Get Silvered

Fresh out of the kiln.

2009-06-27T17:21:00.006+08:00

The New Kiln Firing Up.

Since the kiln arrived I've been reading up on the instructions, and to be honest I found it all a bit scary! That and reading my enamel book, and researching the internet and magazines and I think I'm suffering from information overload.

So, this morning I decided that today was the day! With all my safety gear on the ready and my supplies and equipment nearby I wheeled the kiln to a spot by a window where I couldn't burn the house down.

Big Red Leather Welder's Gloves not shown!

Four or five hours later and I've made one small pair of earrings - yes that's all but I have learnt a lot. I've learnt:

If my glasses steam up it means my dust mask isn't tight enough!
Until I get some more practise -Stick to making pendants - it's hard to get two things exactly the same for earrings.
Don't counter enamel with the same colour as the front. A few layers down the track I couldn't remember which side was which or how many layer's I'd done.
Even though the books say don't apply a layer too thick - I think I can be a little more generous!
Practise on larger items - I thought if I messed up I'd waste less materials with little copper components but the truth is they are fiddly - I'd be better off with larger pieces until I'm a bit more experienced.
Find a better spot to use the kiln - preferably near the sink and near another power point where I can plug in the pickle pot - still hopefully where I won't burn the place down.
Try and get a production line thing happening - it was very stop start today. I seemed to be forever taking the leather gloves, goggles and mask on and off, depending on what bit I was doing.

Anyway, I had fun, I didn't get hat hair but did get goggle & mask hair instead - glad there were no unexpected visitors! And...........Ta Dah! Here's the results of the day's efforts :)

Where Oh where is the fedex man?

2009-06-24T13:13:00.006+08:00

I recently purchased a kiln to use in my jewellery making and it's due to arrive today. It's being shipped direct from the manufacturer and I've been tracking it's progress on it's journey.

It's taken a rather long way around to get here, it's on Aussie soil now, in fact it's in the delivery truck now as I type, but first it went from Texas, to Tennessee and then to Anchorage Alaska. That bit surprised me - I wouldn't have thought Alaska was the most direct route from Texas to Perth but (?) ..... It then had a short stopover in Singapore before hitting our shores.

I had to rearrange the delivery, as it was initially due to arrive yesterday and I was at work all day. Then at midnight when I checked it's status before bed (as you do!) it said it was ready to be picked up at the depot. I was on the phone at 7am today as I was pretty sure I didn't organise to pick the thing up myself on the other side of the city. The call centre chap said to check the status again after 9am to see if it was still at the depot or on the truck as he couldn't tell either!

It's now 2 pm and it's been on the truck since 9 am. I'm anxious, although I know I shouldn't be, but the anticipation is killing me, will I hear the door knock? (very likely as the dogs will go ballistic so pretty much pointless worrying there!)

This morning the people across the road missed a delivery - I watched from the window as a delivery man took out his trolley, went to the front door, returned his trolley to the truck and left a card in their letterbox. I spent the next hour worrying it was really my kiln in that truck and they'd attempted delivery at the wrong house. Actually I haven't stopped worrying about that yet!

It's very wet and cold today but I've got the front door wide open, so that I'll hear the sound of the truck - I've got a security screen by the way! I have to move fast when I hear the truck to lock the dogs in the bedroom - that way I can open the screen door and allow my kiln - all 18.6 kgs - to be wheeled in on the delivery trolley without the dogs making their usual bid for freedom or jumping up on the poor fedex man.

Ha Ha, the stress of it all ;) - wonder what people did before online tracking?

Update: 3.24pm The Fedex Lady delivered my Kiln - All my worrying was for nothing :)

Made on The Left

2009-06-15T08:17:00.005+08:00

Image by Helena Tay, courtesy of Made on the left.

Back in 2007 a group of Perth Crafters & Artists found each other in the Etsy Forums.
Excited to find like minded, local people on an international site, social meet ups were arranged in "real life".
It was from these meet ups and the online discussions in the forums that the seeds were planted and in 2008 "Made on the Left" was founded with a view to supporting Local Western Australian Independent Designers.
And support it has, in this past year or so, The hard working Made on The Left committee has organised two successful Art/Craft Markets; one here in Perth and the second in Bunbury.

