Hi, all! It’s been a while since I’ve had much to share here. I did have a special commission for Christmas that I was really happy with. That’s a black pearl and black diamonds set in sterling. I like the look of tube setting faceted stones, but that spot in the curve was a bit tricky to get in to bend the bezel. Something to practice, for sure.
On my bench right now is a new stack of copper to etch for the claddagh bracelets. These have been my best seller to date and I can’t keep them in stock!
I’ve been playing with bronze clay to try to make centerpieces for other copper cuffs, but I just can’t get the hang of the stuff. I’ve tried several firing schedules and the pieces always end up weak and chipping. The silver and copper clays are fabulous to work with, but I think I’ll stick with lost wax casting of bronze only. If anyone has any suggestions for the bronze clay, I’m all ears.
You know what I did find that’s also fantastic to work with? White bronze. Yup. It casts clean and looks like sterling at a fraction of the price. I hope to be posting up some pics of the cast white bronze soon. It solders easily to sterling findings for setting stones, too. This brings me to my current main project of carving interesting waxes for casting the bronze. I’ve always been more of a 2D sort of person with painting, drawing, and printmaking. I took two sculpting classes in college at a price of ten stitches and decided perhaps 3D wasn’t my thing. Here I am trying it again though, hopefully with better results than my younger self. Working small is a challenge for me, even if the wax is pretty forgiving. The other thing I need to work through is being able to see what I want to make in three dimensions, then having it translate accurately from my head, to drawings, to that square block of pristine wax. Practice, practice, practice. I said it out loud and want you all to be my witnesses: I plan to spend one day of the weekend in the shop carving waxes. Hold me to it!
Until next time, have a wonderful day and go make something!
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