Saying Goodbye to Karen

Today we met at First Watch restaurant for brunch to say goodbye to Karen, who's moving to the 'other coast' tomorrow! Bah!

It was a snow day, but we still had a nice crowd: Bodil, Odaybea, Sonia, Sharon, Evie, Mimi, Karen, Jowita, and Ellen K.

Karen got all kinds of presents- links, earrings, food, etc... she seemed to enjoy every second of it and actually got a little verklempt here and there...

Because it was a snow day, we had a kids' table of possible future metalsmiths??

Ladysmiths Jr. had a very important meeting of their own.....

Ladysmiths Jr. was not always a very well-behaved group....

Karen got some good stuff! Earrings from Sharon, and links from Jowita, Mimi, Odaybea, Peggy, Sandra, Ellen Y., Bodil, and Dana.

Mimi showed us work from a recent workshop she took with Barbara Becker Simon. First she made polymer clay models of faces.

Then, she created molds using a new product...

This! Then, she used metal clay (and allowed for shrinkage)....

Pressed the clay into the molds, and fired into some awesome silver faces then made into rings!

Odaybea made these gorgeous dragonfly rings- wowzers! She casted the bodies and then soldered on etched wings (from our last etching workshop!) and set the stones.

She also used a kistka to create wax veining on a seed pod, which was then cast into this heart-shaped piece, just in time for today- Valentines' Day!!

And Evie created this (upside down) file caddy! She stitched an open pocket, then ran parallel lines down to hold mini hand-files. Brilliant!!

Etching Workshop

This is our 3rd or 4th etching workshop- always an adventure etching metal in acid!!

Thanks to Sharon, Bodil, Odaybea, Caroline, Ellen K., and Ej for coming out today (and me, Dana!)

We used 2 methods to attach PNP to the metal- irons and a laminator. We had mixed results with each. We joked there is no one method that works flawlessly. And that we should come up with a product that consistently attaches PNP and we'll get rich!!

Odaybea carved  a dragonfly body into a ring shape out of wax. She then etched it's wings and will attach them once the body is cast. Very very cool! 

Aren't Sharon's robots cool? She had success with both ironing and laminating- and failures with both.

Ellen's hamsas etched very well in nitric acid.

Bodil had no problems today and made a bunch of great pieces!

Ej's lion is almost completely etched in ferric chloride- took 40 minutes with Ellen's agitator!

Here's some of Dana's projects ready to etch... 5 minutes in nitric acid and they'll be ready to complete.

Etsy Shop Photo Shoot

Today the Etsy shop-building team met to have a photo-shoot. We set up light boxes with a variety of background papers and did some experimenting.

Thanks to Brenda for hosting, and to Karen, Caroline, Ellen Y., Karina and Sharon (and me, Dana!) for coming!!

First, some recent work. Here's a series of pics taken on Brenda's ottoman of the participants recent work that they wanted to photograph:

Karina's brass castings just came back and are amazing!!

This is Ellen's beautiful piece.

Recent gorgeous work by Sharon!

Karen's fun skull earrings!

Okay, now onto the PHOTOSHOOT!!

These lovely earrings by Ellen were taken with her iphone!!!!

Caroline's necklace, also taken with her iphone, came out great! IMHO, the best photos came out on a mid-tone background. The pics taken with background papers white or black, suffered a bit from contrast issues and camera confusion!

Caroline's gorgeous earrings.

Caroline's necklace and earring set. A great composition and a nice shot WITH HER IPHONE.

In fact, many of the pics were taken with iphones, which surprisingly did very well! Look at Karen's comparison:

Karen did the above comparison...  "It doesn't have the depth of field, but the iphone photo is pretty darn nice!"

The iphone also has a lens available, called the Olloclip (at Apple stores or at the Apple online store) that helped get closer to objects and still have them be in focus- it has a macro/wide angle lens, as well as a fisheye lens.

