Handmade Artists' Forum Blog

European Box Bracelet

John Atwell Rasmussen — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:52:43 +0000

I thought and thought and thought and just could not devise an unique chain pattern of my own, so I sat down and made a European Box chain with 6 mm ID rings (hand cut from 18 gauge round copper wire). The result is a 7 inch bracelet here displayed on a flocked hand. The process of making chain is very relaxing for me; and it exercises my arthritic hands. Cutting to the chase, here it is:

Thanks for looking,

John

A Teapot Lamp is Born

myeuropeantouch — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:49:58 +0000

I found this discarded formerly silver plated teapot at a small shop and it was just begging to be transformed.

Fortunately a client had seen my other teapot Lamps at my flickr site….

She fell in love with it and ordered one .

I started out cleaning up this teapot, sanded, ruffed it up a bit to prepare it to take a white primer and paint. Before that I removed the finial on top of the lid, drilled a hole, marked the bottom where I would drill the hole for the threaded hollow rod to go thru all the way to the top. I secured the threaded hollow rod with washers and nuts.

After primer and paint where dry, I then cut up vintage bone china plate rims with my tile nippers, added stained glass pieces which were also cut over and over again until the fit to the curved body just right and glue them to the body with thin set.

There, one side done, proceeded to the other side, and partially the bottom, and stained glass around the rim. One can see part of the teapot that is not mosaiced yet, just the white paint. The thin set needs to dry for quite some time before I can go on to the grouting of the entire teapot body.

After usually at least a week the mosaic on the teapot is ready for grouting. The grout just has to be the right consistence to get into all the nooks and cranny’s. I let it sit for about an hour until I wipe the grout overflow of the teapot body with a wet sponge. Then it will sit again for a while until I wipe the grout film of the stained glass and fine bone china pieces cut from plate rims to make everything shiny. I wait a few more days normally before I seal this mosaic on the teapot body with a tile sealer. My client needed this in a hurry for a gift so I sped up some of the process a bit to help her out, by using a hair dryer.

Here we go all done so far…

The lid was then covered in thin set and glue to build it up a bit, I then set in all the clay roses, vintage rhinestone brooches, cameos, pretties and baubles which would dry within the thin set/glue and be secured.
In the meantime I made the lamp shade, finished it up with tear drop pearl trim and an old fashioned Rhinestone Earring. I threaded the electrical cord thru the hollow metal rod and connected the cord to the actual light kit and mounted it on the top of the hollow rod. Put a light bulb in, yep it works, all good….Topped of the spout with a Crystal Chnadelier Tear Drop and a Rose.

Here is the finished project and my client was very happy, which in turn pleased me and made me happy.

Handmade Teapot Lamp Decor, formerly silver plated. An exquisite presentation, loved previously – to remain now a treasure for the next 50 years in your home perhaps?

I sanded, primed and painted this teapot in a cottage white color and then sealed it. This timeless classic, I then adorned the lid with handmade clay roses, vintage antique Jewelry and bling, meticulously laid on this teapot. The handmade clay roses and leaves I arranged so to give the impression they are climbing from the lid. A chandelier Prism hangs gracefully from the spout accompanied by a lil rose.
A classic Cameo, who you might usually find on a sweaters and blouses, settles on the lid and some on the belly of this Teapot.
I am quite pleased with the outcome of this reclaimed Teapot.
An abundance of Shabby, Cottage Chic… A treasure for a Victorian, beach, cottage, shabby, Paris home or Apartment.
I do accept custom orders, please contact me.

Mosaic Art by Myeuropeantouch

My Sunday Doodles

NancyWildWire — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 12:37:23 +0000

Do you ever doodle? I do it all the time, not on paper, with stones and wire. I use my wire like a paintbrush to create my art jewelry. I consider and call myself an artist I just use a very non-tradional approach:)
I suppose like most creative people I am a bit eccentric,LOL!! I never really know what is going to happen when I work. Will I have a metal mess that ends up in my scrap bowl?

There is nothing wrong with the materials in my scrap bowl, I frequently pull bits and pieces and recycle them as part of new work. But when I throw a new creation in there I feel I failed to achieve my goal for this day.

Today I got a wonderful surprise with great potential:) I see a few places to tweak and polish before I add it to my listings but I am very pleased, what do you think? This piece is reversible,I would wear it either direction. This is a freeform piece of silky polished moonstone with a sweet peachy pink color and fabulous luster not showing in my photos. This will look great on a leather cord with one of my hand wrapped forged clasps. Watch for it to appear soon in my Handmade shop NancysWildWire

Thanks for your interest:)

Back view Do you like my doodles?

My doodles

Caring For And Cleaning Your Copper Jewelry

NancyWildWire — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 17:19:39 +0000

I love copper jewelry don’t you? It took me a while to figure out how to slow down the tarnish
and the proper way to clean my favorite metal safely.
The best way to keep it nice is to always store your jewelry in a separate plastic zip bag.(silver too)

I prefer natural methods over harsh chemicals when it does start to tarnish.
Believe it or not any tomato based product like ketchup or tomato sauce does a
great job,it’s not fast but it works well. Dab some on the copper and let it set
a couple of minutes,then rinse in cool water. It may need to be repeated on
stubborn tarnish and you can also rub with an old T-shirt or soft brush to help
remove it,then rinse again. Buff with a soft cloth and it should be bright and clean.