They are now organising their third market at The Hyde Park Hotel, running over two days on the 25th & 26th July. Showcasing different work each day, this will give more artisans the opportunity to offer their work and promises to be bigger and better than ever.

Applications are being taken for stallholders now until 20th June, so get in quick - More details here and if you're one of the many Perth "Indie Handmade" lovers, then mark those dates in your diary.

Visit the Made On The Left Website
Visit the Made On The Left Blog

Up, Up and away .........again..........

2009-05-23T17:33:00.011+08:00

Sterling Cast Ring - plane cast from son's old Micro Machine Toy

Barely a month home from our holiday in Broome and I was back in the skies again flying to Singapore!

This time my daughter choose me as her travelling companion for her very first overseas trip and treated me to my ticket to Singapore for Mother's Day. It was a quick trip of just 4 1/2 days away, to fit in with her R and R from her job in Port Hedland.

It was great to spend time with her and we had a fantastic holiday, saw as many sights as we could cram into the time there, and when we weren't sightseeing we were shopping...well I'll rephrase that - she was shopping and I was keeping her company while she parted with her hard earned cash although I did pick up a pair of shoes or two for myself :)

Planes and airports play a big part in my life it seems, Husband and daughter are both "Fly in, Fly out" workers, so I'm doing the airport runs on a regular basis, I could pretty much put the car on "auto pilot" and it'd find it's own way there.
Early June - back out at the airport - International this time, to see my son off to London.
He's doing the backpacking thing around Europe for the rest of the year.

Texture Time!

2009-05-09T16:52:00.007+08:00

I took some jewellery down to the shop last week. I had Mother's Day in mind when I made these. I'd been playing with my rolling mill and loved the effect that glass paper made on the silver. Very glitzy I thought, and I added a simple freshwater pearl to most of the designs, because, well.... Mums like pearls :)

The first corrugated design made me think of crinkle cut potato chips, not in real life but I couldn't help noticing it when I was resizing the photo. Maybe it's because I'm obsessing with food right now as I've cut out junk food and every time I walk past the pantry I see the chips in there calling out for me to eat them! No doubt about it - I'm tempted :(

Beautiful Broome!.

2009-05-06T11:12:00.011+08:00

In April we went up to Broome for a five day break. It's a couple of hours or so on the plane North of Perth.
Broome is just magic and has everything I love about our State's Northwest, I just love the colour of the ocean, the colour of the rocks and the pindan (red sand) and the fascinating plants! Here's some pics.......

From the plane as we crossed over the coast descending into Broome.

and the view from the veranda of our room at The Cable Beach Club - our own personal rainbow!

A neat twisted tree - have no idea what it is...

At Gantheaume Point - my favourite spot at Broome - loved this cool rock!

The beautiful Cable Beach

and finally can't go with out a Broome Sunset - taken from the Sunset Bar while enjoying a glass of wine!

No stopping him now!

2009-04-08T08:46:00.003+08:00

While I was at work yesterday, Murray did more foldforming, he made a few more leaves and this cuff from nickel silver.
and............he made dinner too.... I'm happy - I didn't have to cook and got a new bracelet. (LOL)

Darn, Now I'm going to have to share my tools!

2009-04-07T07:50:00.004+08:00

Murray works away and when he's home he's here for 6 days in a row. Yesterday, he decided that cooking meals for his loving family was not enough to occupy his time at home and he needed a hobby!
Armed with my metalwork book Foldforming by Charles Lewton-Brain and some of my sheet copper and brass he took off into the shed. He emerged triumphant with these two leaves :)

First one in copper - the oxidisation is from the torch and he left it as it was to add to the rustic appeal:

Second one in brass, again heat oxidised - I made a Sterling Neckwire for it:

I'm a winner!

2009-04-03T20:33:00.010+08:00

No longer will I be able to say "but I never win anything" Why?.................
Well, I just won this cool Heart Brooch from ReRead Design.

I'm now the proud owner of two pieces of ReRead's designs. I purchased the little bird brooch pictured below back in January and now I've won the cute heart to add to my collection!