Here are some links:

EZcube 12"

Light box use was really important. Hard to count on natural light being available or convenient. Also, don't use incandescent lights- too yellow! Use these specialty bulbs made to mimic natural light:

Daylight Balanced Bulbs

CowboyStudio Photography Table Top Photo Studio Lighting Kit - 2 Light Kit: Camera & Photo

Good pictures came not so much because of a good camera, but more because of the nice diffused light from the light box (even a handmade one by Karina!) either purchased or made. Mine was a structure of PVC piping (see earlier post) with a white sheet hung over it, then lights shone at it from either side. Here's directions:

Light Box / Light Tent Photo Gallery by Bill Huber at pbase.com

Karen used a clear Sterilite bin and draped a white lacy cloth over it to diffuse the lights on either side.

Background paper was also important. Most of us liked the grey to black gradated paper that you can get from this link:

Photo Media Outlet

Strathmore visit- Creative Crafts Council Show

Today we visited the Strathmore Mansion in Rockville, Maryland to see the Creative Crafts Council Show. Our own Sherry Terao has a piece in the show and won 1st prize for Metals!!! Congratulations, Sherry!!!!!

Here we are congregating, waiting for everyone to arrive... 

A cool pic by Karen of the interior of the mansion....

Another cool pic by Karen- a marble frieze.

Inside the mansion- there were jewelry, quilts, glass, stained glass, fiber, art, and more... (Jowita, Brenda, Bodil & Karen)

Another view in the mansion...

Upstairs taking a breather- Bodil, Mimi, Sherry and Jowita. Pic by Karen.

Pic of the interior by Karen.

A badly taken pic (on my part!) of Sherry's winning piece!

Our group for lunch: Bodil, Dana, Odaybea, Jowita, Brenda, Mimi, Karen and Caroline. Sherry and Ej couldn't stay for lunch...

Look here for more information:

http://creativecraftscouncil.org/

Wax Meeting

Today's meeting was at Odaybea's house and we talked about all things wax!

Odaybea showed us her Matt Wax Gun (from Rio Grande and Metaliferous about $150). It looks like a glue gun and gets plugged in; will heat to 3 different temperature settings. It comes with 2 different-sized tips.

Also are available are these wax pellets- 3 different hardnesses are available. And yes, you load it like a glue gun...

Here she used the gun to wrap around a mandrel. It's ready to send off to the caster!

It can also be used in a tray of water- so the piece remains round ALL THE WAY AROUND. One can 'draw' with it, even making monogrammed names, for example, for custom name necklaces, etc... Of course, you can also 'draw' with it on your kitchen counter.. but the back will not stay round!

Here is Odaybea's famous 'Hand Ring'. Yes, it's famous. Sorry I forgot to shoot the silver version with it holding a pearl in the palm and seed beads creating a bracelet around the wrist...

Here are some pieces Karina is working on- very very cool! She's thinking she may want to hollow out the shapes lest they be too heavy and cost-prohibitive.

This is a kistka, or an electric wax pen. Pysanky is the art of polish egg decorating and this is the tool that's been used for generations- electrified. The old version would be held over a candle in order to melt the wax. I've been using it to create wax granulation. It has a smaller, finer tip than the Matt Wax Pen. I use the medium #2 tip.  It's about $32. Here's a link:

http://www.bestpysanky.com/Medium-Tip-2-110-Volt-Electric-Kistka-p/ekmed.htm

You also need to buy wax to fill it with. I bought wax 'wire' strips and cut them 1/4" at a time and feed the tip that way.

I made this ring above by using a rod of pre-formed wax and attaching the ends with hot wax, then used the kistka to attach granules. Fun!!

You can also use it to create a nice surface texture without having large granules- these are more like bumps. You could also 'draw' with it to get a low-relief detail.

And here we all are- it was a lovely day so we sat outside- Nina, Lucia, Bodil, Karina, Caroline....

...Odaybea, Mimi, Brenda (who looks BEAUTIFUL by the way!), Sharon, Karen, and me (Dana) not pictured.

See you all next time!