Etsymetal Finds - My new short hair

Last week I cut off most of my hair. My new short haircut has me rethinking my accessories. I love scarves and, with such short hair, they look particularly nice. Paired with statement earrings and wonderful, whimsical hair pins I have a bold, chic look.

Cedar earrings by esdesigns
circus princess and the flying squirrel hair pins by posypins
Rococo cotton and merino knit shawl by TickledPinkKnits
Bird and flower hair pins by mnhince
Scribble blade earrings by catherinechandler
Orange scarfette by vaivanat

"What's New" - this week in our shops

New designs made by our EtsyMetal Team members this week !

NIPPON Japanese coin ring from Mark Kaplan

Copper Paisley Etched Cuff Bracelet from Karla Wheeler Design  

Sterling silver little log necklace from Twigs and Heather  

Mixed Metal Cuff Bracelet from Michele Grady

AAA Pearl Necklace Sterling silver Pendant  from Rebecca Bogan ~ Adobe Sol

 Citrine Tetra Ring  from nodeform

Big bronze Gear hoop earrings from Cosmo's Moon 

Super Star Stud Earring from Kathryn Riechert 

Graphico Landscape Turquoise Resin and Silver Ring from Su ~ Quercus Silver

 Yellow spring flowers from Sharon Fiorini  

Mismatched Heart & Red Poppy Jasper Earrings from 2 Roses

April challenge - "kinetics"

Our April challenge due to March 31st was:

"kinetics"

I must say that I am very excited to show you what our members made for this challenge !!!!

There are photos and videos!!!

AMAZING !!!

Maria Whetman / Fluxplay

Kerry Alice / Twigs and Heather

Evelyn Markasky

Thomasin Durgin / MetalRiot

Mark Kaplan

 Sue Szabo

Erga

Inbar Bareket

Michele Grady

Our May team challenge due April 30 is
"Make a salad"
Mix materials salad - surprise us!
OK - surprise me :-)

Can't wait to see what you create !!!

Charm Swap 7 ~ Progress report 5

Hi everyone! Charm Swap is nearing its final days and everyone is in-progress or shipped!

Now for the much anticipated waiting game, but it's Oh so worth it!

Here are some progress shots gathered in the last few days!

Meg Auth of SimplyMega

Meg has packaged and shipped! Her sweet little Operculum charms are so very clever in design, thank you Meg!



 Ann Jenkins of Tuizui

Ann has shipped and yet again makes another fabulously colorful charm with these cute crazy fine silver bobbles! Thank you Ann for another visually sweet candy charm!

Kathryn Cole

Kathryn is making a Sterling Silver Koi fish inspired silhouette charm, if you follow Kathryn's work, you will see her lovely botanical inspired hand in these beautiful Koi shapes. Thank you Kathryn!

 LSueSzabo

Sue is making a sweet Sterling Silver butterfly that will have tube set Aquamarines in them! Oh these are darling! Thank you Sue for working through thick and thin!

Maggie Joynt of MaggieJsDesign

Maggie is making her modern feeling Pinned Cage design for her charms, they are hand formed Copper and Sterling Silver. Thank you Maggie for jumping in on a moments notice!

 Ruby Iacuaniello of Iacua

Ruby has shipped! She has made a lovely organic Brass cast Coral, they have so much movement and life, I can't wait! Thanks Ruby!

Reagan Hayhurst

Reagan has plans for these little Sterling Silver treasure keepers. She is going to fill them with Moss and fuzzy string! I can't wait to see these little Moss keepers in person! Thank you Reagan!

                               Nina Gibson of NinaGibsonDesigns                                     

Nina has a wonderful aesthetic about her work, it feels very graphic to me and I have always loved her pieces from every swap, and the pieces I personally own too! This charm is Copper and filigree stamping. Nina thank you for playing and shipping out today!

Special thanks to these swappers below are on schedule and have shipped!

Shae Freeman of CitizenObjects

Meg Auth of SimplyMega

Inbar Bareket of InbarBareket

Ann Jenkins of Tuizui

Ruby Iacuaniello of Iacua

 Nina Gibson of NinaGibsonDesigns

Still to come will be the finished bracelet EtsyMetal Team photos and shop listing for the individual charms.

As usual it is our tradition that we will be donating 50% of the proceeds of the sale of the CS7 bracelet to Shannon of RubyGirl's choice of Youth Organization (TBD).

 These swaps have been alot of joy to be part of and I'm feeling so proud of everyone for working together to make it happen, it is a rewarding project to be a part of.

Thanks you guys, I mean it! 

On a sad side note, we unfortunately had a CS participant drop out at the last minute, but our new Charm Swap 8 hostess Michele Grady was next in line and said "I can do this!" So wow, Michele THANK YOU so much for stepping up at literally the VERY last minute, phew!  

 Welcome to the team Michele and thanks for volunteering for the CS8!

More CS7/8 news to come next week April 7th!

Thanks for reading!

Tutorial: Creating a Whip Burnisher for the Flex Shaft

If you need a burnisher to remove scratches, engraving mistakes, or porosity, there's a great tutorial on Ganoksin. (Thanks to Konstanze of nodeform for finding it!)

Charm Swap 7 ~ Progress Report 4

Inbar Bareket

Inbar has finished her Moon Charms! They are on their way to the USA. These beautiful little moons are made out of Sterling Silver and Bone.

Nina Gibson of NinaGibsonDesigns

Nina is making an applique filagree style charm. Below is her sketch.

Elizabeth Scott of ESdesigns

Elizabeth is moving nicely along and has her "Pool" component enameled now.

Victoria Takahashi of Experimetal

I am cutting components out and will be beginning to add texture and make 44 tiny hinges soon!

This picture below are my prototypes all patina'ed and prettied up!

Members who have completed their charms, congratulations for being early birds!

 Shae Freeman of CitizenObjects

Inbar Bareket

Meg Auth of SimplyMega

Quick Tip for Tumbling

as I was packing up a few pieces to get tumbled today, I realized this may be a simple tip to share with my fellow metalsmiths.

If you have many items to tumble at once, AND they have a hole of some kind in them, string them up with something before throwing them in the tumbler. I've used wire in the past, but my newest discovery is using up a pack (really just one) of surgical steel earrings. As shown in the picture, if you string the pieces on the earring, it locks in place with a little hook. When held together this way, the pieces all stay together, but still get tumbled nicely. SO Much easier than fishing around in your media!