Finished Piece for Challenge Week 3

This week my finish-a-piece challenge is met by a small vessel. It's one of three that I made several years ago when I was just starting to learn how to raise bowls from sheet. I didn't have proper stakes, just some large dapping punches that I had to jerry-rig a method of holding in order to use them like stakes. Not knowing any better, I used 16 gauge copper and a 4 inch diameter starting disc so I had very little leverage to use in holding the disc against the stake while I hit it. This little guy took me a week of evenings to get formed!

Later, after I'd learned more about raising, it became my first practice piece to learn how to patina and how to apply gold leaf. The patina was good. The leafing job was... barely acceptable. Lots of weird spots and lumps where dust or something had contaminated the gold size (glue) or the leaf itself. So it sat on a shelf. Then, in this fall's class at Flo Valley, I had a chance to try commercial gold plating on a piece. This was something I'd been interested in for a while. So I took off the gold leaf, polished up the inside, masked off the outside, and sent it off to get electroplated. When it came back the patina was ruined. Lesson learned - plate before patina.

I wanted to see how well the plating would hold up to a hot patina process so this week I removed the old patina and re-applied ferric nitrate which goes on at about 212 to 220 F. The result is that the gold is unharmed but slightly darkened. I suspect that there may be some alloying of copper from the substrate to the plating. It's a nice look though. Unlike the gold leaf, this interior is safe to drink from.

Unfortunately, the plater missed a spot so I don't think this piece is saleable. But it's a good end to an experimental piece and I'll hang on to it as a reminder of where I started and how experimentation is always a good idea.

Weekly Challenge Dec 11, 2016

I've been laid low by a bad back this week, so there isn't much to report.

A picture on the web got me interested in trying chasing on air so I went to the studio and turned this out from a piece of scrap 22 gauge copper. First time I've tried a bracelet. I've since chased three more but haven't gotten them shaped, trimmed, and patinated. So just one piece this week.

Challenge Week One - Achievement Unlocked!

Despite some setbacks I was able to finish eleven pairs of earrings this week. They were UFOs* from a while back.

The three egg-shaped repousse ones are brass with a commercial patina, Birchwood Casey Cold Blue for Steel. It's intended for restoring gun bluing but I found that it makes a beautiful iridescent dark blue-purple on brass. I think it looks like beetle elytra (wing covers.)

The photo doesn't do it justice (because I'm not a very good photographer.)

The other earrings are copper. The skulls are jewelry saw exercises I did about two years ago and never turned into anything. The slender drops are a shape I call earfinger (that needs a different post.) Half of the copper earrings were patinated with vinegar and salt and the other half with ammonia and salt. They've been sealed with a spray urethane so the patina won't rub or flake off.

All eleven are on commercial earwires. I'm not certain if they are brass or gold-plated brass.
I'd intended to make my own wires but it turned out that I had the wrong wire and the jig I was going to use was a failure. I was in despair thinking that I was going to fail my challenge the first week.
But Carole managed to locate some earwires in her stash of beading and jewelry findings so I was saved. Thank you for hauling my butt out of the fire, dear.

There are only nine pairs showing in the photos because I took them all to the bluegrass jam at the Schlafly Bottleworks to finish putting them on ear wires and two pair sold before I had a chance to take a photo. So I'm a happy metalsmith!

On to week two!

* UFO = unfinished objects

I Just Hit Myself With A Gauntlet

As part of my ongoing development as an artist I need to set some goals and work towards them.

I want to challenge myself to do two things each week. They are:

1. Finish at least one art project a week. 
2. Post to this blog at least once a week. 

Here's the fine print defining what that means.

• Art projects don't have to be big but they do have to be complete.
• For the next six months, getting something done to upgrade the studio is going to count as a art project. That way I can take some time to continue to work on the studio projects that need to be done before I can tackle some of the art projects I have in mind.
• At the very least, the post should tell you what art project got done.
• Weeks start on Mondays because it's easier not to split the weekend. That means I've got til Sunday night to finish something and let you know about it this week.
• More than one project or post in a week doesn't mean I get to skip the next week.

There's a problem though.

I've found that just deciding to do something isn't enough to make sure I do it. There's a devious little part of me who insists that just because I decided something doesn't mean I can't undecide it. He tells me, 'No one will know. It's OK to skip it this time.' And then I do.

Once that happens, it's easier the next time. Pretty soon, the resolve is gone and it's all over.

No, if I really want to commit to doing something, I have to make it embarrassing to fail.

