Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Jewelry as an excuse

When I'm not making jewelry (or raising a child or doing chores or hiding behind a book), I like to go antiquing. It's a bit of a sickness, actually. I feel antsy if I haven't done it in awhile. Pathetic, right? So I decided to come up with a good excuse to go out antiquing every now and then: using antiques in jewelry. I specifically like old signs, graphics and advertisements, so I'm often drawn to old packaging and tins. I have a decent stash of items now, including these guys:



Currently, I'm figuring out how to use them in my work. I obviously mean for most of these pieces to be fun and tongue-in-cheek -- anti-midge cream! -- but I think it's possible for jewelry that incorporates these tins to be lovely. Exhibit A:



I found two old orange juice cans that have wonderful color and graphics. I've already cut one apart and started marking it up with my Sharpie. I have a rectangle and oval or two in there, but as you can see I've mostly marked circles. Yes, that means the dapping block is coming out. I saw a pair of earrings that gave me my first idea on how to use the cut-up juice tins, dapped to a concave shape, in a "pretty" way. I'll post them when I finish.

Do any of you marry another love with metalsmithing? I'd like to hear about it. Especially since I'm already plotting how to involve yet another love of mine: letterpress printing.

Sharon

5 comments:

stoneaddict said...

There are a few people on etsy who very successfully use old tin to make jewelry. Here's some of my faves:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/HarrieteEstelBerman
http://www.etsy.com/shop/shixie
http://www.etsy.com/shop/loranscruggs

I think creative people tend to dapple in lots of things, maybe focusing in on one or two. I've tried and continue to dapple in so many things- you've seen my ginormously stuffed craft room!

Letterpressing sounds cool! Perfect for you, Madame Wordsmith!

:) Dana

Sharon said...

Thanks for sharing. I've never seen the lady who makes the tin flowers before -- all that work! My favorite tin recycler on Etsy is http://www.etsy.com/shop/teddmcdonah. I don't know why -- I don't fish. I just think his lures look really cool. I'd like to get a bunch and decorate a small wall with them.

I miss letterpressing. When we were in Alexandria, I could get to Pyramid Atlantic in a reasonable amount of time, but I had no desire to commute from here and let my membership drop after we moved. I think a Vandercook press would be a great addition to the garage. :-)

stoneaddict said...

Cool! I guess you could take off the hooks and replace them with keychains!

stoneaddict said...

here's another cool shop:

http://www.etsy.com/shop/fluxplay?ref=seller_info

Sharon said...

Oh, thanks so much for sharing that one -- I LOVE her Victorian necklace of Queen Vic. pining for Prince Albert. Insane, huge, and kinda what I'd like to do.

I'm struggling a little. The tin of the juice cans is sooo thin and perhaps a bit brittle with age. Doming them is not going as smoothly as I hoped. Good thing I have two.