Trolling

Filed under: Earrings, Metal Work, selling, Torch Work | Back to: Homepage

We used to go trolling a good bit when we lived in the Dallas area and had a fishing boat. I never thought it was much fun, but then, I wasn’t the one driving the boat. I felt the best part about trolling for fish was in the heat of the summer when you felt so hot that you thought you would faint. At least trolling meant we kept the boat moving and that made a bit of welcome breeze on wet skin.

I went trolling yesterday . . . for bottle caps. I was reminded of the time when my son was in fourth or 5th grade and his gifted class was collecting bottle caps. As best I recall, they were trying to get to one million to see how much that actually was. When I picked up my son and his friend at the Social Studies Fair, I found that they had been outdoors picking up bottle caps in the parking lot. They weren’t nearly as clean (the boys) as when I first left them there, but they did have a few more bottle caps to add to the class collection. It seemed the bottle cap hunt was more interesting than the Social Studies Fair.

I’m not trying to get to a million bottle caps. I just needed a few more for making earrings. I’ve previously posted a number of pictures wherein these were used and you may recognize a few of those that follow.

Since we don’t drink anything that has bottle caps, the few that I have used previously have come from friends who remembered to bring them to me. I don’t know if I’ve run out of those friends, but yesterday, I was definitely out of bottle caps and set out to find them.

I’d been told I should just go to a bar and ask the bartender to save me some. I told the suggester that I’d feel strange in a bar and he said not to worry that I’d look better by closing time. (I think that was an insult!) At any rate, I chose not to visit a bar, but rather went searching as I ran my errands.

The first stop was a hit! I found one root beer cap when I stopped at the office supply store. Although I searched around the entire area where I found this treasure, there were no other caps around.  Later I found another cap at the filling station, but obviously the people who go there are very careful about getting things in the trash can, because I couldn’t find any others. I searched around all the various filling stands and people probably thought I must be very poor and was looking for change. I guess I could have dug in the trash can, but I chose not to. That would have made me look really desperate!

I drove very slowly through the parking lots on my way home as I looked for bottle caps. Finally, I realized that it would be hard to explain that I had run into something or someone because I was looking for caps and I gave up. The sum of my trolling is in the next picture. 

Oh well, don’t you think these are good ones? The exciting part of working with them was when I used the torch to anneal them. Either the plastic center in the cap or the cap finish created a beautiful little flame that I feared would set off the fire alarm. Luckily, it burnt out quickly and all peril was averted. Tonight these little jewels will become some sort of earrings.  I sell these at a very low price, but after yesterday’s effort, I’m thinking that price may just have to go up. Trolling is hard work!

Earrings, Metal Work, selling, Torch Work 5 comments

Ten Years

Filed under: Philosophy | Back to: Homepage

My post today has nothing to do with design, creativity or the ranch. It’s just something important to me that I needed to write.

It has been ten years today since my father passed and this time of the year always brings back pleasant thoughts of him. I’m not sad, just pensive as I remember little things like the time I was working in the adjoining kitchen of his house and there came a big thud. I looked around and there was Papaw upside down in his easy chair saying “did you know this chair would turn over?” I can still see the expression on his face.

For a long time after his death, my mother kept telling me it felt as though there was someone in the house with her. I chalked it up to loneliness and wishfulness, but then a little bird made me feel differently. The day prior to the first anniversary of my dad’s passing, a little bird got into Mother’s house. She tried to get it out, but had no luck and finally, when it flew into her sewing room, she simply closed the door and left it. The next day, a man who helped out came by and Mother asked him to remove the bird. Determined, he went into the sewing room and closed the door. After considerable time, he and the bird immerged. He said that it was a very smart little bird and that it had been hard to catch. Finally, he took a blanket and threw it over the little guy to nab it. He removed the bird from the house and let it fly.

I believe occurrences like the little bird in the house only have special meaning if you let them. I’m the type who tries to explore the depth of an occurrence. After the little bird left Mother’s house, she never again felt that there was someone in her home. It was as though the bird represented a spirit that had watched over her long enough and was then released to fly where it was meant to go.

Over the past ten years memories have served my mother and I well and will continue. As Carmen Agra Deedy said in her book The Last Dance, “those we love are never really gone as long as we tell their stories.” I plan to continue doing just that.

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Who IS the Customer?

Filed under: Bezels, Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, selling, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

Many articles that discuss getting started selling things advise us to question “who is the customer?” Unfortunately for me, I’ve often ignored that question because the boutiques I serve are so varied. Magnify that by the fact that each store’s customers are pretty varied as well and the equation about the customer is pretty overwhelming. Yet, this week I’ve found that I really needed to stop and ask that question as I prepared to call on a particular boutique. This new boutique caters to the younger set and in the past the owner has suggested I needed some pieces made with chain or leather ropes. My more heavily beaded pieces just weren’t what she needed. One day, while in this store, a girl about high school age came in and tried on clothes. As I watched her, I finally “got it” and realized I did need some pieces with leather, chain and ribbon.