What can I say? It's not a trait I'm proud of but it seems to be ingrained. I just have to learn to work with what I've got.

So, I need your help.

If I miss a week, call me on it. Let me know that I messed up in the comments.

One caveat (see how sneaky that inner guy can be?)
I give myself the right not to finish an art piece or post to the blog in a given week if there is a real emergency. You know, if I'm truly ill or there's an emergency in the family. In that case, however, I have to tell you all why it happened.

And you guys get to tell me if my reason is sufficient or not.
Don't be shy about it. The embarrassment is part of the way this works.

Can I count on you?

Gauntlet's down, self. Time to get to work.

Doing the Happy Hammer Dance

There's all sorts of things that I could write about but this has to go first.

My new heavy chasing hammer from Nechamkin Silver Studios arrived today! I've wanted one of these since I took a chasing and repousse workshop from Liza Nechamkin two years ago. At the time I bought her standard chasing hammer and the standard set of tools plus the matting tool set but couldn't afford the heavy hammer. So when I saw that they were going out of stock I splurged and ordered one.

Isn't it sweet? Walnut handle, forged steel head with a lovely blued finish.

Works beautifully too. Fits my hand as comfortably as the original Nechamkin pistol grip hammer but the extra weight and stiffness of the handle mean that I can strike a deep mark with much less effort. Less effort makes for greater control and longer working time. I love it.

Here's a comparison with my other chasing hammer.

Thanks Liza! 

Two vessels a little later on

The two vessels that I posted about on the 20th are getting closer to done.

Here's the high relief vessel.

The shapes are lots crisper now. I soldered the hole that it had and was able to chase over the repair. So it's a good solid repair.

The solder repair from the back (before it gets scraped down to the minimum amount needed.)

The solder repair from the front. Practically invisible.

What remains is to decide how to handle the eye. There are some dings in it that interrupt the smoothness of the plain copper surface. If the metal were thicker, I'd sand and buff them out. But that won't work in this gauge metal without making it too thin. So I need to chase a texture into it that will obscure the dings and, ideally, enhance the look of the piece. That will have to wait for a new day and a fresh eye.

This is where I've gotten to on the low relief one.

There's some more texturing to do but it's pretty close to the point where all the hammering is done and it's time to patina it.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with the way these are going. They've presented some interesting challenges and I've learned a good deal from them.

Been Busy

It's been several months since I last posted something. My bad - I need to post more regularly. In the meantime I've been busy.

I have a new bench for hot work now. Much better than the make-do I was working with.

It's a Harbor Freight special, but it has a nice wide surface, drawers and pegboard storage, lighting, and a lower shelf for extras. I'll be able to safety-chain the acetylene tank to the leg.

The whole bench frame is metal so I can use magnets to add features.

That round thing on the overhead shelf is a magnetic stick-on timer so I can put something in the pickle pot or other solution and have it tell me when it's ready to come out.

There's also two new vessel projects in the works. These are the first in a style I'm calling Elsewhen Antiquities.

First is a piece in thin (22 gauge) copper. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the earliest stages. It's being done in high relief. Right now it's on the second pass of repousse. The initial stage was dishing to make a smooth, shallow bowl. The design was drawn on freehand and the basic lines put in with chasing tools. I filled the bowl with red sculptor's wax for this stage. Some of the larger shapes were simply hammered into place, no chasing tools needed. That speeds things up. I did manage to poke a hole in one spot while I was trying to deepen the major spiral of the piece. I'll solder that closed when I've finished this repousse pass. For now, I'm just avoiding that spot.

In place on the pitch bowl. Not all of the piece is supported, so I need to be careful where I work. But this way I can use the pitch bowl to advantage in tilting the piece and I don't need a pitch bowl bigger than the piece I'm working on. That's good because I only have one large pitch bowl and it's got the second piece on it.

Top view before the second pass. My intention is to sharpen up the lines that form the crests and valleys of the shapes.

After the second pass of repousse. See how much crisper the lines are?

Front side of the piece after I popped it off the pitch.

The second piece is in 18 gauge copper and will be done in lower relief.

Here it is after being dished and having the design drawn in Sharpie.

And here it is after I've scratched the design in with a scribe and set it into my large pitch bowl. Scratching the design in makes it fairly permanent. The Sharpie would have worn off of before I got the whole thing lined in with chasing tools for the first pass of chasing. Pencil is no better. The scribe lines are harder to see, but they don't rub off and they're narrow, so I have a very clear idea where the chasing tool is supposed to go.