ReRead upcycles old vintage books to construct her brooches in cute silhouette shapes, covering them with the intriguing images & Text, then it's all protected with a smooth glossy finish.

A great touch is the packaging. My brooches were carefully wrapped in a page from an old book, then another page was used to make the handmade envelope.
Not often that I experience such a visual treat when collecting the mail from the letter box - certainly makes a pleasant change from window envelopes!

Check out more of ReRead's cute brooches at her Etsy Shop

In the Press!

2009-03-27T12:44:00.005+09:00

I was very excited when my rubber and Sterling Silver earrings were featured in the current issue of Local Lifestyle magazineScoop.

Here's the cover- click on the images for larger versions of the pics:

and here's the feature - I love the styling:

And a close up...

The earrings are currently in stock at Behind The Monkey

In the middle photo you can also see a Rose Necklace which is also available at Behind the Monkey and was designed by talented Perth Local, Sarah Gazia.

A Ghostly forrest?

2009-03-20T19:23:00.009+09:00

Well that's how I see it......

These are actually the results of my last casting class at Fremantle Arts Centre. I was only able to stay at class half an hour before I had to dash to an unavoidable commitment, so luckily my friends Jane & Lotta stepped in and melted my silver and poured the castings I'd prepared the week earlier...Thanks girls :)

The "snow" on my trees is the remains of the investment (heat proof plaster) that forms the moulds. As Jane put it "their love for me did not extend to cleaning up my castings" Ha Ha - they only wanted to do the fun bits, like playing with fire and molten metal!

Tempting as it is to keep these ghostly little trees as they are, they are destined to become "branch necklaces" similar to the one I posted last week.

Branching out......

2009-03-04T11:27:00.004+09:00

In casting class I've had the most success with my twigs that I turned into little bird necklaces.

Last week instead of the single twig, I cast a twig with multiple little branches. I was really happy with how it turned out and I've made it into another necklace. I've attached it to a long chain which just slips over my head with no clasp. I've resisted the temptation to add a bird or other forest creatures -I did contemplate a squirrel, but decided the tree shape was impressive enough on its own.
Soldering the rings on for the chain was a pain that's taken the best part of the morning and I did a bit of a dodgy job on it, but undeterred I'm going to try casting another "tree" at next week's class and incorporate the jump rings into the casting. Hopefully that will work better :)

I don't always cast twigs though. I've also got a little aeroplane and a dinosaur head which turned out well enough to make into something......watch this space.........

Oz Bush Fire Appeal

2009-02-13T09:07:00.004+09:00

The Etsy Community have pulled together to support The Oz Bush Fire Appeal, following the recent and ongoing tragedy of the fires in Victoria Australia - news that has shocked and saddened us all here in Australia and touched people all around the world.

The DUST Team led by Emma have opened up a shop (with Etsy's permission & support), and proceeds are being donated to the Red Cross Bush Fire Appeal.

Check out the shop here - lots of wonderful items have been donated and are available for sale by talented artisans from all over the world. Free international shipping is offered on all items which will be shipped from the individual artisans.

Productive Few Days

2009-01-31T10:39:00.005+09:00

It's been pretty hot and humid here but I did manage to drag myself out into the shed and do some soldering. I finished another one of the cast twigs that I made at my casting class a few weeks back. I made it into another necklace but this time I've laid it out vertically instead of horizontally like my first twig necklace.

Also, played with a heavy gauge wire to make these swirl earrings. No soldering involved - just forming, hammering & polishing.

I have to be a little considerate these days with my hammering. Our house is surrounded on 3 sides by houses that have babies. I shut my self in the spare room and close the doors, hoping it's not too loud for the neighbours! I haven't had any complaints so far!

Turning a negative into a positive!

2009-01-28T17:23:00.005+09:00

First I pierced (hand sawed) a rabbit design from a sterling disc to make this pendant:

Then I soldered the little cut out rabbit onto another Sterling disc to make a second pendant here:

The negative space in the first pendant makes the rabbit look slightly fatter than the actual cut out on the second, that's because I domed the first pendant which enlarged the space.

