrew - the one that  is in the bottom right of the above photo, to adjust the length of the saw to tighten the blade. Then tighten and pluck!

• Keitha Anderson was the instructor at The Workspace when I was lucky enough
  to take Metals Class from her. She was a student in the Design College and she
  makes Beautiful Funky jewelry! It kills me that she doesn't have a web site. But
  keep your eye out for her!  She is extremely talented and I try to buy her pieces
  whenever I can. She exhibits at art shows and you can find her at Reiman
  Gardens Art Fair, The Octagon Art Festival and other local shows around Iowa.

Always lubricate your blade with wax, beeswax or that stuff you buy to lubricate your saw blades with.

To get started sawing, first you need to make a little notch for your blade to ride in.  You can use your bench pin or your thumbnail for this. My bench pin is a piece of 1x2 that I cut a notch out of and I don't care about cutting/drilling into it. It is a simple thing to get another piece of wood and make a new bench pin.  You can use the bench pin to cut a slice into the wood for your blade to ride in as you begin to cut your metal.  To use your thumbnail if you don't want to cut into your wood, hold your thumbnail vertical against your saw blade. Stroke your blade up several times to begin your notch in your metal.

When you start to saw, make sure you hold the saw in a vertical position and your grip on the handle of the saw should be light. There is no need to hold the saw tightly.  A loose grip also helps to keep you from pushing too hard on the saw. You would think that you would need to push forward to help the saw cut your metal but that is not the case. Let the teeth bite into the metal for you. Let the saw do the work.

When you want to cut a curve or a corner with your saw, move the metal NOT the saw.  Think of your saw kind of like a needle in a sewing machine. You have to move the fabric to sew around the corner. (Do people do that? I don't sew so I don't know! The last time I tried I broke the needle....twice!)

I wanted to make a copper  black-eyed susan

I sketched a couple on an index card and picked one to glue on my
metal with regular glue stick glue or rubber cement.

Used my favorite antique hammers that belonged  to
my dear father-in-law to hammer texture on to my copper.

Here you can see my bench pin, all cut and drilled into. It doesn't bother me :)
And my copper with my chosen drawing/template glued on

You can see I started the cut and have continued  counter-clockwise
around the flower. You can see the blade still in the flower.

Cut all around in one cut

Now I have a positive and negative image.

Use your bench pin to support the metal while cutting. Place the metal where it gets the most support from the pin while allowing you to saw. You can see the copper sawdust to the right of the flower that is resting on the pin. I spent most of my time sawing at the skinny part of the "V" on my bench pin.

CATCH your sawdust and metal scrap!  You can sell it back to suppliers!! Save every little bit!! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!!!

The paper stayed in place while sawing and easily peels off.

My black eyed susan needs an eye. I punched a disc,  sanded it...

I added the eye (center of the flower)  after doming it and connecting
with a rivet.

Resin Creations

BOY! I am tired! Three classes this week but soooo much fun.

We finished up the second half of resin class tonight and ideas continue to brew.  I think most of the students will be working beyond the class and continue with their new artistic outlet.  Also keep an eye out for some awesome keepsakes that will be for purchase at VEISHEA from the Entomology Department :)
As for the experiment on the butterfly wings we learned that they should be protected from the resin.

I apologize for the poor quality pictures. I only had my old ipod with me and it is really crappy at close-ups. But I want to document the ideas that were tried so ...

 

Students used art of their own creation, three dimensional objects and yes

of course, more bug and butterfly parts!

 

Butterfly wing with wire on the left. Hand drawn birdie with wire on the right. One of the students brought their teenage artist daughter to class! Very talented girl!

Carefully pouring the resin and love the use of the blue glove as a hair tie!

scrapbook paper, old books...

Finished piece from the first night embellished with orange craft wire

Colorful pendants ready to cure!

and of course...bugs!!!

Quick Note

Had Silver Rings class tonight! So thrilled! I love, love to saw and hammer and solder! I had three students and they all did an excellent job sawing, filing and soldering. They each have a copper ring. We have two more classes and they will have several rings when they are finished, including at least one sterling silver. It is too late to post pics but will get some more info up and some how-to's for next weeks class later.

First Resin Pours

Pouring resin into a bezel. See the butterfly wing in the foreground? Waiting to see  how the wings react to the resin.  We should learn something by Thursday when we meet again.

Not a great picture. The bezel on the left has a butterfly wing.  I like the text.

 Resin class was tonight. Had a full class and lots of fun creative, and artistic pieces being made. We had some entomologists in the group and so they scored with some butterfly wings and other cool bugs!

A creation without a bezel using scrapbook paper, ribbon and text.

