Tuesday, December 23, 2014

Christmas DIY

After reading this blog I decided to try and make some personalized gifts. We have two international students living with us (and for a month we had three!). So I thought the painted mugs with both English and Chinese characters would be nice.

I picked up the pens at Home Depot (5 colors for around $13) and got a box of Cynthia Rowley mugs at Home Goods (8 for $15). Plus one extra mug to practice on. The stickers were from AC Moore and I think they were about $8. These were the most expensive stickers they had but I wanted the initial to be big.


After applying the stickers I began to dots the paint around each letter.


I did red, black, gold and finally silver.

Since we have a Chinese student with us I had him write each student’s name in Chinese. Then on the others were, Mother, Grandmother, Oldest Son, Strength and Perseverance. If you have a little mess up just clean with alcohol and a Q-tip, very carefully.


The blog said to peel off the sticker and bake the mugs.

Well, taking off the stickers proved to be the most annoying and arduous part of the whole process. It might be the stickers I purchased but the stickers came apart and had to be slowly and carefully scraped off with an Exacto knife.


Of course the paint had to be completely dry so it wouldn’t smear. Ugh. Suddenly this became a multi-day process. Some of the paint leaked under the stickers, I just carefully scraped it off. I would not use alcohol at this point since it is super easy to smear the paint.

Finally my mugs were finished and ready for the oven.


Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and then just leave them to cool. The whole process from painting to baking can be a little smelly so have some ventilation going.

The mugs came out GREAT. The red got a bit darker but otherwise the colors all stay true and bright. This gift takes a bit of planning but it is well worth it.

UPDATE: Sept. 2015. Sadly the paint did NOT turn out to be permanent. The dishwasher did take off the paint after several months. Hand washing was better and the gold lasted the best of all but, sniff, I'm still looking for easy to use, PERMANENT, paint!

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Bavarian Bead Presses

I finally received my new presses from Bavarian Beads (and yes they are in Bavaria!). An angel wing press and an ammonite press. I've been lusting after an ammonite form for years and finally get to play around with these.

Presses take a while to get familiar with but the ammonite press I have having more success with so far. I think these will make adorable earrings!

Saturday, November 29, 2014

Thanksgiving Leftovers

A quick and tasty way to deal with left over yams and potatoes.


Peel the potatoes, sweet potatoes or yams. Throw in whatever is left - parsnips, cooked carrots or another root vegetable. Mash with a fork or an old fashioned potato masher of you have one. Mix in a couple of eggs and any spices you might like (cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamon etc). Sprinkle 'muffins' with chopped pecans. Using a muffin tin very well greased, cook at 350 until firm, maybe 20 minutes. These will be very soft and delicate so be careful taking them out of the pan.

Serve right out of the oven. YUM!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

Formfolding Class Part 1

Formfolding is a method of creating three dimensional forms in sheet metal without the use of cutting or soldering. The plastic qualities of the metal itself are utilized and a variety of organic shapes can be created. You can see some of the incrediable shapes on this page. The book Foldforming by Charles Lewton-Brain is a comprehesive manual for the art.

Sunday, November 2, I took a class in Formfolding, at the Center for Metal Arts in Florida, NY, taught by Chip Schwartz. A great local place, they also have classes in blacksmithing and other metal work. Check out their schedule here

We started out with a simple line fold. Here Chip is begining the process on an anvil, creating the bend for the first fold in a piece of copper sheet.


After the first fold, the piece is hammered flat with a deadblow hammer. A rubber or rawhide mallet could also be used.

Then he anneals each piece.


Since hammering hardens the metal, heating the copper softens the metal so the plasticity is returned. By repeatedly hammering, bending and annealing a shape can be created.


Here are a couple of my pieces that have been repeatedly hammered, annealed and unfolded.


You can see how the lines appear to flow under or over each other.

If I wanted to use these pieces for a pendant, I'd have to file the edges, drill holes to hang on a chain, pickle the piece to remove the black and the finish it with butcher's wax or Renaissance wax for a protective finish. Of course, I'd also have to stick a glass bead on it somewhere!

Personally I like the variety of colors flamed copper can take on so prior waxing the piece I'd slightly heat it on a torch to bring out some reds, oranges or even blues then coat the metal with a protective wax.

Sunday, October 26, 2014

New Work - Hollows

Here's a sample of some of the new work I've been exploring - hand built hollows. I learned this with Stephanie Maddalena when I first learned how to create lampwork beads. For a while I used the "hollow mandrel' approach to making big, hollow beads but there are problems with that.

