Jewelry Blog Carnival -- Patina Tips and Tricks

The jewelry blog carnival is hosted by a diverse group of jewelers to collectively ponder a topic of the month. Please visit the other members' blogs (links at the bottom) to see their views.

Patina on metal is one of those topics that I'm really interested in as a chemist, but I haven't truly taken time to explore in depth. For months now I've had a collection of chemicals sitting on my studio counter, ready to mix some more esoteric patinas. Alas, that hasn't happened yet.

I do recommend the bible of metal patinas, which my local library owns, The Coloring, Bronzing and Patination of Metals by Hughes and Rowe. I also like (and own) The Jeweler's Directory of Decorative Finishes by Jinks McGrath.

Very handy and free, this internet compendium of patina recipes at the Science Company is directed toward metal artists. Some of these recipes are the ones I bought chemicals for. If you're interested in mixing your own, finding small amounts of chemicals is tricky. For that purpose, try Home Science Tools, a homeschool science supplier that repackages chemicals into 30g quantities, usually a couple of spoonfuls depending on density.

For ready made patinas in an array of colors, for all metals, try Sculpt Nouveau.


Liver of sulfur is the "go to" patina for me, but rather than detail its well-known use, just refer to Holly Gage's excellent primer. I can offer one interesting observation. For my copper electroforming, I grow very smooth and shiny copper surfaces which give vivid rainbow patinas. I typically don't like the rainbow effect, so I actually have to buff the surface to a matte finish before applying the patina, to get the dark penny look I like. If you like rainbow iridescent patinas, I suspect that smooth surfaces will make that effect easier to acquire.

For more tips and tricks, visit these other sites for the perspectives of other fine artists:

Tamra Gentry
Tonya Davidson
Lorrene Davis
Lora Hart
Elaine Luther

Jewelry Blog Carnival -- The Most Challenging Piece

The jewelry blog carnival is hosted by a diverse group of jewelers to collectively ponder a topic of the month. Please visit the other members' blogs (links at the bottom) to see their views.

The topic of discussion for February is the most technically challenging piece we've ever made. I've given this a bit of thought and decided that this is a trick question.

Obviously, the most challenging piece is always the NEXT original! Unless I'm doing production work, just turning out inventory in a style that I'm familiar with, I'm given to working on original designs that challenge my skill level. As a scientist, that's where I want to be - on the edge of my abilities, charting new ground, at least new ground for me. Experimenting is my love in life, whether in the lab, the kitchen, the garden, or my studio.

That means that some pretty basic things might be on my challenge list, just because I've never done them. Now, that's not to say that some skills aren't more difficult to master than others. However, I tend to pick up hands-on skills pretty quickly in general. If something is extra challenging, I just love it better. That's part of what draws me to glass -- it's the hardest thing I've done (besides parenting).

So, what's the next piece; what's challenging me now? Glass with metal, including enamel. Enamel is glass, after all, so it's hard. Chemical reactions are an issue -- as a chemist I find that irresistible! There are several enamelists whose work I admire intensely, so that I crave that mastery. But since it's work in development, I have no photos to show.

I guess if I could interpret this as the piece that gave me the biggest disaster, I'd probably pick my carved bronze clay cuff. The first try gave this, due mostly to inexperience:


The second try was a huge step up:



And I need to go give the third try a go!

Please visit these other sites for the perspectives of other fine artists:

Tonya Davidson
Andes Cruz
Tamra Gentry
Elaine Luther
Angela Baduel-Crispin
Lora Hart
Lorrene Davis
Marco Fleseri

Jewelry Blog Carnival -- Favorite Jewelry

The jewelry blog carnival is hosted by a diverse group of jewelers to collectively ponder a topic of the month. Please visit the other members' blogs (links at the bottom) to see their views.

The topic this month is our most treasured piece of jewelry not made by our selves. Already I'm in trouble, because I can go a million different ways with that question, right after I ask for a refinement of "most treasured." Which favorite would that be?

