Commence operation cuff!

Sooo.... today I got my 0.9mm copper sheet order (and if I like making cuffs I will have to place another, bigger, one) and just had to start experimenting with making an etched cuff straightaway! And then... I couldn't find any suitable container. I etch pendants and earrings in old, ugly glass, but a cuff is obviously too big to fit in it. I have one plastic container that would be of a suitable size for etching that cuff, but right now it contains used up solution from previous etching, waiting for it to evaporate (as you can't pour it down the drain due to high copper content), or for me to finally get around to buying kitty litter (to soak it all up). I managed to find an appropriate receptacle, but all of that meant that I couldn't start until after dinner - the container in question held mushrooms ;) Anyway, after I prepared saline solution, it was time to work on the cuff itself... which led me to deeply regretting the fact that I don't have a guillotine cutter. Nor metal shears. Originally, I wanted to start working on two cuffs simultaneously, but after sawing out a blank for one, I definitely wasn't in the mood to do this all over again.

Cut out pre-cuff

Actually, I originally ordered that sheet so I could practice making rings... and then decided to make a cuff. To quote one of my favourite books: "attention span of a teabag". And I will probably leave myself a strip of that copper for those rings... if I won't forget to do that ;P Also, after the etching is done (and it's in process right now, because obviously I don't have anything better to do at 2 am than to etch a cuff... I do weird thing like that at weird times like this), I will have to anneal that strip a bit, and then smooth it out... I really couldn't be bothered to do this today (or yesterday, if you look at time and date)

Here it is after filing, smoothing out and rounding the edges. And drawing rough outlines of running wolves. Sorry for the bad picture. And yes, I did smooth and straighten it a bit, but there are still some bumps that wouldn't go away without softening the copper a bit.

I also tried nail polish as a resist for etching, and it works the best of all the media I tried up to date. I doesn't peel of, and is easy to remove after etching. But it's a bit more difficult to draw with than paint. Oh, the high tech that goes into making my etched pieces: nail polish, applied with a toothpick. And a mushroom container. 
Aaaaaand I just realised I put it into etching without adding my usual swirls... or scrolls... or spirals... ugh!!! Oh, well.

And here it is, etching

I really couldn't figure out how to attach the cuff to the wire at first. But then I thought about etching done the traditional way, and how, in just about every tutorial I saw, people suspend their projects with sticky tape, and decided to try something similar : I'm not sure, though, if the tape is fully in contact with the copper in the critical spot: that is, the one without nail polish on it. I did paint most of the back, but I wasn't sure if nail polish would, or wouldn't, stop the current, so I left small area uncovered. I sure do hope that there's no etching going on in that spot, but that will remain to be seen. It's been etching for 2h now, so I will stop the process, check how does it look, and think whether or not I would like to add scrolls ( they would be quite faint, if I etch them for just an hour). It should be finished tomorrow (or today, only much later ;) and I should have pictures of the finished piece by Friday ( that is, if I finish necklace and earrings I'm working on by then ). And now I'm going to bed. Finally ;)

So, have a great week, and till the next time :)

Kasia

Finger protection tape

I have a terrible, terrible tendency to hurt myself while filing something. I usually file down not only the piece I'm working on, but a bit of my fingers as well. So I started to look for something that would protect my hands during those kinds of activities ( because, clearly, paying more attention to what I am doing works only until I get bored to death by something so repetitive as filing, and my mind starts to wander, and... I end up with a scratch again. I remembered reading somewhere ( I think it was etsy metal blog? But I'm not sure, it was, if I'm not mistaken, about 2 years ago. Maybe 1.5. ) about alligator skin finger protection tape. I looked for it, found it, and bought it to try it out (kind of veni, vidi, vici sequence I did there ;P So... quaeri, invenivi, emi :D). 

It's so cool it got its own dramatic picture!

It works really well! But, in case you don't know what alligator skin tape is... It's a fabric, self-adhering tape, that comes actually from medical industry - it's used as bandage, for example. But it's great for jewellery makers, for several reasons:

- it has quite... loose? (that's not exactly the word I'm looking for, but you can see what I mean if you look at the picture) weave, that creates a great texture on the tape, meaning you have a really good grip on whatever you are working on.

- it's quite flexible, and thin, so you can wrap your fingertips with it, and still have a decent sense of touch

- although, as I mentioned, it's thin, it's also pretty durable, so even one layer can protect your fingers from those dreaded files. What leads us to...

- you don't need to wrap your fingers with many layers to get protection. I usually go for two or three, and it works very well for my purposes.

- It adheres only to itself, and to nothing else, so you're not left with any sticky residue after using it, and it's really easy to take off of your fingers.

- Also, a bit on the side note, I actually reused several wrappings - I managed to slip them off my fingers, and, as they were in pretty good condition, put them on few times more, and they worked just as well ( I hate wasting something that can still be used )

- I just started to use it, but, based on what I learned so far, it seems that the 27m (90ft) roll I bought will last for quite some time.

I used it when I was filing, sanding, polishing, sawing jump rings (I managed to cut myself on several occasions while doing it), and also when I was making some chains. It worked brilliantly during all of these activities. I was really happy to find that it helped during chain-making process - I always end up with sore, slightly swollen parts of my fingers (it's not really surprising, as using pliers in both hands for 3h+ is prone to somewhat irritate your hands). I experimentally wrapped the most vulnerable parts of my fingers in the tape, not really expecting anything - after all, its just thin, no padded, woven tape - and I was rather surprised when it worked. Two of my fingers were a bit sore after I finished the chain, but nowhere near to extent they would be without wrapping them. I actually considered the possibility that the tape will make it worse - as it wrapped my fingers in sections where quite a bit of bending and flexing occurs - so I was positively surprised. Next time, I intend to add a bit of some padding material between my fingers and the tape, and I'm quite sure now that it will eliminate any discomfort form using the pliers.