First, the mandrels are expensive. Unless you make your own (somehow using car brake tubes) they can get very pricey when you want to make more than a couple. I find that 5 beads make a nice necklace. You'd need at least a half dozen mandrels to start. Secondly, the mandrels crush easily. If the bead release decides not to release easily it's easy to smash the mandrel with pliers as you try and remove the bead. And it usually happens anyway when you use the mandrel a lot. It's easier and cheaper to master than hand built technique.

Here's a speckled set I did recently. The clear glass really sparkles and the chain really can't be seen due to the surface decoration.

Saturday, October 4, 2014

New Work

In more mixed media work I am trying to combine purchase beads, chain and handmade beads in a new way (for me)! I've done several of these and continue to explore this way of presenting shape/color combinations.


I'll be at the Fall Festival at Green Meadow Waldorf School in Chestnut Ridge, NY, this Saturday, October 11 from 10 - 6. You can get information here.

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Fall is here - and since I am not working I have a lot of free time. I love this idea! Trying it today!

Fall leave swag

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Steampunk Faux Metal Top Hat


The Steampunk World's Fair was this past weekend and, like most participants, I was looking for a special accessory to show off.

I found it at this tutorial created by Lost Wax.

Once I purchased the (cheap!) tutorial I made the base out of an old yoga mat. While Chris recommends a "bumpless" base mat I couldn't find anything and had to use what was available.

Here's the hat with some of the "metal plates" glued on:


You can see some of the purple yoga mat underneath.

Here is the brim from the underside. I left the inside plain but found after spray painting it all with a Krylon dark brown, the inside remained "sticky" so I lined it with some crushed velvet remnants I had around. You can see a "plate" being clamped on in the upper right hand corner. (chip clips!)


You can see the dots are two different types. I tried using the 5 min. epoxy as recommended in the video but, of course, it dries quickly and tends to "thread". Instead I used a craft glue that had an applicator tip. Super fast and easy! You have to do a section at a time. Since I used big dots the glue dried "crinkled" and ended up looking a bit like screws rather than rivets. Next time I might try a puffy paint with an applicator tip. This would probably look more rivet-like.

I cut out the base hat on a Sunday and spent about 3 hours or so glueing and cutting/pasting plate sections. I started using Gorilla Glue and went through 4 packages of "syringes" and ended up using E6000 at the end. You need a LOT of glue. It's a slow go. Cut plates, mix glue, spread glue (thin!), wait 5 minutes, test, stick, repeat. Helps to have a timer and a book to read in between.

I then glued plates on each morning and night for Monday AM/PM, Tuesday AM/PM and Wednesday AM. The brim sections needed to be clamped to curve around the outer brim and that took 3 different sessions. And all the dots had to be dotted and fully dried prior to painting. One note - since I had to cover the base mat to hide the bumpies the hat was heavier than it probably should have been. Consequently it slid down a bit while I was wearing it. I'm going to add a bit of braided cord to the inside to tighten the brim. I would suggest cutting the brim slightly smaller than recommended if you have to do a lot of covering like I did. You can always cut it a tiny bit larger since the brim and the crown don't meet exactly (at least they didn't for me!).

Wednesday PM I spray painted the inside of the hat (Krylon dark brown, it's what I had around) and Thursday AM I did the outside. Krylon is VERY bad to breathe in so do it outside or in a very well ventilated area.

Thursday PM I used Rub 'n Buff in Grecian Gold to decorate. You don't need a lot and it can be pretty messy and still look good. Remember less is more! You can always add but if you add too much you'll need to repaint your base color and start over. It's supposed to look like rusty metal, not a gold burlesque hat.

Here's the final hat:


I was constantly stopped for pictures and questions so I would call this a BIG success.

Watch the video; I would recommend purchasing the tutorial. It's inexpensive and the pattern is invaluable. I was just on the Lost Wax website and found a new tutorial for goggles. Can't wait to try them!

Thursday, March 13, 2014

Handmade in NY

I've been working on some new jewelry techniques inspired by the work of Deryn Mentock - see her work at her website Something Sublime (http://somethingsublime.typepad.com).

Some examples here:

Imaginative and uniquely handmade!

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Office Wear?

Here's the beloved Kato modeling a simple but great steampunk look.Take off the arm cuff and it could go to the office, what?