My favorite method is lemon juice or vinegar.Dip or squirt it on, let it sit a
few seconds rub with a soft cloth or brush(baby toothbrush) if it is very
stubborn add a little salt and rub lightly. Rinse well,pat dry and buff to a nice
glowing patina.

Which ever method you chose,always be sure to completely dry the piece before you
place it back in the bag and remove as much air as you can when you close the
bag.If your jewelry has stones avoid getting the cleaning solution on
those, especially pearls, shell, and opal, any dyed or treated stones too.

Peridot and Sterling Silver Pendant

John Atwell Rasmussen — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 13:55:32 +0000

I was thinking and decided to try a twisted wire project. I took three strands of 18 gauge round soft copper wire and twisted them together into one strand. Showing this to my wife, she said, why don’t you use silver. I would like something done with this in silver. I took three strands of 21 gauge square half hard sterling silver wire and twisted them in a similar manner. When I show this to Debora, she asked what I was going to do and I replied that I was thinking of a twisted drop with a stone set in the bottom loop. She asked to select the stone, and she selected a 6 mm round peridot. That set the size and shape of the stone and setting.

The twisted wire was formed into the basic shape, then the top was wrapped with 21 gauge half round Argentium sterling silver wire to form the bail. A precast head was soldered into the loop with hard silver solder. The entire piece was then pickled, hand polished and tumbled to a high gloss polish. The prongs were notched with a square fine file, and the peridot was set into the silver setting. We have a finished pendant:

These last to views are from the back and the extreme left side. Overall, the effect of the twisted wire accents the entire design.

Amazing FHFteam Giveaway

MakinTheBestOfIt — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 18:47:05 +0000

Hi there, my name is Jolene Wolfe and I am a lampwork bead maker. I have been a member of www.frithappens.co.uk, a UK based lampworking forum since 2007 and in 2009 I started a forum based Etsy Street Team called FHFteam . Each month we have a prize giveaway on our team blog and this month it is my turn to offer up a glassy treat or two. To be in with a chance of winning couldn’t be simpler, just pop by www.fhfteam.blogspot.com and leave a comment on one of our posts anytime before February 7th. Don’t worry if you are not a lampworker, you can nominate a lampworker to receive the twistie part of this prize package if you like.

This chunky aquarium focal bead featuring pretty little Tang tropical fish murrini

And a set of funky rainbow twisties

The winner will be drawn from the names of FHFteam blog followers who comment on the team blog during January, so don’t forget to ‘Follow’ us, and start sharing what’s on your mind! Drawing for the prize will take place on the 8th of February 2012

I’d like to say a special thank you to Andrew and Kimberly for inviting me to have a guest blog spot here to tell you all about our giveaway. Their tireless support of handmade it truly inspirational.

Happy New Year
Jo x
Kitzbitz on Etsy, Kitzbitz on HAFshop, Frit N Chips.

Pricing Handmade

Uniqlets Jewelry by Lisa — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 00:12:40 +0000

A blog post about pricing handcrafted goods sparked more debate than I would ever have imagined. So, I thought, why not jump into the fray? It hadn’t seemed that complicated to me. Whatever job I do, I expect compensation for my time and my talent. I demand compensation that includes health benefits, paid vacation, paid sick leave and a salary that allows me to pay my living expenses and generate savings. Why not expect the same compensation when I design and create jewelry?
To be fair, I know that I cannot expect the same hourly pay or benefits from my new jewelry craft business that I command from my career. But how much will I lower my expectations? My question to fellow crafters is “would you take a job that offered less than minimum wage? Would you resent competing for a job with someone who will accept less than a living wage because the job is not his or her sole income source?”
My challenge to myself and others is to approach our businesses as careers. That means, when pricing a piece of jewelry, I take into account the cost of my materials, my overhead – including health insurance, tools, expenses for my website and shop, advertising and promotion. And, I include $30 an hour for my time. I only count the hours I spend creating things. At some point, I would like to pay myself for equal number of hours I spend on all the other aspects of my business. Enjoying what I do does not negate the value of my time. I must value my work and my design if I am to expect a customer to value them. I don’t compare my prices to those in Walmart or Target or a similar store. My one of a kind products are not comparable to mass produced merchandise and, presumably, my customer is not deciding between purchasing one of my pieces and buying something mass produced in China.
It all comes down to determining who the target customer is and how to make that customer my customer. I know that my customer appreciates the creativity, time and passion that goes into a handmade object. My customer values uniqueness and wants one of a kind items. When pricing my jewelry, I look at prices in fashion magazines, craft galleries, boutiques and design or craft museum shops. I know that I cannot command the prices charged for top designer costume jewelry featured in the pages of Vogue or Bazaar. But those prices (which are often ten times my prices) remind me that there are people with disposable income who are spending freely when they attach value to items. That is the crafter’s biggest challenge, promoting our creations in a way that will help people to attach value to our merchandise, to perceive our products as exclusive, desirable, luxury items. We need to show customers what is unique and special about our work, to teach them the difference between handcrafted and homemade. We have to help customers to attach as much value to what we make as they do to items in boutiques and upscale stores and catalogs.
I don’t claim to know how to do that yet. But, I think it starts with valuing our work, pricing it accordingly, and not under-cutting our fellow crafters. We are craft professionals, not hobbyists.