On Friday I ordered a custom Goddess Stamp that will be exactly like the Goddess in my previous post but without my name in it. I'm so excited about creating more Goddess pendants that I just had to order it. I've also ordered a "Blessed Be" stamp and am looking forward to making that into a jewelry piece as well.
PMC has opened up a new world for me...I have been busy sketching so many designs of flowers, vines, tree's and so much more. The possibilities seem endless and I can't wait to see the results. I can't draw worth beans but I have great hopes that my jewelry pieces will end up much prettier than my drawings...emphasis on hope..haha!
Today is an absolutely gorgeous day! The boys are at baseball practice right now and I think I'm going to venture outside for a bit to soak up some sun :)
I hope you all have a wonderful day!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
Friday, April 3, 2009
After Oxidizing
Here's my pendant after oxidizing it last night! I just love the way it turned out...it's exactly as I had envisioned it in my minds eye. I love it when things turn out the way you picture them too!
Delightful Divas In Business Feature
I just wanted to tell the gals at Delightful Divas in Business thank you for the wonderful feature that they did on March 30th!
Here's a little information about DDIB from their blog:
Delightful Divas In Business (or DDIB) is an online community that promotes, connects, and inspires independent business women. We have a forum where you can meet other indie divas and wahms, share your business info, show off products, and announce sales and discounts.
____________________________________________________________________
These wonderful ladies do a great job promoting fellow women entrepreneurs. On their blog you'll find a large variety of handmade items by various artisans and plenty of giveaways and contests...it's definitely worth checking out! If you're interested in reading my feature you can see it HERE
(For those of you that follow my blog and my business you may notice that some of what I talk about in the feature seems a bit off...it's because I actually did the interview for this feature around the middle of September....though it's a little outdated as to what I'm currently doing now, I'm still very thankful for the feature!)
Thursday, April 2, 2009
PMC3 vs Art Metal Clay
I love PMC3!! I just worked with PMC3 today and in my previous posts I used Art Metal Clay 650 Slow Dry....holy crow the difference is amazing! I just ordered a huge amount of PMC3 because it was so much easier, cleaner...just everything about it was lovely! Below are some pictures of the piece I made using PMC3....Yes it's for me...it's my business logo...the Goddess with my name in it and adorned with some cz's (one to dot my "I" and the other to represent the full moon). Please excuse the quality of the photos, they've been taken just under my kitchen lights instead of in natural light.
After filing and before firing:
After firing:
Drying on the mug warmer before filing the edges:
After filing and before firing:
After firing:
I'm wearing it as we speak but I think I'm going to take it off to oxidize it so the Goddess and my name stands out more. Oh, and I didn't quench it after firing so the stones are in perfect condition :)
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Pickling and Oxidizing Without Chemicals
With so many chemicals out there to protect your metal from fire scale (blackening or charring of the metal when firing), I really wanted to find a safe product to use because of my animals. My children are old enough that I don't have to worry about them touching my products but if you have little ones this is also a great option for you. There have been mixed reviews about the effectiveness with this...but it works for me. It leaves very little fire scale that is easily removed with my dremel or some fine grit sand paper. Now I just wish that I could find a natural flux to use. It's the only chemical that I use while making jewelry.
I use 1/2 cup luke warm water, with about 1/8 cup distilled white vinegar and 2-3 grinds of Sea Salt (using a salt grinder I turn it 2-3 times). I keep it stored at room temperature in a plastic glad container with a lid. After firing and quenching I drop it in the pickling container for about 1/2 hour...you can keep it in there longer to remove more fire scale, but as I've said in previous posts, I tend to be a little impatient! ( You may have to play around with the mixture a bit to find what works for you, but the one listed above is what I use)
For oxidizing there are a few different options chemically, most popular being Liver of Sulfur, again a very toxic chemical. The option I use is eggs. I hard boil 3 eggs, put them in a glad plastic container, crush them with a spoon (shells and all) . Another thing I do is take some stretchy plastic threading for beading or you can use thick thread (you can get creative here), I tie knots in it to act as a stopper or a divider to keep the metal from touching then lay it across the top of the plastic container and put the lid on it. It suspends the metal from the eggs and allows me to reheat the eggs for a darker patina without having to dig out the metal. I normally only reheat the eggs in the microwave once (about 30 seconds) and leave the metal to oxidize for a total of an hour. The great thing about using a clear container is you can decide how dark you'd like your pieces to be. I had a really cool rainbow effect on one of my pmc pieces that I thought about keeping like that but went ahead and let it sit longer to achieve a very dark patina.
