Wednesday Wire: Ring Mania

Rings, rings, rings!

Don't ask me why but my creative muse has been gifting me with rings designs.  It feels as though I'm bringing together a few different ideas I've been playing with for a few years. You can see it all in this ring design:

Wirework.

Lampwork.

Metalwork.

It feels like I've been rehearsing a singing voice and it's starting to come through loud and clear.

What about you, what is your creative muse gifting you with?

Wednesday Wire: Cold Connections, Wire Wrap and a Beach Pebble

Wondering what I did with my "different bead stash" from the beach? You know I've been hammering and doming metal disks. Pair that with with wire and this is what you get....

No soldering, "cold connections" and wire wrapping make for one sweet beach pebble ring. I knew it was a cabochon when I picked it up out of the surf!

So, where was I?

Whew! It's been a busy weekend and it's Monday already.

Where was I?

Oh yes, cold connections!

Today, it's the venerable staple. I really like the look of a staple holding a cab or a special tiny object.

One of my favorite Glyph beads had a rough beadhole so I slumped it into a cab. I chose it to be my first stapled cab:






Yet another technique that allows the purist in me not to glue or alter any of my sentimental junk!

Raspberry Bowl Made With Cold Connections

Lately, I'm blogging on combining flamework glass and metal by using cold connections. I'm using copper and brass sheet metal, copper ball headpins I've made at the torch with a patina I learned how to create in Mary Hettmansperger's book, Wrap, Fold, Stitch, & Rivet. The chapter on creating patinas is worth the price of the entire book! Here is a little sample of the lovely colors you can create on copper sheet:



Brass sheet can get a coppery reddish color which I thought looked just perfect with the Italian made Rubino glass I have. I made a bowl bezel and attached the yummy raspberry colored bead to create a pendant which I'm calling Raspberry Bowl.



My style is either overdone or very modern with a single pendant suspended from a chain. I think this one will be modern to feature the handmade texture and lovely color of the pendant.

Hammering Away....

Lately, I've been developing a new relationship with my hammers. Not my carpenter's hammer but the ball peen and chasing hammers. Although I have basic hammer knowledge, I'm learning the finer points - like why are there so many choices in chasing hammers?

My ball peen hammer and I have a serious relationship that has developed from creating pendants for my sentimental junk, here a pieces of pottery found in the garden one spring day.

Filing smooth, hammering the edge and creating a texture for the brass sheet is soothing and cathartic as I pound over and over again to get just the right finish to the bowl bezel.


I'm going to add a couple of beads or charms at one end but can't decide if I should make a metal charm or if I should look for paw through my box of junk looking for a teeny tiny sentimental whatnot.

Have YOU hammered something lately? Doesn't haven't to be jewelry, it might just be hammering a loose nail. Do you think it's cathartic or do you just miss and get your thumb(OUCH!)?

(Hammer Photo Credit: Ball Peen Hammer)

Books I Love: Making Connections

I love this book! I find myself carrying it around the house because I want it right next to me when I sit down for a few minutes. Porque you ask? Well, Susan Lenart Kazmer's, "Making Connections" is not only a comprehensive treatment of cold joins, it's also a beautiful book to look at. Mixing simple, straightforward technical information with lovely photography and drawings, Kazmer's book is a rare find - a treat for the eyes and the mind.

Nine chapters cover materials, tools and every cold join you can imagine. Chapters detail wire attachments; staples, tabs and prongs; rivets, hinges and attachments with movement just to name a few. I'm particularly inspired by the chapter on staples, tabs and prongs seeing new ways to use sheet metal with my glass cabachons or beads.

This is on the top of my pile of books and think it's gonna stay there for awhile.