Stages of a Hammered Silver Cuff

On a piece of sheet silver, I draw out the design with an ultra fine sharpie. I have some old machinists rulers that I use. Then I lube up my saw blade and get to work. Magnifying lenses are so necessary in this task. The sheet silver is put upon the bench pin and I saw just outside the line drawn. This takes some time. The teeth on the saw blade are so tiny they can't be seen by the naked eye. Well, not mine anyways. :)

After sawing, I take a rough rasp and file down the larger highs and round the corners slightly. I count as I do the corners so they are more uniform. Then I take a finer file and do it all over again. Once more with a diamond file. Then rough sandpaper, then finer and finer grits until the surface is smooth. Looks pretty when done.


Then I move to the bench block and begin hammering the divots. Thousands of them. I always mean to count, but lose track. Hammering does bend the metal and begins to harden it.


When done, I carefully hand bend it a bit to straighten it out. Then I move to my oval bracelet mandrel. It's a heavy hunk of metal. Using my oh-so-cool rawhide mallet, I start to form the shape of the bracelet around the mandrel. At intervals, I make certain the edges are in line. I actually begin at a much smaller size when shaping then, move up to the actual size needed. I've found this is necessary to convince the metal to move.

When done with this, I check the edges for roughness and sand as needed, then steel wool it for a subtle sheen. If a higher shine is desired, a tumble is a good start and then onto rouges. But that's for another post.

Voila! Takes a bit of time, but very satisfying!

Wow! 10,000 Forum Topics I've Posted In. (Etsy)

Friday, December 14th marked 10,000 Forum Topics Posted in for me. Yikes! My first post was 10-7-06 and the first question I tried to answer was 10-13-07.

This milestone has made me pensive about the Forums and Etsy in general. Most of what I love about Etsy is its community. The people here have been kind and helpful. There are so many Etsians that are willing to answer questions. Sometimes it seems a contest to see who can answer first!

I'm amazed at how generous people are with their wisdom - artistic and business. I can't imagine how long it would have taken me to feel as confident as I do without Etsy. When I went to my first craft fair, I found myself better prepared than some others who had been doing fairs for a while. When I needed to purchase jewelry displays, many people divulged their sources for good suppliers.

So, this wisdom that I've learned I try to share with others. I've captured many screens and have a document with the most asked questions, so I'm quickly prepared to help out. In my real-world jobs, I've been called a mediator, a service-oriented person and a troubleshooter. These skills all help me to help others.

Mostly it feels like I'm hangin' with my coworkers, helping the newbies, sharing knowledge, discussing personal or wordly issue or just playing games. :)

Ah... finally.

I feel whole. Like two pieces of me, apart all of my life, are now fused together. Heh heh. Finally, I began to use "the flame" in these Fine Silver babies.

Fine silver is indeed easier to work with than Sterling. I plan on moving over to Argentium after this. It has the hardness and the tarnish resistance. A bit more work than the fine silver. Fine silver costs more, the sterling mixes take more time - both end up probably equal in the end. We'll see where it falls out. Truth is, it probably won't end up anywhere, as I'll keep on learning and growing as an artist.

But dang, this was fun! :)

Weekly Markets!

If you live near the Twin Cities of Minnesota, come visit me.
I am outside at the Midtown Farmers Market every Saturday, through October.

I can be found indoors at the Midtown Global Market Tuesdays and Thursdays, until further notice.
They've both been good for me and are great environments. I can't just *sit* there, so I bring work along. I prepare things ahead of time that I can finish off or polish there.

Come visit me and pick up some fresh local veggies while you're at it. :-)

Sterling Wire Pearl Cages with Galvanized Metal

Yes, it's the stuff that heating ducts are made out of. :-) They have a unique look and feel and are light weight on the ear. I used Argentium Sterling Silver wire due to the nature of the cage. (See post below about Argentium.) It would be a bear to try to polish regular sterling and this will maintain its shine!

The pearl and cage have an opposite feel. The gentleness of the pearl versus the stoic wire. Or is the wire protecting the pearl?

Not sure how many more of these I will make as the galvanized metal is really hard on my tools. It dulls them so quickly. This pair currently exists in my Etsy store.

Reversible Circles Pendant

This simple pendant took a couple of prototypes to make. It's reversible, with copper dominating one side and aluminum, as pictured, dominating the other. I punched out and shaped the circles, hand drilled the holes, then sawed copper wire to hammer into rivets. Takes a bit of time, but with each one I am faster.

As simple as it appears, it holds great meaning for me. It is symbolic of an internal healing circle I have been developing. The circle has three parts: Nurturing, Protective, Spiritual. You decide which part is the largest for you... I've sold several of these. Each of them holds a bit of me.

Using Argentium Silver

Sterling silver. No more tarnish. No more buying special polishing cloths to clean with. No more blackened fingers. Can you imagine? It can be true with Argentium Sterling Silver as it is highly tarnish-resistant. How? Well, "regular" sterling silver is 92.5% silver with copper as the additional 7.5% alloy. With Argentium silver, part of the copper is replaced with germanium. Voila!

In my newer jewelry pieces you will find Argentium Sterling silver. I think it's worth the slight extra cost. The piece in my previous post and this one are both made with Argentium. Especially where I use wire that is hard to access and polish, I think it's important.

For further information, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentium_sterling_silver and http://argentiumsilver.com/ .

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Fine Silver: 99.9% Silver. Will tarnish, but more slowly. Not very hard, so not good for earwires.

Argentium Sterling Silver. 92/5% Silver, with 7.5% alloy and a touch of germanium to make it tarnish resistant.

Sterling Silver: 92/5% Silver, with 7.5% alloy. Alloy is typically copper and is added for strength, but is also what causes it to tarnish more quickly.

Silver filled: Has 100x more silver than silver plated. There are currently no laws governing what this means, so it can differ by manufacturer. Gold-filled does have rules regarding it, though. Filled should mean that it is not likely to chip or wear off. Can be a good alternative to the cost of solid sterling and a higher quality choice than plated.

Silver plated: Typically copper or brass, with a coating of silver. (Not sterling silver.) Cheaper alternative, but can wear or chip off.

Silver toned: Has no silver in it at all. Cheapest choice. Could be any kind of silver metal.

As you go up the list above, the likelihood for having an allergic reaction to the metal decreases.

I typically use Argentium, Solid Sterling Silver, Fine Silver and sometimes Silver Plated. I always specify.

New To Blogging!

Hello and welcome to my blog! For the longest time I thought I was too old for this. But I just decided it would be a good motivator for my jewelry making/metal work as well as my business in general.

A little about me...
I live in Minneapolis Minnesota with my little long haired Dachshund Lillie (nickname Stinky) and little grey farm kitty Lucy. We live and studio in the second floor of an old stucco house. It's warm, safe and a good place to work. My day job is as a Technical Analyst, but that's not very creative. Creating my jewelry has been a wonderful outlet for me.

I love to work with my hands where there is a mix of creative and technical. I prefer metal in my work as well as semi-precious or precious gemstones. Other types of materials do find their way into my pieces as they develop. My intellect plays little part in my creations, as they often just develop as I'm working. The inspiration comes from elsewhere. It's fascinating at times to me.