I felt this wasn’t my style initially, but as I’ve made a valid attempt at it this week, I’m excited to be trying something new. It may allow me to expand the options for all my customers.  

The first two pictures show necklaces made with a good deal of chain. The mahogany bead piece has handmade copper chain in the back with handmade copper jump ring dangles in the front. The second piece is similar in style, but utilized both hand made copper chain and plated silver chain. I added beads to every other jump ring in the front.

I think these pieces turned out OK, because they have both sold before I even call on the customer for whom I made them.

I also experimented with ribbon and leather cord for a few pieces. I know designers often work with ribbon, but it was tedious for me. My thumbs are quite ruff from working with metal and wire, so the ribbon kept sticking to them and raveling. Fray check for ribbon ends has now become my friend.

The necklace on the right sports a green amber cabachon wrapped with dull aluminum wire. It hangs from a dyed silk cord I purchased at a bead show. The organza ribbon bow can be removed.

I made several other pieces on the leather cord which are not pictured here and hope to also work with the black velvet ribbon I purchased.

I do not yet know if the customer for which I designed these pieces will like them, but I do know that thinking specifically about “who” the customer is influenced what I designed. I’ve found this to be true before. Once, I was commissioned to create a pin for someone whose bout with cancer was concluding. As I thought about the patient, the pin just seemed to make itself. Another time, a western wear store that usually sells sterling silver wanted to try some copper and that influenced the design of the piece shown here.   

So, “who is the customer?” Apparently, my customer is the boutique for whom I am visiting next. Today while scheduling my next trip to a specific Texas Hill Country shop, the owner said “you know what I like”. Yes, I do and in the next weeks I’ll be designing specifically with her in mind.

Know your customer. This can open some avenues of design that I never imagined. But sometimes, I want to remember that I am the customer too and create just exactly what I LIKE!

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Ah, The Sweet Smell of . . .

Filed under: Earrings, Metal Work, Torch Work, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

. . . metalwork!   I never imagined that working with metal would produce so many different odors, or aromas, depending on whether or not you like the particular smell. Most days I’m not even aware of this, but on an unusually sensitive day, my nose took offense to one project.

I was making three pair of etched leaf earrings to fill an order.  First, I used the torch and annealed the copper to make it easier to handle. Ah, the smell of propane . . .

Then I  painted nail polish on the back of each of the 6 leaves to use as a stop out for the mordant. Ah, the smell of nail polish . . . Then, I used a permanent felt tipped pen to mark the flower shapes, etc on the front of the earring. You really can’t see them in this photo. I tried hard not to inhale the marker.

Next I mixed an acid with hydrogen peroxide (outdoors, of course) and produced a smelly mordant for the etching. Yucky odor!

After the etching was complete, all that nail polish had to come off with that sweet smelling polish remover and the black ink had to be removed with alcohol. Can you smell it?

Since I needed the metal to have a red patina, I again used the torch and heated all six leaves until they glowed red hot. While still hot, I plunged them into a container of cooking oil producing an almost pleasant aroma. It was similar to that of chicken fried steak and all I could think was that finally I could fry something that wasn’t fattening.

Once the clean up was completed after the oil bath, I polished the metal with Renaissance Wax which I can also say produces an odor. Even the dog doesn’t like it!

I made the ear wires out of copper wire and used liver of sulphur to give them a dark patina. Ah, it was like the sweet smell of boiled eggs . . . After the earwires’ tumbler bath, the odors were all gone and I was able to assemble the earrings.

Now why in the world did I end up with a headache?

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When Gold Turns to Silver

Filed under: Bracelets, Earrings, Necklaces, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

I believe this saying has to do with the color of someone’s hair (Knoffler sang something about when the gold of her hair has turned to silver). It might also represent a tact for saving money in the jewelry design business. With today’s spot price for silver at a practically intolerable $22.70/ounce, it’s still more economical to use than gold which lists at $1,330.50 per ounce. You won’t see me using any gold any time soon.

Of course, that’s the same thing I said about silver last year. I was working exclusively with copper, a good deal of which came from the recycling establishment. Lately, however, feeling that my skill has progressed, I’ve delved a bit into silver wire. Today’s photos show the use of fine silver which fuses to itself without solder. Sterling silver requires the use of solder for fusing. One problem that arises with fine silver is just how quickly it melts. My pieces have a few bumps on them where the metal got too hot. Still, I feel it is better to see small flaws that lumpy solder.

The first pair of earrings turned out much bigger than I anticipated, but they do make a statement. I’ve wanted to incorporate seed beads with the wire for some time and enjoyed using needle and fishing line to attach these embellishments to the ovals. They are very lightweight.

The second pair of earrings is, obviously, just a simple set of ovals.

Also, I fused some fine silver circles and put them on a double strand of sterling silver wire. This piece is very simple and delicate. It was trickier than I expected when I tried to get the circles to hang correctly.

