Friday, July 20, 2012
Sunday, July 15, 2012
Butterfly Wings and Shades of Grey
So my latest obsession stinks. Literally. It stinks. Liver of Sulfur for creating patina on metal work. But oooooohhhh how I love what it does to my creations!
I've been working on adding a new skill to my repertoire as I can afford the expansion. I made a rule for myself that I will not buy any new tools or supplies unless I have the money to pay for it from sales of my current inventory or commissions. I created a prioritized list, and finally got to LOS a couple of weeks ago. That just happened to coincide with the development and creation of my most ambitious project to date, and ended with a serendipitous finished product.
I have had some large, gorgeous teardrop Labradorite stones for about 6 months. Every once in a while I take them out to touch them and to marvel at the layers of glowing, flashing color . . . then I pack them back up and put them away. But last Friday I knew what to DO with them.
You see, I have been working with collars and having pretty good success - despite the fact that my neck mandrel was a bit too far down on the prioritized list. Collars are tricky because if you don't design them to rest on the shoulders, they flip up and turn and just plain never lay right on the neck. This makes them uncomfortable to wear and makes the wearer self-conscious (Is it turned right? Is it sticking up?) which is the opposite of my intentions when I create. I want the wearer to feel sexy and confident. I want the collar to feel like it is part of her SKIN. I want her to be genuinely surprised to remember she even has it on when someone says, "OMG your necklace is so cool, where did you GET THAT??"
Tough to do without having the actual person there to form the piece onto her neck, right? So this piece is designed to be the best of the features of a collar, while fitting like a pendant - perfect on any neck/shoulder combination!
So back to the smelly part . . . while I like the shiny flash of bright silver for some things, this piece was begging for patina. LOS is an olive green rock-like substance that smells like rotten eggs. Dissolved in hot water, it creates a pond-scum-green solution that instantly darkens (tarnishes) metal completely. I used distilled water because we are on a well with heavy mineral deposits, and I didn't want to have a tragedy with this piece. I noticed that the silver that was simply sterling silver turned black, but the Argentium silver turned a deep blue/green. I'll have to read up on that to see if that's normal, in which case I might want to reconsider my future wire purchases to accommodate items that will receive a patina. (Note to self: look this up later)
I have to admit that I dipped 5 other pieces first before I had the courage to immerse this one, but as soon as I lifted it out, I knew it was exactly the right thing to do. I got busy with my Maas, a soft rag and my handy-dandy Dremel that hubby got me. The end result was far more impressive than I imagined and I just can't stop looking at it. The Labradorite looks like a butterfly wing captured with a wire cage, celebrated in an ornate frame.
I've been working on adding a new skill to my repertoire as I can afford the expansion. I made a rule for myself that I will not buy any new tools or supplies unless I have the money to pay for it from sales of my current inventory or commissions. I created a prioritized list, and finally got to LOS a couple of weeks ago. That just happened to coincide with the development and creation of my most ambitious project to date, and ended with a serendipitous finished product.
I have had some large, gorgeous teardrop Labradorite stones for about 6 months. Every once in a while I take them out to touch them and to marvel at the layers of glowing, flashing color . . . then I pack them back up and put them away. But last Friday I knew what to DO with them.
You see, I have been working with collars and having pretty good success - despite the fact that my neck mandrel was a bit too far down on the prioritized list. Collars are tricky because if you don't design them to rest on the shoulders, they flip up and turn and just plain never lay right on the neck. This makes them uncomfortable to wear and makes the wearer self-conscious (Is it turned right? Is it sticking up?) which is the opposite of my intentions when I create. I want the wearer to feel sexy and confident. I want the collar to feel like it is part of her SKIN. I want her to be genuinely surprised to remember she even has it on when someone says, "OMG your necklace is so cool, where did you GET THAT??"Tough to do without having the actual person there to form the piece onto her neck, right? So this piece is designed to be the best of the features of a collar, while fitting like a pendant - perfect on any neck/shoulder combination!
So back to the smelly part . . . while I like the shiny flash of bright silver for some things, this piece was begging for patina. LOS is an olive green rock-like substance that smells like rotten eggs. Dissolved in hot water, it creates a pond-scum-green solution that instantly darkens (tarnishes) metal completely. I used distilled water because we are on a well with heavy mineral deposits, and I didn't want to have a tragedy with this piece. I noticed that the silver that was simply sterling silver turned black, but the Argentium silver turned a deep blue/green. I'll have to read up on that to see if that's normal, in which case I might want to reconsider my future wire purchases to accommodate items that will receive a patina. (Note to self: look this up later)I have to admit that I dipped 5 other pieces first before I had the courage to immerse this one, but as soon as I lifted it out, I knew it was exactly the right thing to do. I got busy with my Maas, a soft rag and my handy-dandy Dremel that hubby got me. The end result was far more impressive than I imagined and I just can't stop looking at it. The Labradorite looks like a butterfly wing captured with a wire cage, celebrated in an ornate frame.
I have been somewhat challenged by clasps, but I think this one turned out really well. It features a single teardrop faceted Labradorite mounted to a double "s" hook clasp. It is solid and will look stunning from behind if the wearer has her hair pulled up.
If I had it to do over again, I would have hammered some more of the elements and I think I'll start another one right away so I can do that. All in all, I am thrilled with this one. Can't wait to try another.
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