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Aug. 11th, 2006 06:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
afmetalsmithToday most of my metal work was... sewing! And no, not sewing metal!
I just finished a commission that is physically large. And there are not really jewelry boxes available for something that's about 7 by 8 by 21.5 inches in diameter. So my choices were pretty much either a plastic bag such as the ones food's stored in, or sewing.
So I made a presentation/storage bag. It's an olive/black duponi silk I happened to have, and I made just a basic pouch with a flap that folds over the front and ties. Much nicer than a baggie! I hope the client likes it now... :)
I also did some wax carving until my eyes got fuzzy (pollen these days is not helping such work), and depletion gilded my smiley cloisonne backgrounds.
And spent a couple of hours researching the new Argentium silver alloy, which has some attractive working properties and is pretty much tarnish-free. A client might be interested in using it for a commission piece. I've done some basic fabrication work with it- mostly fusing, and it is a DREAM to fuse!- but haven't cast it, and am not really sure whether we want to venture there. I've read a number of somewhat conflicting accounts of casting the stuff now: some swear by, and some at- the usual problem! So I'm not sure... especially since the piece is rather large for our casting equipment, too. They would prefer that I do it rather than send it out, and I'm touched and honored by that wish, but I'm not sure whether it's practical yet...
So, I was on-task for a decent amount of time... sort of! Meaning, it was all necessary, important, and valuable work, but mostly not involving actual metal. Some days are like that!
I did do some more metal last night, though, come to think of it, not all that much then, either! I started the depletion gilding, I spent a LOT of time carving wax (I was working on some of the larger areas so the fuzzy eyes weren't as much of an issue as they were today), I finished the piece that will go into the bag, and I think there were a couple of other bits. The big, boring part was going through some enameled pieces I've made and not had a decent venue for selling, because I think Etsy is such a venue. So I had to see what I've got, and how many of each, and now I'll be able to start posting them. They're more costume jewelry than fine jewelry, but a number are rather Halloweenish in subject (see the "Goth" stuff on Electric Celt) so I want to get those up ASAP. Some others- currently without any online presence- are Xmas-related, so I want to get those up, too.
(Hmm. I wonder if we should put our Celtic Xmas/seasonal cards up on Etsy as well as EC...)
So I've been busy, but I'm really wanting to get back to being busy with METAL!
I just finished a commission that is physically large. And there are not really jewelry boxes available for something that's about 7 by 8 by 21.5 inches in diameter. So my choices were pretty much either a plastic bag such as the ones food's stored in, or sewing.
So I made a presentation/storage bag. It's an olive/black duponi silk I happened to have, and I made just a basic pouch with a flap that folds over the front and ties. Much nicer than a baggie! I hope the client likes it now... :)
I also did some wax carving until my eyes got fuzzy (pollen these days is not helping such work), and depletion gilded my smiley cloisonne backgrounds.
And spent a couple of hours researching the new Argentium silver alloy, which has some attractive working properties and is pretty much tarnish-free. A client might be interested in using it for a commission piece. I've done some basic fabrication work with it- mostly fusing, and it is a DREAM to fuse!- but haven't cast it, and am not really sure whether we want to venture there. I've read a number of somewhat conflicting accounts of casting the stuff now: some swear by, and some at- the usual problem! So I'm not sure... especially since the piece is rather large for our casting equipment, too. They would prefer that I do it rather than send it out, and I'm touched and honored by that wish, but I'm not sure whether it's practical yet...
So, I was on-task for a decent amount of time... sort of! Meaning, it was all necessary, important, and valuable work, but mostly not involving actual metal. Some days are like that!
I did do some more metal last night, though, come to think of it, not all that much then, either! I started the depletion gilding, I spent a LOT of time carving wax (I was working on some of the larger areas so the fuzzy eyes weren't as much of an issue as they were today), I finished the piece that will go into the bag, and I think there were a couple of other bits. The big, boring part was going through some enameled pieces I've made and not had a decent venue for selling, because I think Etsy is such a venue. So I had to see what I've got, and how many of each, and now I'll be able to start posting them. They're more costume jewelry than fine jewelry, but a number are rather Halloweenish in subject (see the "Goth" stuff on Electric Celt) so I want to get those up ASAP. Some others- currently without any online presence- are Xmas-related, so I want to get those up, too.
(Hmm. I wonder if we should put our Celtic Xmas/seasonal cards up on Etsy as well as EC...)
So I've been busy, but I'm really wanting to get back to being busy with METAL!