If you want to know which piece of jewelry is sentimentally my favorite, then I'll of course choose my wedding ring, given to me on the day I married my best friend. It was chosen from a practical standpoint, as I spent my days in a physics laboratory, wrench in hand, working on broken vacuum pumps, lasers, or electronics. I chose the simple, protected design with an eye to not losing a finger or fracturing a diamond. Close behind that favorite will be the antique cut diamond, the "Mrs. Brown" diamond as we call it, that has been given to four generations of family brides so far, which was reset with my birthstone sapphires as a first anniversary gift. I didn't want to use it in my wedding ring, as I knew it would be passed down to my daughter-in-law someday. I wear those rings every day, yellow gold that they are, even though I predominately choose silver these days for other jewelry.

If I choose my favorite piece of original handmade jewelry, I'll select the not-quite-straight answer of earrings. I adore earrings and wear them everyday. I collect them wherever I go and always remember where and when they were purchased. My jewelry box overflows with them. For many years, I just collected what I liked without regard to the maker. Now I consciously collect from artists I admire, and I've pared down some of the older collection to make room for special pieces, as I can afford to invest more in an adornment that I'll wear frequently. I regularly wear this collection and become heartbroken when I occasionally lose half of a special pair, as I did recently with a silver flower dangle made by Lorena Angulo. On my regular rotation lately: favorite earrings by Lora Hart, Celie Fago, Gordon Uyehara, and Louise Hibbert.


Perhaps the most inspirational earrings I've collected recently were these Australian boulder opal earrings, made by Vicki Grossman Wyrick of Ida Ida Studios (unfortunately, the weblink seems to be broken), which I found at the Fiesta Arts Festival in San Antonio on my 19th anniversary. I love the asymmetry, the name, and the inspiration. Titled "He Said, She Said," the earrings are unmatched but coordinating because her story and his story are always different views of the same events. What a beautiful metaphor for marrige. The photo doesn't show it, but the bottom stone on the female earring (right) is hinged to represent how women chatter while the male earring is rigid and quiet.

My interest in boulder opals originated with these earrings. They have also inspired me to consciously work towards including more narrative in my jewelry, although I can't say that I've made the progress I desire in that direction yet, partly due to dealing with my mother's declining health. She entered hospice this week, so I'm not at home to browse through my collection and snap a photos of a wide range of fabulous work to show. But the one pair of earrings that traveled with me were these, which serve as an encouragement to me to speak up and advocate for my mother in this time of transition.

Please visit these other sites for the perspectives of other fine artists:

Tonya Davidson
Lora Hart
Andes Cruz
Tamra Gentry
Lorrene Davis
Elaine Luther
Marco Fleseri
Angela Baduel-Crispin

Jewelry Blog Carnival -- The Soaring Cost of Fine Metals

Have you noticed the prices of metals are soaring? A check yesterday showed the price of silver to be $18.41 per ounce. Even so, silver is a bargain compared to gold at $1135.50 and platinum at $1435.00.


The topic for the blog carnival today is how the rising price of metal has affected my work. I have to say that it really has not changed my approach in any way, probably because my predominate metal is silver.

Yes, earlier in the year, I toyed with bronze clay, which is substantially less expensive than silver. Many metal clay artists are moving to bronze to reduce costs. However, the work required in making jewelry from bronze clay is just as extensive, if not even more so, than when making silver clay jewelry. Truthfully, the labor in my work is the more substantial part of the cost. I like the look of bronze for some purposes, but with my high labor investment, the cost of materials is less significant than if I were making simple pieces.

I suppose it depends on how I define my target market. Since I don't do a lot of shows where lower end jewelry would be in high demand, I don't focus on that type of work. I make what I love to make, which is technically challenging and time intensive, and then I let it find its appropriate home. My buyers are typically those with an appreciation of the skill and artistic abilities involved and a willingness to pay for something beautiful, handmade and one-of-a-kind.

My long term aims are to market my jewelry to the very high end jewelry galleries and markets, so if anything I'm tending to drive my work in the direction of increasing prices by adding such distinctions as gorgeous stones, 22K gold, and enamel. If cost cutting were a serious issue for me at this time, I'd move toward using more conventional silver rather than the doubly expensive metal clay.

Of course, I have the luxury of having financial support from my husband so that I can make this choice. Life constraints might make this choice different for others, in which case cost savings might steer such an artist toward simplification rather than intricacy. If money were my goal though, I'd still be working as a scientist, since it paid a lot better than art!

Shown above: a simple silver clay window piece, with fun 3D effects due to attaching prefired fine silver balls to the flat window. Shrinkage curved the edges with the balls out of the plane. This piece is waiting for a hand-painted enamel on glass tile and a box assembly to hold that tile, plus some larger structure or added embellishment to give the piece more heft, since it turned out to be too small in scale. Such is my work: a long process.