Better photo of some more similar pieces.

There are more pieces but of course I forgot my camera so had to take a couple pics with my ipod.  We have a second class on Thursday and I will try to remember it. Lots of things to try and ideas spilling forth. We have molds that will need sanded and bugs to encase.  Best quote of the night after the first pour, "I could do this everyday!".

Pouring Resin Without A Bezel and Capturing Some WWII Nostalgia

Today I want to try pouring resin without a bezel or a mold. I am using photo paper. I scanned some letters and postcards that my father, Clarence Leo "Skid" Miller wrote to his sister, my dear Aunt Margaret during WWII. My dad became a flight instructor in the Army Air Corps and taught men to fly B17 & B29 Bombers.

I scanned the photos, and used Picasa to print them out on 4x6 inch photo paper.  I did not want to use packing tape on these (see blog from yesterday), as I did not want the edge that you have to have with packing tape. However I did just watch a video on Rings & Things where the presenter used packing tape on both sides of a piece of paper, punched out the circle she needed and then sealed the edges with super glue.  It must work. (She was using UV resin, which I have not tried).

These are images from a couple postcards, my father's handwriting (which was very nice) from a letter and his return address from an envelope.

The photos are drying on popsicle sticks as it just seems easier to handle them on the sticks then trying to peel them off of my garbage bag. I applied three coats of Mod Podge on the front, allowing 15 minutes to dry between coats and three coats on the back.  Be patient, this takes a while but it prevents the resin from staining the image.

To pour the resin I kept the photos on the popsicle sticks to try and keep the resin on the photo. I was afraid if the resin touched my table surface, the resin would then run off the picture and not dome on top of the picture.

Here I have poured resin on the TWA girl, bottom right and begun
a pour on my dad and sister top left. (My sister is WAYY OLDER then me!!)

Here is a closeup of the pour on the photo.

Now these photos are not 4x6, I scanned them and when they printed out they did not fill the entire 4x6 photo paper. Then I cut them down even more.  I was able to cover all four items you see in the photos with about one ounce of resin.  Now to wait until tomorrow to see how they turn out. Then I will flip them over and cover the backside.

Beginning With Resin

Hello - I created this blog a year ago, just to see how easy it was but never really intended to use it. I have a web page that I have a very hard time quickly and easily updating so have abandoned that for now. Recently I joined Pinterest but now think, to post instructions for the classes I teach at The Workspace, I thought I would use this blog for awhile and see how it works out.

This coming Tuesday I start Resin Jewelry, a two night class that will be completed Thursday evening.  Resin jewelry is fun and versatile.  I usually work with metal but experimenting with a new medium helps expand your creativity.  My first test was using the resin kit I had bought for my daughter several years ago that she had never opened.  It was Easy Cast from Rings & Things. I also bought Ice Resin in the double syringe pack.  I then did some pours with both comparing the results.

Student creations from The Workspace

Quick Summary: I like Ice Resin better.  But it is more expensive.  It is easier to mix, cures with fewer bubbles and is harder than Easy Cast and is crystal clear.

Quick Tips:

• Safety! Always wear gloves, and work in a well ventilated area.
• Pour rubbing alcohol into your plastic mixing cups as soon as you are done pouring.  This will allow you to clean and reuse the cup again.  Using a new cup every time is far too wasteful. Planet earth does not need more plastic trash. Try to lesson your impact and reduce, reuse, recycle. (Then again if I didn't make anything with resin in the first place....)
• Pour slowly, be patient to remove bubbles. Poke with a toothpick or straight pin. Blow or exhale over your resin pours or blow through a straw. 
• Work in a warm room. My studio in our basement is too cold and my resin (Easy Cast) cured with many tiny bubbles. I had much better success when I moved upstairs.
• If creating a piece with paper printed from your computer or a photograph, you will need to seal the item with Mod Podge or clear packing tape.  Packing tape works quick for people like me with no patience.  Mod Podge you need to coat 3 layers, making sure it is completely dry between layers. Use a paint brush to spread a light coat of Mod Podge on your paper, too much and you can make the ink on your paper run.
• Line your work surface with a garbage bag or wax paper. This makes for easy clean up and protects your table top.
• Use a plastic container to cover your pieces after you pour to keep dust and other horrible things from settling on your pieces. Also pour where the pieces will be curing, that way you don't have to worry about spilling or ruining your pours while transporting them to the "cure zone".  If you have to move them, then pour your pieces on a piece of cardboard or foam core that has been covered with wax paper or a garbage bag or contact paper. Then pick up the cardboard and move your pieces to the cure zone and cover.

Visit my Resin Pinterest page for photos and ideas then call The Workspace to sign up for the class!