Patina table

This is a shot of the patina table just before Christmas. Most of these parts are for earrings. They are copper and brass.  The brass are the green. There is also one bronze Redfish buckle that I was trying the red patina on. It's perfect for that buckle. 

This is a pair from that series. The parts are jointed so they move.  Sterling and brass 

Lariat project

This project was designed for a customer. He came to me with the idea for a lariat with a rounded triangle at the top and a stone at the other end of the chain. We worked together ,back and forth, to come up with the final design. Some of my students want to try something like this so I'm showing the steps. If there are questions, leave them as comments or as email

The first steps in this piece are not shown.  I used square cross section wire and used a file to make notches and bends where the corners are.  Then I could solder the corners without having to line then up. Only one join needed lining up.  I also soldered a 16 ga ring on the bottom of the bezel cup to allow for more soldering area . It gave me a place to put the edge of the frame. notice the chunk of pad holding up the frame while I solder it in possiton.

Holding it in a 3rd hand tool resting on the solder pad to steady the position.  (white paper for photo only, obviously, you can't have paper on the solder bench) 

I filed a small flat spot on top of the frame to give the top ring a place to attach. The ring itself is flattened on the bottom.  Easy solder is pre flowed on the ring.  Heat is appied to the frame and the ring brought in as the frame reaches temp.

For some reason the program wont let me write below the above picture.  The picture shows how I hold the jump ring that attaches the top ring to the chain for soldering.  The finished piece with a sardonix bead and set moonstone

Suburban Tribal

New line of forged and hammer textured earrings, bracelets and pendants made of aluminium. Today I took some time to further develop this idea of very large earrings that are supper light weight. Keeping it simple by leaving coarse hammer marks and texturing helps to keep the price down and adds the intended funky look. They are still labor intensive but the aluminium takes the high price of silver out of the equation. It also allows for the bold statement with out the weight. These earrings are 2 to 3 inches or more yet feel weightless to wear.

They're fun to make too. You can really move some metal when the it doesn't put up much resistance  but they are very strong and durable and colorful.  I have added several to my display at the artisans' guild gallery.

Scars and Stripes: The Saga Continues

This is the second in the series of Scars and Stripes and about the 10th in the series of sake/drinking cups. This one holds 1.5 oz. It's made of sterling silver and copper. It has a nice substantial feel in the hand weighing in at 85 grams. (2.73 oz.) Price on request

Tarpon Bronze Buckles

This new buckle has what I call a flake patina. It essentially colors the bronze the way it will look after wearing so you don't have to go through the "finger print "stage.

New Gator Buckles

This series of 4 smooth textured gator buckles came out great! I'm really happy with the patinas on these. I especially like the green on # 518-50. All my buckle are signed and numbered. If you order one by number, that is the buckle you will recieve.

The color of 518-50 on my screen shows it pretty close to the actual colors, maybe a little more brown and less green in direct sunlight. It is really difficult to photograph these patinas. There is a certain depth to the color that is hard to capture. Even looking at them in different light gives them different color
.
This is # 520-52  I used a more basic brown coloring on this one but as it ages the darks and lights will become more pronounced and the color texturing,mottling will get more contrast. It will get a little darker over time

#517-49 has a light brown antiqued undertone with some light green on top. It looks a little greener than it is in this picture.  It's more subtle on the actual buckle

#519-51 has what I call the basic brown bronze finish.  This is a pre- aged look of dark and light brown
They are all still 75.00, even though the ones with the one of a kind patinas take alot longer to do.

New Earrings

Some of the new designs I'm working on for the coming art shows.  This weekend there is a trunk show at the Harn Museum on Sunday. I'll be showing some new designs and showing a presentation on casting .   The stripes on these earrings are inlaid copper and silver.  As they age the patina on the copper will get darker and increase the contrast. The hoops are about 1.25 inches across.