roller texture earrings and learning repousse

It's been slow going lately without getting much done here but I did get a chance to finish a couple pair of roller textured copper earrings last week. Karen wanted a pair of copper earrings with springy wire decos and beads so I made 2 extra pairs with different shapes of leaves and different beads so she could have a choice for her favorites. Here are the 2 pair that she didn't choose: 

What I have been doing is learning repousse. Nothing to show that I would want to put in a finished piece yet - just doing lots of practicing. Here is a trial piece from the front:

From the back:

Repousse is a French word meaning "to push". In metal working it is taking a flat sheet of metal and hammering it from the back with punches to make volume, refining it from the front also and then usually finishing the front with texture of some sort or planishing it smooth. Here is the set-up that I am using - the bowl of pitch that holds the metal while it's being worked on (pitch offers just the right amount of resistance to the hammer blows - allows the metal to move where it is being struck but keeps the area around that still), a cup of repousse tools in the upper left corner and the chasing hammer on the right. You need a lightweight hammer to strike the tools as the metal can only be moved very slowly. To get much height or detail you need to frequently anneal your metal and rework it over and over again: 

Close-up of the tools in hand and a very excellent book on the subject in the background:

I love these tools - they are works of art in themselves! From www.mettleworks.com. 

phoenix finished!

I finished both the phoenix pendant and a pair of earrings for a friend yesterday. Feels good to keep moving forward. Since I have been caring for my mom full time the last 3 years it seems like I get slower and slower in my jewelry work each year.

"Dare to Rise Up from the Ash" - sterling, copper, brass, simulated sapphire, enamel on fine silver, garnet and amber, and "Angel" earrings - sterling and garnet.

completed and ready to go!

Friday - "Precious Gift" with garnets, "Perfect" with simulated opals, "Sun Circle" with amber, "Peace" with simulated blue zircon, and "Inner Vision 8" with ceramic faces and glass beads. It took me a little longer than Wednesday to get finished but they are ready to go now!

earrings assembly

Right now I'm working on 5 pairs of earrings - in a batch. It's easier to get all the bezels made at the same time, all the silver cut out and filed at the same time and do each stage's work as if I'm my own little assembly line. Where I'm at today:

Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday I will have everything soldered together and perhaps even the stones set and everything polished...

glazing fun

I've been having lots of fun lately glazing my little faces in as many colors and textures as possible. I feel like I FINALLY have enough!

So now I am busy making earrings from my little friends. Click on a photo of earrings below to go to my etsy shop and read more about them.

completed

I worked most of the day on setting the stones in these, doing a final polish (and photographing them). Isn't that almandine garnet (the red stone) beautiful? I love that deep red!