One World One Heart

Time again for the annual One World One Heart blog event.  What an amazing experience it was last year to go from blog to blog meeting new people and making connections with other artists around the world.  I lost track of time this year, but am entering the event at the last minute. 

As you can see by my other posts, I make jewelry.  I love everything about it - especially the experimentation involved in MY learning process.  My blog is a way of sharing with others that journey and attempting to show how my creative process works.

My "door prize" this year is a wonderful little leather bracelet - knotted and embellished with brass beads and a wonderful vintage brass button as a closure. 

To get your name in the hat, you should be a blogger; leave me a comment and a clear way to link back to you,  or leave an email address so you can be contacted if you should win. The final day for leaving comments is February 15th - at which point I will close the entry to comments and do a random drawing to determine the winner.  Best of luck to each of you - and I look forward to meeting you along the way!

**edited 2/15/2010 to add that I will close this posting to comments at midnight EST and at that point, using a random number generator, will pick the winner.  Thanks to all who left such kind comments on this post and others - I had a blast going from blog to blog this year. 

More fun with the Bench Grinder

Did I tell you I love my new bench grinder?  I'm having the best time and experimenting with anything and everything metal!  Starting with a piece of copper pipe (actually a connector), using my pipe cutter I cut it into three pieces.

One of the pieces I smoothed and then using my dapping block, I domed it very carefully. (remember, this started it's life as a piece of copper tubing)

I have some wonderful brass thingies - not really sure what they are actually used for but I love the shape and the heft of them so I bought a few.  I took one of the pieces of the copper, domed it a little bit and fit it around the brass piece.  The copper ring moves and rolls around the brass and is held in place by the flare of the ends on the brass.

Another penny - this time domed and drilled to make a bead cap. Now I just have to get some beads that will fit it! (off to go shopping at magpie gemstones!)

One down, eight hundred to go!..........

Ok, maybe not eight hundred, but from everything I've crafted with the help of my new bench grinder, quite a few projects to be done!  I created a bracelet with some of the pennies and flattened wire pieces and am looking forward to doing many more.
I used 16 gauge brass wire for the links along with some wonderful little copper washers I got from magpie gemstones to create the base of the bracelet.........

wired in some aventurine beads on the domed pennies (beads from magpie gemstones)

added a few wheat pennies that I drilled

and finished it off with a handcrafted copper clasp.  I'm thinking of adding a patina to this bracelet - what do you think?

Tools are beautiful, too!

I have been so busy with my new Christmas gift that I haven't had time to update my blog. But, here it is - an update as well as a picture of the aforementioned gift. A fabulous bench grinder.

Who would have thought I would be such a tool junkie - certainly not me! But, the more time I spend making jewelry, the more I realize I LOVE the tools that come with it. And this bench grinder is my new favorite. It has two wheels, one a grinding stone and the other a fiber wheel, as well as a flexshaft that comes in handy for all those curves and tight spots. I am still learning how to use it, but that hasn't stopped me from trying all sorts of things.

Using some pre-1982 pennies (they are 95% copper), I flattened some pennies (to see how I do this, check out this post ) and drilled holes in it.
I also flattened some 16 gauge copper wire, smoothed the edges and added some holes to make some copper connectors.

My next entry will be what I make with all these newly created copper components.

Fire Agate and Vintage African Focal

Earlier this year I received a wonderful gift of some vintage African beads and components from a woman who lived in Africa for a decade or so. One of the amazing things I received (I blogged about the other pieces here)is this leaf - formed from brass and stamped with a lovely, simple design. I knew it would make an awesome focal but I also knew it had to be paired with the right beads and the right components. I used some 10 gauge brass wire to form the bail - hammered, of course...................

.........and while at Caravan Beads earlier this year found these fire agate beads -some big colorful roundels and some smaller rounds that I knew would work wonderfully with the brass. As links I used some brass washers (nice thick ones - heavier than what you find normally - these were a great find for me from my favorite closeout store here in Maine - Mardens) that I sawed using my jewelers saw. (Beading Daily had a great how-to article that made me want to pick up the saw and work with it again......if you have any hesitation or fears about sawing I highly recommend reading the article)

While I had the heavy gauge wire out to make the bail, I made two swirl components to add a bit more interest to the front of the necklace - also formed and hammered...........

I am really pleased with how the necklace came together..............

It can be seen in the April 2010 issue of Bead Trends magazine!