I've Got A Bit Of A Thing Going On

A disc "thing" that is. The last few pairs of earrings I've made all feature discs in copper or enamel, with or without beads and with a central "dot".

I'm always looking for ways to attach "things" to other "things" when I make jewellery - I think it makes things more interesting. You can do it with rivets, soldering (still learning!) or with wire.

I fancied trying it with wire which is probably the easiest of the three and came up with these designs...

copper and green impression jasper

enamel and copper

enamel and sterling silver

I'm planning on making more of these with enamelled flowers instead of discs because I think they're quite sweet :D

•• Fold Forming ••

I felt like a bit of metal bashing the other day so decided on some very basic fold forming - annealing metal to soften it then creating a bend which you then flatten with a mallet or hammer, anneal again and open up to reveal a "fold" across the metal. I decided to enamel it too and came up with these colourful oval earrings...

The fold is quite tight as I hammered it pretty flat then stamped lines on it once it was opened out. Enamelling it was a bit fiddly but I love the definite division it creates. I think they look a bit like Easter eggs :D

Foldform Copper Heart Earrings - My First Attempt!

                                          

I'm slowly teaching myself some more basic metalwork techniques. I love making wirework jewellery and torch enamelling but I think I'm at my happiest when I'm hammering bits of metal and playing with my torch!

I recently bought a new metalwork jewellery book - Mixed Metal Mania by Kim St. Jean. It's a very good book with an informative tool section and easy to follow instructions and covers some basic techniques including soldering, riveting, forging, foldforming and reticulating. Her jewellery style is quite rustic - something I find hard to do being a bit of a shiny neat freak but I'm sure I'll learn to "let go" eventually! 

                                                             

I've seen foldforming before and did have a quick go at it a while ago but the copper sheet I had was too thick and I also tried to do it without annealing the metal (stoopid!) so talk about making life difficult!
The book has several projects which use foldforming including a brass foldformed heart pendant which inspired my copper heart earrings. I already had the copper heart blanks - sent to me by mistake from beaducation.com when I ordered flower blanks (!) but as they are 24g they are perfect for foldforming.

I started off by annealing the hearts to soften the copper then after quenching and drying folded them diagonally and hammered the fold flat. After annealing again I used an old kitchen knife to open up the hearts then flattened them using a mallet. After pickling to remove the firescale and a bit of a scrub with wire wool I used a center punch to add some texture to the fold then added a bit of detail ( I like my little details!)with a couple of fine silver ball rivets. This is something else I've just worked out how to do - use a nail punch with a concave end to support the silver balls as you hammer the rivets on the other side. You need something to hold the nail punch upright - I use one of the holes in the block my dapping punches live in. The nail punch is actually stuck in there now from the hammering but at least I'll know where it is!

I finished and photographed another foldform pair of earrings yesterday. The discs had been sat on my table waiting for inspiration and it finally came in the form of antique copper flower beadcaps and pale green chrysotine rondels. Now I know how to rivet beads and things onto metal there will be no stopping me. These are still quite shiny shiny so I'd better get working on my rustic side!