These are just methods that I use to give me my own peace of mind and are in no way meant to put someone else down for using chemicals. Actually using chemicals makes the whole process a lot faster, but I just choose to use these methods.
I use 1/2 cup luke warm water, with about 1/8 cup distilled white vinegar and 2-3 grinds of Sea Salt (using a salt grinder I turn it 2-3 times). I keep it stored at room temperature in a plastic glad container with a lid. After firing and quenching I drop it in the pickling container for about 1/2 hour...you can keep it in there longer to remove more fire scale, but as I've said in previous posts, I tend to be a little impatient! ( You may have to play around with the mixture a bit to find what works for you, but the one listed above is what I use)
For oxidizing there are a few different options chemically, most popular being Liver of Sulfur, again a very toxic chemical. The option I use is eggs. I hard boil 3 eggs, put them in a glad plastic container, crush them with a spoon (shells and all) . Another thing I do is take some stretchy plastic threading for beading or you can use thick thread (you can get creative here), I tie knots in it to act as a stopper or a divider to keep the metal from touching then lay it across the top of the plastic container and put the lid on it. It suspends the metal from the eggs and allows me to reheat the eggs for a darker patina without having to dig out the metal. I normally only reheat the eggs in the microwave once (about 30 seconds) and leave the metal to oxidize for a total of an hour. The great thing about using a clear container is you can decide how dark you'd like your pieces to be. I had a really cool rainbow effect on one of my pmc pieces that I thought about keeping like that but went ahead and let it sit longer to achieve a very dark patina.
These are just methods that I use to give me my own peace of mind and are in no way meant to put someone else down for using chemicals. Actually using chemicals makes the whole process a lot faster, but I just choose to use these methods.
Monday, March 30, 2009
A little info
Here's some information that I've gathered on torch firing gemstones or lab-grown gemstone in pmc. You'll see where some stones survived and some were damaged. I'm thankful that someone else has tested this before I went on to suffer more losses. Even some stones that have a Moh's hardness of 7 or higher still aren't safe to fire unless they're gem quality of A or better. One lab-created stone that I was shocked about was Moissanite...I definitely would've thought this stone could've withstood the heat.
Also, I was surprised to really find only one site that mentioned allowing the piece to cool rather than quenching it in water to keep from damaging the stone. This was definitely a rookie mistake on my part, which I hope to never happen again.....though I happily wore my pendant with the cracked cz's today to work and even received compliments on it :)
I've hyperlinked the pictures to the sources where I found the information. By clicking on the pictures it'll take you to the sites that offer kiln firing information as well.
Hope this info helps!
Sunday, March 29, 2009
One of the Pendants
Well here's one of the pendants, and I'm just not happy with the results of either one of them. At least not happy enough to sell them. I think I figured out what I did that ruined the stones, I quenched them, when I should've let them cool down slowly :( I haven't researched this to know for a fact, but it seems logical.
Though it was a loss as far as being able to list something totally new in my shop...I've got 2 new pendants that I will be happy to wear!
Working with Art Clay
So I set out to make some pendants today using Art Clay 650 low fire, slow dry. Let me just tell you, I have a new appreciation for those who work with this medium on a daily basis. It was no easy task for me, and apparently will need a lot more work on my part to perfect it in any way. I have also discovered that working with pmc will have to be my weekend project as I don't have a lot of time during the week.