That's how it looks like on fingers... after a day's work. I don't know why it's this colour here. The colour is better on the first photo.

Also, I would like to add that, after I first wrapped my fingers in that tape, I had to give myself a few minutes to get used to it. It seemed a bit stiff at first, and whenever I was manipulating something I had an urge to slip the tape off my fingertips to better feel whatever I was holding, but after a short time I got used to how the tape felt on my fingers, and the wrapping itself became a bit softer. I definitely prefer it to protective gloves. 

To wrap it all up (no pun intended, I swear!), I think that it was a great buy, and it's a great product. I protects fingers from abrasions, cuts, scratches and scrapes, while still providing good grip and flexibility.

Hopefully, there will be no more sore fingers for me in the future :)

Unless I forget to wrap them with that tape. Knowing my memory, that may just happen.

 

Till the next time!

Kasia

The Wild Song is growing

... slowly, but steadily. Few days ago I finally finished, photographed and uploaded another pieces of this collection. I rather like how it's all coming together nicely and cohesively, but, every time I have to photograph new items, I reacquaint myself with the fact that I really, really don't like taking pictures.

Anyway, here are the new items (click on the pictures if you want a better view).
Raven song necklace to match the earrings I showed last time:

... with some stupid light reflection on the lower part of the pendant.

I really have to figure out how to properly light the items I'm photographing, especially considering the climate I live in. But, on the brighter note: I made myself a necklace stand :D

Ta-daaaaaah!!!

Finally, some half-decent way of displaying necklaces in, more or less, their entirety! Definitely easier than trying to take a picture of a necklace while you're wearing it.
And, if someone is interested in chain details, here you go:

The chain is 53.5cm long, pendant is 3.5 x 1.8cm cm, and the whole piece is entirely handmade.
Next in line is another piece of Raven Song. I decided to call these pieces Raven Song: flight.
There's necklace:

I can't decide what's wrong with this photo. I really don't like it.

 I looks soooo much better in person. I will be definitely retaking those pictures.

And here it's showing how it looks when worn. I really like this one, even though it took forever to etch the pendant: at first try I left it for 3h straight (as this is amount of time needed to etch copper to the depth I like ), only to discover that somewhere half-way through the paint peeled off. I have no idea why this happened. So I cleaned it, painted again, and etched for an hour, stripped the paint, painted again, etched for another hour... and so on. I think, in the end, it spent some 6 - 7h etching (counting, of course, the first botched attempt).

The chain on this one is 49.5cm long, with pendant being 5cm long and 2 cm wide. On the side note, I have no idea why that chain is a bit shorter, as I used exactly the same amount of jump rings in all of the necklaces I'm showing today. One of the mysteries of the universe, it would seem...

There are also earrings:

And they also spent some ridiculous amount of time etching, together with the necklace. And these also look better in person.

And that's just about the only photo of them I'm more or less happy with. It wasn't a good day for photography (and I really don't want to think about the fact that I have to photograph this lot again. Ugh.).
Those earrings are 3.7cm (5.2 including ear wires) long, and 1cm wide.

And final piece of the Wild Song (for now, there are more to come ): Wolf Song: the night. Just the necklace, I still haven't made earrings for it ( haven't even started them, even though I started to make another set altogether. It's all because I don't have a disc cutter, and I don't like to saw round blanks out. Yup, that's my official excuse.)

Just look at all that light reflecting here. Grrrrrrrr.

 See what I meant about better lighting the items???

I had some problems with this necklace as well, but that was due to saline solution becoming over-saturated with copper, making it much less effective. The etching on this one is shallower than on the other items, and it spent 4 or 5h etching. I will definitely make new solution for next projects. I could make fresh batch and etch it for, say, an hour more, but I just wanted to finish that piece, and the image is visible enough (though polishing proved a bit tricky).

Chain here is 54cm long, and the pendant is 3.6cm tall (measuring with the bail) and 3.2cm wide.

All are available in my etsy store.
One good thing came from making all these chains though: I got a bit faster with making them. I'm guessing it's because I figured out a better way of cutting jump rings, so I don't spend that much time on this task. Now, if I only managed to find right diameter steel rod to use as mandrel for making rings, it would probably take some time off the making process as well ( coiling wire with help of a drill is, I'm guessing, a little bit faster then doing it by hand). I'm also entertaining the idea of making some bangles for this collection. I just have to find proper container, if I want to etch them. 

I also was quite surprised when I was uploading all those pieces to etsy. They changed jewellery categories (others probably too, but I don't know). And I'm a bit... confused? That's not the best word, but... before, categories were more or less like that: jewellery-> necklaces(for example) -> metalwork. The narrowest category was medium/technique. Now, it's type of an item. And I have a problem. With necklaces. Should I upload them as chains? They're not just chains. Pendants? Not just pendants either. Charm necklaces? Aren't charms generally rather small? I'm partially blaming language barrier for my confusion ;)  I think I uploaded one in chains, one in pendants, and one in charms. So... anyone has idea as to which of those three categories would be appropriate for these?

And finally, I bought ring triblet and sizing rings! And decided to have a go at making rings :) I still didn't figure out how to go about selling some, but for now I just experiment. Which will probably result in dramatic increase of amount of rings I own ( as if that was difficult... I left my last two rings in Dublin airport's bathroom...). Once I'm confident I know what I'm doing, I will try to figure out how to approach selling them.

Till the next time!
Kasia