Possibilities in Metal

2009-01-19T13:46:00.007+09:00

Over the last 2 Sundays I've attended the "Possibilities in Metal Casting" Workshop at The Fremantle Arts Centre
It was lots of fun, I went with my talented friends Lotta & Jane and the teacher was renowned Local Artist Sarah Elson. We enjoyed it so much we have signed up for Sarah's class for Term one to explore some more of the possibilities!
We cast all sorts of things, I tried a wax model of a lego brick, some twigs, a resin mini plane (that Jane made a mould of from a little toy plane I had lying around).

My most succesful casts were the twigs which I cast in Sterling Silver, the other things require quite a bit of clean up so I'll save them for another time. This morning I spent some time polishing up one of the silver twigs and soldering the jumprings on - I had sawn out the little sterling silver bird earlier in the week so he got soldered on too.

It's not really an original idea as I've seen lots of similar sorts of things done with cast twigs, I imagine because the obvious thing to do is to pop a bird on a branch! The beauty is of course, that no two twigs are alike. Anyway, I'm very happy to have a cute necklace to wear as a result of the course.

2009's looking good.

2009-01-09T21:54:00.004+09:00

I'm pretty happy at the moment. I actually have all the family home at one time!

My husband works "fly in-fly out", my daughter has been off living her life away from home doing the back packing thing, and it's just been me & Adam (when he's home) and the two dogs!

Murray's contract finished and the new job doesn't start until the end of January so he's been home for a 6 week stint working out of head office locally. Then Lauren decided she couldn't save up for her next lot of adventures by living in Melbourne and surprised us by turning up at 5 to 12 on New Years eve.

The downside - well, the amount of washing actually. The positives...too numerous and they outweigh the negatives :)

Here's the younger half of the family:

Post Christmas - pre New Year........

2008-12-28T10:30:00.005+09:00

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We did, it was only a small gathering at my sister's but great company and wonderful food. I did miss my daughter though who has flown the nest to live in Melbourne - it was our first Christmas that our little family of four was only three! The phone companies did well out of us though!

Now the left over ham is dwindling and I'm starting to think about the New Year and all the self - improvement that is about to happen.....Ha Ha! ;)

I'm on holidays from work until the 6th so I've spent some of my downtime playing with my chainmaille. This time using the rubber rings with sterling, I've gone oversized - much like I feel after the Christmas feast!
These earrings are pretty huge but the good thing is they are super lightweight.

Just added a couple of photos here, but there's more on my Flicker Photostream.

Happy New Year everyone :)

Where's the day gone........

2008-12-15T14:55:00.004+09:00

Day off today and this morning I felt a sudden urge to get creative. Anything to avoid doing the house work and washing!
I've had it in the back of my mind to make a ring for myself and simply never got around to it so today it happened!

It wasn't all smooth sailing though - the silver got the dreaded fire scale when I soldered it which meant lots of extra filing and sanding - for a pretty simple design I've spent the best part of the day on it! It's not perfect but I'm not going to point out the other faults - can't see 'em when I'm wearing it anyway, so I'm happy with the day's efforts.

Magpie

2008-12-14T16:49:00.002+09:00

We have a lot of magpies around here - most often I notice them when they come up the street in the early morning in a pack - looking over everyone's lawns for some tasty bugs and worms.
I noticed this little one this afternoon from the bedroom window, sitting in the shade on a fallen palm frond in our front garden. He didn't appear to be injured but didn't have very long tail feathers. He let me get about 2 feet away from him and stared right at me when I took this picture.
He flew away a little later when one of our dogs chased him away - luckily he could fly although not very high and we grabbed the dog before he could hurt the Magpie. My husband had let the dogs out with him, not realising the bird was there.
When the dog chased him - we suddenly noticed all the other magpies, they didn't actually swoop us but they all flew in close.
It's been about half an hour and he's now sitting on a neighbours fence in the shade - the adult birds are still milling around him keeping an eye out for him.

I guess they'll have to look after him until he can fly up a little higher than he can now.

Crossed the first thing off my To Do List!!

2008-11-17T20:39:00.007+09:00

I only had one thing on my list and I've crossed it off, so now I can start on a new list. It's taken a day or so and I still have a drawer or two to sort out but at least it's tidy!! YAY!!