So here is a picture of them after being fired. I meant to take a picture of them prior to firing but my batteries for my camera were dead and needed charging. The impatient person that I am couldn't wait for the batteries to be done charging before I fired the pieces.
I found that colored CZ's also tend to change color during firing. The daisy with the single stone was fired face up. The other pendant was fired face down...but the stones were still affected by the heat. Also as you may or may not be able to tell, I could've done a better job at sanding the pieces prior to firing them. The bezel settings definitely could've used more attention, but yet again the impatient part of me didn't want to wait....I really need to start listening to the more patient side of me :)
Right now as I type this, these pieces are being oxidized. I'll try to touch them up a bit more after their done, and I'm really hoping the flaws or imperfections are less noticeable when I'm finished. If not, then I guess I have a couple of new pendants for myself, or I guess I could list them in my shop as "Oops" pieces...we'll see!
I'll post more pictures of them after they're done oxidizing...see you soon!
So here is a picture of them after being fired. I meant to take a picture of them prior to firing but my batteries for my camera were dead and needed charging. The impatient person that I am couldn't wait for the batteries to be done charging before I fired the pieces.
I found that colored CZ's also tend to change color during firing. The daisy with the single stone was fired face up. The other pendant was fired face down...but the stones were still affected by the heat. Also as you may or may not be able to tell, I could've done a better job at sanding the pieces prior to firing them. The bezel settings definitely could've used more attention, but yet again the impatient part of me didn't want to wait....I really need to start listening to the more patient side of me :)
Right now as I type this, these pieces are being oxidized. I'll try to touch them up a bit more after their done, and I'm really hoping the flaws or imperfections are less noticeable when I'm finished. If not, then I guess I have a couple of new pendants for myself, or I guess I could list them in my shop as "Oops" pieces...we'll see!
I'll post more pictures of them after they're done oxidizing...see you soon!
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Treasury Feature and New Additions
I was so excited to be included in this treasury on Etsy...it's made of my favorite shade of blue!
Here are a couple more additions to the Soledad Collection in my Etsy shop:
Cushion Cut Citrine Gemstone and Sterling Silver Necklace
Here are a couple more additions to the Soledad Collection in my Etsy shop:
Ametrine Gemstone and Sterling Silver Necklace
Cushion Cut Citrine Gemstone and Sterling Silver Necklace
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
A New Addition
I just wanted to share a new addition to the Soledad Collection that I carry in my store. In case I haven't shared it with you before this is the story behind the collection:
Named after my beautiful filipina mother, whose name means solitude. The Soledad collection features a single gemstone necklace where the stone speaks for itself, big or small they all have beautiful attributes, as do each of us.
This necklace features a blue Chalcedony drop, wrapped in fine silver, then strung on a 16" sterling silver necklace.
When I showed my mom the collection that I named after her, she was thrilled...she glowed, which of course just thrilled me to death. It's nice that I can pay homage to her in some way. She is an extraordinary woman who would literally give you the shirt off of her back before you went without anything. She's stunningly beautiful with her raven black hair that has silvery moon kissed streaks . She's sacrificed a lot (though she wouldn't see it that way) to give her family what she lacked as a child. I'm so thankful that she's my mom, I love her more than words could ever say.
Named after my beautiful filipina mother, whose name means solitude. The Soledad collection features a single gemstone necklace where the stone speaks for itself, big or small they all have beautiful attributes, as do each of us.
This necklace features a blue Chalcedony drop, wrapped in fine silver, then strung on a 16" sterling silver necklace.
When I showed my mom the collection that I named after her, she was thrilled...she glowed, which of course just thrilled me to death. It's nice that I can pay homage to her in some way. She is an extraordinary woman who would literally give you the shirt off of her back before you went without anything. She's stunningly beautiful with her raven black hair that has silvery moon kissed streaks . She's sacrificed a lot (though she wouldn't see it that way) to give her family what she lacked as a child. I'm so thankful that she's my mom, I love her more than words could ever say.
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