Read the views of other members of the Jewelry Blog Carnival on this topic at these links:
Angela Baduel-Crispin
Andes Cruz
Tonya Davidson
Marco Fleseri
Tamra Gentry
Elaine Luther

Welcome to the Jewelry Blog Carnival -- Favorite Creation

I'm flattered to have been invited to join the Jewelry Blog Carnival, a monthly series of blog posts from a group of well-respected artists. I've been reading this particular blog carnival for some time now, and it had crossed my mind to ask if I could join. Last month I was very close to writing my own post on their topic of inspiration, sort of crashing their party, as it were. Imagine my glee that they since asked me to join the party legitimately!!

The blog posts follow a given theme, with each member of the group posting their thoughts in their own way, and then linking to all the other posts. You'll find a list of the members' links at the bottom of this post. Please go check out the party (after you read mine, of course)!

This month's given topic is:

Out of all the pieces you've created, which one means the most to you and why (i.e., technical achievement, most beautiful, personal/emotional significance, etc.)

This was a hard choice for me. I work in so many media -- how would I choose one piece from everything I've ever created?? So I decided to be a rebel right from the beginning of my participation and to choose one from each of the three main media that I work in regularly. Here, on the appointed day, is my favorite metal jewelry piece. But tomorrow and the next day, I'll answer the same questions about the other two media, glass and fiber.


The most meaningful piece of my metal clay work so far is the bronze link bracelet titled Flock. Although its construction is ultra simple, it represents many breakthroughs for me. It was the first finished piece of metal clay jewelry that I felt truly represented my artistic vision, where I'd moved into my own territory instead of riffing off an idea from elsewhere.

I learned to use photopolymer plates so that I could use my original drawings for the textures -- the first bird tree images were developed for this piece, and now they're everywhere in my work. Photopolymer plates are a standard, quick-and-easy part of my repertoire now. I also struggled early on, like everyone else, with firing bronze clay without cracking, and this bracelet was the first round where I felt I understood what I needed to do (that's because I made all the pieces twice).

Assembling the links was an ordeal, although repeating it now is trivial. I originally planned the bracelet with just the pillow links, but added the ovals when I realized it was too short (design opportunity at work -- add something different rather than more of the same!). I didn't plan the wire connections to be angled, which is much more difficult to implement than straight, but looks great and lets the bracelet move like a snake.

I didn't plan the clasp properly, and still need to tweak it a bit to make it perfect. Now I realize that I need two ovals together, to get the links to alternate properly, but it took making the silver version wrong again to get it to really sink into my thick head. I believe in persevering. Even with all this work, the bracelet is just a flash compared to hundreds of hours to thread paint a fiber piece.

When I wore this bracelet to Bead and Button in June, people asked if I made it in a class (since I was taking bronze classes, I guess), and then when they found out it was mine, if I was teaching it. I had inquiries about selling it over and over again, which I declined until I could figure out how to more easily reproduce it. Making similar pieces for sale has been on my to do list for months now.

All the attention at B&B gave me confidence to submit it for publication and other calls for images. Two different photos will appear in print soon: on the cover of the inaugural issue of Metal Clay Artist Magazine and in the 2010 Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry Calandar. My Flickr page got lots of hits after Gordon Uyehara showed it in his talk on bronze clay at the Metal Clay World Conference in July.

Overall, the bracelet marks a transition for me, from lurking artist dabbling in a new medium, to artist stepping out and claiming some small recognition in that new medium. I like the sense of accomplishment and achievement I feel when I see this piece, and I'll always know that it's the piece that marked my coming out.


Sometimes I worry that I play in too many media, that I should stop and focus on one to move up to the next level. I've decided, however, that this piece just validates that I'm an artist, pure and simple, regardless of medium. Those media are starting to meld together, as in the next version of the bird link bracelet, Birdwatching, which has enamel painted glass insets. I go where I need to go, and make every medium I try my own.

Please visit the other members of this Blog Carnival, for their favorite pieces:

Lora Hart
Tonya Davidson
Angela Baduel-Crispin
Lorraine Davis
Elaine Luther
Marco Fleseri
Tod Pardon
Tamra Gentry
Andes Cruz