What’s a girl to do with earrings, a necklace and no bracelet? I answered that question by getting brave and using some 14 gauge sterling silver wire to make a small simple wave bracelet. I’m still debating as to whether or not to embellish it with beads.  

These pieces are a very different style than what I usually make, but were fun to do once I got past my panic of cutting the expensive wire.

I suppose the title to this blog entry should really read When the Copper Turns to Silver since that’s the change I made today. I’m just too much of a tight wad to work with gold right now. They don’t ever seem to have any at the recycling place!

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I Think That I Shall Never See . . .

Filed under: Color, Earrings, Metal Work, Techniques, Torch Work, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

. . . an earring lovely as a tree. I must certainly apologize to Joyce Kilmer whose original work compared a poem to a tree. Didn’t many of us have to learn to recite those verses in school?

The last few days I’ve been working with tree shapes. It may be the anticipation of the changes soon to occur with the leaves on the trees or simply an inclination to get away from things that are circles. For whatever reason, I’ve been working with the shape of some trees, triangles. This is always a bit of a problem since triangular shapes in jewelry mean you must deal with three sharp corners, but I decided not to let that deter me.

The first trees are a bit large, yet interesting looking. These earrings are copper triangles sweat soldered together to imitate firs. The liver of sulphur patina seemed appropriate on these.  I also made a smaller, upside down pair.   

The next pair is made of copper that spent several days turning blue. The household concoction worked well and I didn’t want to spoil the color; therefore, I chose not to solder them. That would have removed the blue patina. I made them into pretty good swingers by using the copper rings.

The last pair of earrings initiated with a picture of a pair that a friend gave me. I intended to use silver circles as part of the embellishment, but the bottle caps sitting on the work bench begged to be used. The star in the cold connection adds a little western flair to this pair. Yes, I do realize that this tree shape is upside down, but it seemed like the way to go.

Maybe the next tree shapes should be rounded at the top – I’ll have to give that some thought.

In the last line of her tree poem, Kilmer wrote:

Poems are made by fools like me, But only God can make a tree.

I could certainly say the same about these silly earrings.

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Walking Jewelry

Filed under: Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, selling, Wire Work | Back to: Homepage

We attended a small political “coffee” a few nights ago. I really try to stay away from politics having had enough of it in my gifted and talented education work, but I wasn’t given much choice for this one. When we arrived, the first thing that caught my eye was a piece of jewelry walking by. I tried not to accost the woman wearing it, but finally got close enough to determine that it was one of my sets. You’ve seen a picture here in an older blog. It was made of 5 round copper discs and a handmade chain. It also had matching round disc earrings. I was really tickled to see it and learned that the person’s husband purchased it at one of the stores for her birthday. I was so pleased, you’d have thought I just laid an egg. . . . I think this was the first time I’d seen one of my pieces on someone that I had never met. It was neat! Since I only work with one store here in the town where I live, it’s pretty unlikely to encounter my own jewelry on someone else. I don’t see too many women with jewelry on here at the ranch!

The woman wearing my jewelry didn’t know who had made it. This made me think about branding (not the type with fire and iron or as we do it here-dry ice, alcohol and iron) and how I might do a better job of labeling my work. Most of the store owners tell the customers the story behind the jewelry, but once a piece leaves the store I imagine this is forgotten. Therefore, I’m considering investing in tiny stamped metal jewelry tags to go on all the pieces. I’ve looked at this before and felt it was too time consuming, but now I’m thinking about it again. Do any of you other designers do this? I’m not as concerned about pieces such as the one pictured below. Those that are strung are not as important to me for branding as the more unique metal pieces, although the one below is pretty special.

[ labradorite, tiger eye and Chinese picture jasper with seed beads– all from Magpie Gemstones www.magpiegemstones.com) ]

Then again, the metal pieces are perhaps occasionally too unusual for me to want them to wear my brand.   I’m not sure how I’m going to complete the one pictured here, but I like it! It’s one of those pieces that keeps evolving. Originally, I was soldering some silver wire to the diamond shaped copper piece. Before I could move the torch, I was watching the wire melt and spread on the copper creating an unusual metal effect. It sat on the workbench for weeks before I tried a little fold forming. Then it sat a bit longer. Finally, this week, I added the cab and copper and silver wires. If I ever complete the piece, it will certainly have a story behind it.

Why is it important for people to know who made their jewelry? There are, of course, many reasons but my primary business thought today is so they will know what “brand” to look for if they like the first purchase and want something else. There is also the ego angle, but I’m not going to make any money based on that one.

I think I need to get out more and conduct surveillance to try to capture a peek at my designs walking by. That way I won’t be quite so surprised when I meet one face to face. If I can put a little Dreamcatcher Designs tag on the pieces, the person wearing one won’t be so surprised when I say hello.

Metal Work, Necklaces, Pendants, Philosophy, selling, Wire Work 2 comments