Leather and Copper

I've been having a lot of fun in the studio using my torch and some copper wire.  I made some double balled headpins (quenched in water in between torching to retain the nice hot red patina on the end) and then tried to figure out what to do with them.  I had a length of braided leather that I decided to wrap them around - and here is the result - a tribal looking bracelet that can be for a man or a woman.

While I love the red patina on the end, I wanted some that were plain copper:

and then some with purple enamel on the ends:

And a couple more pennies............white with a layer of purple on the top:

..........gray with a purple layer:

...........and midnight blue with a spattering of red:

Turquoise Bracelet

Last week I made a few of these penny/turquoise drops using a domed, drilled penny (pre 1982), a turquoise disc bead and a handtorched copper headpin.........yesterday I made a bracelet using one of them and a couple other handcrafted pieces.

Like a few enameled pennies (turquoise colored, of course):

Some copper wrapped turquoise disc beads (using the torch fired copper/enameled headpins - red ones):

A lovely handforged copper clasp:

And then patinaed the whole thing (with Gun-Blu) to add to the "rustic" feel of the bracelet:

and the back of the pennies - the patina really adds depth, don't you think?

All the components on this bracelet were handcrafted - from the chain to the clasp, to the headpins and the enameled pennies.  I love it when a plan comes together!





Pennies - Again!

I am always thinking of ways to use pennies - especially since I have been able to quickly drill holes in my 2 quart jar full of pennies - thanks to my fabulous BIL and his machine shop (DMI).  I had been drilling them by hand - marking each penny with a pilot hole, then drilling and filing each one - which took a few minutes for each penny.  He suggested one day that I come into his shop (after picking my brain about the hole size and orientation) and use one of his "manual" machines - and being the tool junkie that I am, I immediately accepted. One of his machine gurus set up the machine for me - with a place for a single penny to be drilled, and after a quick consultation on where I wanted the hole, I was up and running.  To say the machine made the work easier is such an understatement - (as is to say that I would "like" to work in the machine shop - no seriously, I would LOVE to work in the machine shop)........I was able to drill the jar of pennies in mere hours rather than the days it would have taken if I were to do them one by one.

After a day or two of drilling just the one hole I decided I wanted two holes in each penny ( for links or whatever) and with a quick flip of the penny was able to do just that.  Then with a single adjustment, I drilled some center holes........and came up with this idea:

I drilled a center hole in each penny, then a hole at the top to hang; domed each penny so the date shows on the back side of the drop; wired (using one of my hand torched copper head pins) a turquoise disc to the penny and added a jump ring.  I am thinking of adding a patina to them so they have a more "worn" look. 

I also enameled a bunch of pennies:

I used some new color combinations - like the gold base with the red over top and the white base with the gold over top:

For the light green ones I mixed some white enamel and some deep green enamel together, sifted it on to the pennies and fired:

Some are domed and some are flat:

And some are colored perfectly for an autumn piece:

From the Workshop

More fun with enameling pennies!!! I really enjoy working with the enamel and playing with the colors and blends......and after making two bracelets and a necklace (picture of that to come soon!), I realized I was going to have a LARGE amount of enameled pennies - too many for l'il old me to use up for sure. So, I brought some in to my LBS (Beads on the Kennebec in Augusta) to perhaps place a few of them and see what kind of interest would be there.  I was thrilled (to say the very least) when the dozen or so I brought in sold out in one day, and the owner requested "about 100" more!!!!! Yowzer!  More play time with colors and the torch!!!!
Here is the first batch (I actually ran out of gas for my torch!!!) I brought over to her today:

As well as a large amount of the turquoise (specifically requested by one of the LBS customers) mix pennies, I did some red:

orange:

yellow:

green:

blue:

and some purple: