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Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Gold Rings



The 3 gold rings cast in white gold, yellow gold and rose gold

casting steps





First step is tomake the wax modles. Here I have the silver bezel cups already made so I can place them and build the wax ring around the stone







This is the rough casting still attached to the spru and button. The spru is the feeder gate for the liquid metal to flow to the design. The button is extra metal to allow for shrinkage as the hot metal cools and contracts. You can see 2 gold casting here also one in yellow and one in rose.

The fishished rings
Here a some new shell pendants. These are cast in solid silver and come with a chain. These, are made from molds of shells I found on beaches in Florida as are all my cast shells.





This is called a "baby's ear" shell



This is the top of a conch

Here is a pendant I made as a demo for my "open back and odd shapes" pendant class. This is a moon shell I found over New Years on the beach in So. Carolina. I ground it down on the back until it was flat and made the bezel and added the wire. It's also a demo for the "Bails" class to show creative ways to attach chains.

Tuesday, May 19, 2009

New Ideas



These 3 new pieces are demos for a new class on what to do with your scrap. It's a combination of melting and fabriating using found metal and scrapes




Friday, May 15, 2009

Cast Gold Ring




Another custom wedding ring. This is a man's ring carved in wax and cast in 14k white. the edges on this one are very rounded for extreme comfort and easy removal.

Sunday, May 3, 2009

A few years ago I get interested in making a series of these painting pendants / pins. Every series seems to be inspired by the paintings and by the desire to try new way of making them. This time is probably the 4th or 5th series and I'm using epoxy as a way to cover and protect the image. The images are actual, one of a kind, original , miniature paintings in watercolor, watercolor pencil and gauche. I really like the addition of bronze to this series.as well. It works with the colors of the paintings and has an arty quality about it. Bronze has been used in art for centuries and I've been using it for my fish buckles for not quite that long. pieces are priced without chain.












#238
This is one of the smaller ones from this series. This painting is pretty subtle and almost abstract. Pinks , yellows and blues. The frame is silver with a bronze backing and a silver bail. I used some green patina on this one and it nearly matches the color of the bottom of the painting which you can't really see in this shot. this pendant is about the size of a reading glass lens regular price 65.00 special blogger price 45.00






#234
This one is a little different. This is more like the style of pendant I made in the last series. It's still one of my favorite ways to do these. The frame is silver and the backing is copper that I heat treated to get a red enamel like finish, however there is no paint or enamel on the copper. It's held together with little brass bolt/rivets

The painting is a small abstract color field of clouds, island, water. It is not covered with epoxy but is coated with several layers of acrylic medium and varnish to protect it. The silver frame stands up above the picture with give more protection. This would fit on half of credit card
reg. price 120. blog price 100.00




#242
This is the most elaborate and biggest one I did in this series. The leaf is cast in silver. The frame is made of bronze with silver branches and leaf. The branches and backing are hammer textured. The painting in this pin /pendant was mostly done with watercolor pencil. I re-worked the clouds with white gauche back at the studio. It's hard to see the subtle colors in these photos because there is a fairly think coating of clear epoxy over the image interferes with the lighting. However you can see some of the pinks in the clouds. There are many layers of color.
I wanted to do some metal work on this painting and not just a simple frame. Even though this is a totally made up scene, it has a nice narrative. I haven't really titled these but if I did this one would be " It's Only May and I'm Thinking of the Tetons Already".
It is probably 2 inches wide and 3 inches high. It would fit comfortably on a credit card. ( in more ways than one). The colors at the bottom in the tree line has more greens and yellows with a gray/violet mountain in the background. reg price 145.00 blog price 125.00



#243
This was the first one I did in this new series. It has an all silver frame with a pin back and pendant bail. The painting in this pin /pendant was mostly done while in my booth at the Cedar Key show. So it's an open air painting but of a totaly imagined scene. I started it with watercolor pencil and re-worked the clouds alittle with white gauche back at the studio. Again, it's hard to see the subtle colors in these photos because of the coating of epoxy. There are many layers of color with some pinks and violets in the clouds. This one is a bit bigger than a match book. About the size of box of dental floss . reg. price 95.00 blog price 75.00






This is a shot of the parts before building the pendants. The painting in the background is the one used in the piece above. Lot's of cropping and adjusting the composition goes into deciding what the shape of the frame is going to be. I like to use the rounded, asymmetric rectangles but I decided to try some regular ovals on this series . Just to keep it simple and focus on the painting instead of the metal work .
















#239
I can't resist making these weird shapes. Many more light greens in the grassy area and light yellows in the tree tops and nice pink on the left that don't show well in the picture. This one is in a bronze frame with a copper back. A little smaller than half a business card.
reg price 65.00 blog price 45.00













#241
This is a nice little painting in a simple bronze frame. About the size of half a business card. reg price 65.00 blog price 45.00





#240
Here is another one where I got into the metal work a bit more, adding forged silver elements around the bronze frame. Once again , you can't see the subtle colors in the clouds I think because of the epoxy resin. It's just hard to get good lighting with out reflections off the high shine of the coating. This is one of my favorites. I love to paint clouds and stormy weather. Throw in the ocean and it's perfect! About the size of half a credit card. sold