Before Shots: (hmmm - I'm ashamed of these - It's pretty messy, but I could shut the door on it and pretend it wasn't there!)

and after shots: I intend to keep it like this ;)

Time to do the things on the "To Do" List

2008-11-16T11:35:00.004+09:00

Had a good day yesterday. My sister and I headed down to the Made On The Left Designer Market followed by lunch later at Tarts,
a great little place hidden in Lake Street. Yum.
The Market was bigger than the first one with more great stalls and a bit more space than before. Lots of fabulous wares on sale but this Fridge Magnet by the very talented Amanda from Polyclarific called out to me.

Now of course I need to write an extensive list and put it on the fridge with my new magnet where I can't ignore it.
My office/work room is a mess and I really have to tidy it. It's gonna be a such big job that at the moment it's the only thing on my list.
I fully intended to start yesterday evening and I started sorting through some of my supplies but got sidetracked with this instead!

More pics on my Flickr photostream.

I shall publish this post, turn the computer off and have another attempt at crossing off the only thing on my "To Do" list!

Windows on William

2008-11-01T07:54:00.025+09:00

Yesterday, my daughter, Lauren and I took off to Northbridge to soak up a bit of Culture!

The Windows On William Street Exhibition is on and local artists install their artwork in the windows of the local shops/businesses. As you go around each place you are encouraged to collect a limited edition print of each artist's work - These are inside the shops, which of course gives exposure (and I guess hopefully some sales!) to the businesses that support the artists.

We visited each venue and collected 13 of the 14 prints. (One place was closed).

We got off to a bad start - first stop when we surfaced from the car park was the Blue Room Theatre & Bar and as we stood in front of the window we couldn't see any Art, but the sliding door opened. We stepped through to the foyer but still couldn't see any art! In our confused state, we felt a little sheepish when a staff person pointed out that we'd walked past the art - it was outside on the top panel above the sliding doors - Duh!!

Lesson learnt, and we made a point of looking above eye level at all the other exhibitions just in case we missed something!

The highlights were the installation by the Made on the Left collaboration featuring the work of my local online Etsy friends. Great job girls!

Another stand out was Subgang at William Topp.
This is a real find of a shop too, interesting and friendly and definitely worth another visit. Bought this for Lauren here - sums her up rather well ;)

And check out their cool cards we were given showing their business hours.

If you're a local it's a great way to lose a couple of hours browsing around Northbridge. I got to see some great artwork, find new shops and go into places I'd not normally venture into, I'm thinking specifically here of the Piercing & Tattoo parlour (I'm not really their target demographic) but none the less they were very welcoming. Also, Red Stripe Clothing, where Lauren bought a dress but my presence in the shop probably diminished their reputation as a "cool arsed clothing store" a little (LOL).
It's on until November 23rd.

Industrial Floral - Is that an Oxymoron?

2008-10-26T13:40:00.005+09:00

I've been playing with rubber rings in my chainmaille for a while. I love the industrial look of the rubber contrasting against the sterling silver.
But these are a departure for me - I'm not usually the flowery type, but I liked how these turned out.

I'm going to give these a quick tumble polish and they are heading down to Behind The Monkey

My favourite is the cross - it's a whopping 8.5cm long, not for the faint hearted :)

More pictures on my flickr photostream.

Etsy Street Teams

2008-10-19T08:01:00.004+08:00

I opened my Etsy store in 2006 and one of the things we do to promote ourselves and others on Etsy is to join Street teams.

I'm a member of several teams - Here they are:

The most recent one I joined is the Metal Smiths in Action Street team. It's members are talented silver and metal smiths - check them out here
http://metalsmithsinaction.webs.com/index.htm

Because of my love of Chainmaille, I'm also a member of the Chainmaillers Guild - Here's their blog

The others I'm part of don't promote a specific Craft or Art but more a location.
The DUST Team stands for The Down Under Street Team and is open to all Etsy Sellers in Australia. Lots of Aussie talent right here

Last but not least is my local Perth team - Made on The Left - they've formed a committee and are not only promoting Etsy but are supporting all things Art & Craft in Perth. They have run a successful Craft Market and the second one is coming up very soon. If you are a Perth Local, be sure to get along to the Hyde Park Hotel on November 15th. See their blog or website for more info.