Macro Sunday!

One of my rolled texture metal pendants up close

Please take a peek at the other "i heart macro" postings. I'm sure you'll enjoy what others have noticed during this past week....

....and don't forget to keep creating!

Refining and Picking Up Tips

During the spring of 2000, I took an Introduction to Jewelrymaking at the local university. I learned basic techniques like sawing, filing and sanding. I didn't have any jeweler's tools yet so I wasn't able to continue working on metal.

Here I am a few years later and want to add more metal work to my designs. Last fall, I picked up Susan Lenart Kazmer's Cold Connections and worked on the bowl bezels ideas in her book. I didn't have a saw so I was cutting the sheet metal using metal shears. I needed a refresher on the basic techniques I'd learned in that first class I took in 2000.

Interweave was having their annual Hurt Book Sale so I picked up Mark Lareau's Getting Started Making Metal Jewelry.

I have Mark's other book on wire and it's one I used over and over so I was excited to see he was the author of this introductory book.

It's a good introductory book for metal. There is a list of basic tools you'll need. I went through my tools and ordered the few things I needed to fill in. As I was saying, I needed a refresher on the sawing - this fit the bill.

Books I Love: Wrap, Stitch, Fold & Rivet

It's Saturday morning, one of the few days I have a little breathing room these days. This morning, I'm looking through another one of my favorite books, Mary Hettmansperger's Wrap, Stitch, Fold and Rivet. I made the Shelf Necklace for Ornament Thursday changing it up a bit and making a small wall hanging out of it.



Now I'm jones-ing to do something else. I've got a few projects on the coffee table in the family room. Some are completed some are still works in progress. Saturday morning is just the day to work on them!

When do you find time to create? Is it Saturday morning? or another day?

Grandma's Jewelry and Kazmer's Staple

I'm going through all of my sentimental bits and pieces to work into jewelry. I spent the weekend working on the pottery shards. So I went back to my treasure box and pulled this out. It was one of my grandmother's - I think my father's mother or my husband's maternal grandmother, not sure which now. It's small, about 14.5 inches - it fits tight to the neck. They're a good example of the "staple" I see in Kazmer's Making Connections book. I'm working on trying to create some as refined as these are - the ones I made this weekend were clumsy. I know - I need to show a picture and I will - stay tuned.

Have you done any metal work? Are you trying a new technique with your work?