Fresh Bezels

Was making a batch of bezels to get ready for fall show now that I figured out what I wanted to make to compliment my Resin line
I'll make sample resin filled bezels shortly
Turquoise and  Green

Green & Blue

Terra Cotta

My Granddaughter soldering her first jump rings - so proud - she loves the crafts

Anodized Jump Rings and Rubber "O" Ring Bracelet

My Granddaughter is staying for the weekend and she made a bracelet last night

I gave her some anodized rings and told her to incorporate some rubber "O" rings - she was not sure what I meant but this morning she showed me what she did (she's 10 and did a class with Marilyn Gardiner last year and loved it)

Out of the Kiln (Ceramics) 9-2-11

I would have posted last night but I lost my memory card walking down from the Studio to the house in the dark last night and had to go out and find it this morning .
More bezels , some white work - possibly put solder around etc..   just trying different things
Going to pick up some low fire red clay to add to the mix today and see how that turns out.

Here is my kiln with the bead rack -  note that I put supports close to center to ensure that the mandrels (they are stainless steel and tend to bend in the heat) do not sag and cause the piecs to touch or slide during firing . I'll fire either bisque or painted but not mixed even though both could be fired at 04 or 06

I am extremely happy with how the bezels are turning out - my next project to make samplers with the bezels and resin

I've go good depth for the resin and I am liking my two-tone coverage 

So far I'm making stars, hearts and circles - I keep forgetting to make squares and rectangles but I'll do that today or tomorrow 

Some white work- I do not have to paint a color the clay fires white enough just to glaze 

Finished Ceramic Bracelet Testers

Finally a pair of bracelets that were acceptable.  Their not perfect but the concept worked and I'll start to make more - making sure they are not twisted and ends are even
All in all the test worked

Updated Colored Brass Stamping with Nail Polish

Updating with a couple of new colours -some of the Sally Hansen are more opaque - they are nice but I lean towards the more translucent that allows the shine of the metal through

Using Nail Polish to Colour Metal- Embellish Simple Brass or Base Metal Stampings

I went out and bought some inexpensive nail polish - and created some samplers on some brass stampings (of which I have a lot !

I bought the most inexpensive at Walmart - Sally Hansen (popular ) Xtreme Wear - they were 2.49 each but I am sure there is even less expensive stuff out there. After the test I'll be going back to get some more of the colours and do more test samplers.  I really like the results.
I did a colour test on some of the stampings I have a bunch of - some I like more than others - more transparent but overall they still look great. Of course it will vary with layers - and even thinning with some thinner to give a more transparent look on the metal.  But its what I was looking for - have some dragonfly's and seahorses coming from panda hall for necklaces that I wanted to be able to colour- see my next post on updated color charts

Before and After 

Used a base metal and coloured with a couple of colours - dries fast - I colour on wax paper for easy clean up. Hard to get a good pic of how really nice the colours come up on the metal.

Ceramics and Solder

I've had my solder and copper tape out for a while with intent on creating some microscope slide pendants - but I was painting ceramics again tonight and when I finally had enough for the kiln I started to clean up and decided to try out the copper tape (from any stained glass store)  flux , solder and a soldering iron.

\Copper Tape comes in a variety of widths

Same place you buy the tape buy some solder and a bottle of flux (you need this or the solder will not stick to the copper tape)

Add copper tape to your ceramic piece - I could have done a better job of pushing down the edges but I was excited to see some fast results 

Heat up your soldering iron and solder around on the copper tape - I glob a bit an then run a hot iron around to smooth it out- sometimes globs look good !

I like copper so I had a copper patina and painted that on (almost looks like the tape )