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Tuesday, June 2, 2009
Monday, June 1, 2009
Beautiful Bench Pins
Someone once told me that "a good goldsmith will use 7 bench pins in his/her life as a professional."
Above is a collection of a few Etsy Metal members' bench pins.
Amanda Conley, Lisa Dienst-Thomas, Danielle Miller-Gilliam,
Kathryn Riechert, Chris Parry, Nina Gibson,
Sophie Wiggins, Maggie Joynt, Rachael Sudlow
Etsy metal member, Victoria Takahashi recently started a flickr group entitled Bench Pin. It is open to anyone who wishes to add photos of their beautiful bench pins!
Above is a collection of a few Etsy Metal members' bench pins.Amanda Conley, Lisa Dienst-Thomas, Danielle Miller-Gilliam,
Kathryn Riechert, Chris Parry, Nina Gibson,
Sophie Wiggins, Maggie Joynt, Rachael Sudlow
Etsy metal member, Victoria Takahashi recently started a flickr group entitled Bench Pin. It is open to anyone who wishes to add photos of their beautiful bench pins!
Friday, May 29, 2009
EtsyMetal News 5.29.09
It's Friday again! Here is some good news from our members.
bloomstudios is having a big weekend sale on one-of-a-kind jewelry, offering these pieces at up to 30% off. Head on over and snap up your favorites now because when they're gone, they're gone!
nectarjewelry is offering free shipping on everything through May 31st. If you haven't checked out Sharon's shop yet, you'll love her clean and modern pieces. I love her embroidered jewelry.
MetalRiot will be selling work at the Spring Art Sale at Tsunami Restaurant in the Cooper Young neighborhood of Memphis from 12-5 on Sunday May 31. If you're in the Memphis area, stop by to check out Tomi's gorgeous work.
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Intro to using Boric Acid Flux
Make your own flux with Boric Acid and Denatured Alcohol
Boric Acid and Denatured Alcohol make a wonderful flux for preventing firescale on your work. These items can easily be found at your local grocer or hardware store.
Boric acid is also non-toxic for people, making it a great alternative to fluoride based fluxes. (Boric Acid is, however, toxic to insects - so can serve double-duty keeping your studio insect free!) Denatured Alcohol can be toxic if ingested, so do make sure to keep it out of reach of children and pets.
Spoon a little bit of the boric acid powder into a small dish. (It is best to use a dish with a tight fitting lid, such as a baby food jar, as the alcohol will evaporate quickly without.)
Add the alcohol slowly, mixing until a thin paste is made. Add more boric acid powder as needed to thicken. Getting the right consistency can take a bit of trial and error - I tend to prefer my flux a little on the watery side.
Brush on a liberal amount of flux over the entire surface, or, dip the entire piece in flux.
Place on soldering surface, and light with torch to burn off alcohol. It will produce a lovely green flame. Continue soldering and pickling as usual. Due to the flammability of Denatured Alcohol, it is best to store it in a secure area away from your soldering station.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Cosmo's Moon = Maureen BZ
Maureen Brusa Zappellini is the talented metalsmith behind Cosmo's Moon. She is another one of our newest Etsy Metal members and we are proud to have her on our team.
1. Where do you live, and where are you from?
I'm a New Englander who moved to the desert southwest (Tucson) 16 years ago. In 1995, I was just about to move back to Boston to pursue a masters degree, and, (wouldn't you know it,) I met and fell in love with my husband, Guido , an Italian astro-physicist..(what are the odds?, right?) We have spent the past 13 years in Tucson AZ and Florence Italy, and I have taken advantage of all the metals programs here and there that I could find!
2. How did you get started working with metal?
I was lucky enough to apprentice for a silversmith (Mel Reisz) for 2 summers, when I was home from art school. The 'smith that mentored me those two summers had a couple of stores in Portsmouth NH and Ogonquit Maine, and he routinely hired art students to make his line of simple forged sterling jewelry. I learned a huge amount those two summers, about soldering and forging, and also about tenacity while learning a new technique. I'm deeply grateful for the experience.
3. What are a few of your favorite pieces at the moment?
Pieces of mine? I am re-visiting some of my more traditional jewelry pieces lately, like my florette stud earrings, and my Baroque Rococo necklace... I like them because they are painstakingly crafted and solidly beautiful, while also being wearable from brunch to last call. With that said, I also really love my one of a kind pieces, especially my component bracelets
4. What inspires you (artists, objects, interests)?
I am inspired by the geometry of architecture, repetition of form in nature, fabric design, pattern, modern painting and sculpture, weatherbeaten surfaces, music, and my garden.
5. Do you have any other artistic interests?
I actually went to school as a painter/sculptor , but now I am completely obsessed with playing with metals. I paint occasionally now, mostly to decorate my son's room and for creating environments in my home. I also occasionally dream of going back to school here at the U of Arizona, for architecture.
You can find more of Maureen's work on her flickr photostream and in her two Etsy shops: CosmosMoon and mbzap.
1. Where do you live, and where are you from?
I'm a New Englander who moved to the desert southwest (Tucson) 16 years ago. In 1995, I was just about to move back to Boston to pursue a masters degree, and, (wouldn't you know it,) I met and fell in love with my husband, Guido , an Italian astro-physicist..(what are the odds?, right?) We have spent the past 13 years in Tucson AZ and Florence Italy, and I have taken advantage of all the metals programs here and there that I could find!
2. How did you get started working with metal?
I was lucky enough to apprentice for a silversmith (Mel Reisz) for 2 summers, when I was home from art school. The 'smith that mentored me those two summers had a couple of stores in Portsmouth NH and Ogonquit Maine, and he routinely hired art students to make his line of simple forged sterling jewelry. I learned a huge amount those two summers, about soldering and forging, and also about tenacity while learning a new technique. I'm deeply grateful for the experience.
3. What are a few of your favorite pieces at the moment?
Pieces of mine? I am re-visiting some of my more traditional jewelry pieces lately, like my florette stud earrings, and my Baroque Rococo necklace... I like them because they are painstakingly crafted and solidly beautiful, while also being wearable from brunch to last call. With that said, I also really love my one of a kind pieces, especially my component bracelets
4. What inspires you (artists, objects, interests)? I am inspired by the geometry of architecture, repetition of form in nature, fabric design, pattern, modern painting and sculpture, weatherbeaten surfaces, music, and my garden.
5. Do you have any other artistic interests?
I actually went to school as a painter/sculptor , but now I am completely obsessed with playing with metals. I paint occasionally now, mostly to decorate my son's room and for creating environments in my home. I also occasionally dream of going back to school here at the U of Arizona, for architecture.
You can find more of Maureen's work on her flickr photostream and in her two Etsy shops: CosmosMoon and mbzap.
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Safe Packaging
Though it would be nice if each and every one of our packages was handled with delicate care, its not always the case. Packaging your items safely is very important. Even if the item is a tough metal ring - it should still be lovingly and safely contained. My preferred method is a small box inside of a bubble mailer or another box - like free priority ones! I wrap each item in tarnish resistant tissue, place in a box and tie w/ a ribbon. Now some might think this is a little over kill. But I would rather know that each and every one of my pieces A. make it to the destination safely, and B. make it there in general. I recently had an unfortunate even of a customer mailing a ring to me in a regular paper envelope.
The Houdini ring made its great escape somewhere between CA and GA. It could be laying on the floor at some mail sorting facility, or it could be on someone's finger right now.... When the mail gets run through the machines, they can cause any metal bit, or uneven object to create an indentation in the paper and possible create a tear large enough for the item to fall out of the envelope.
And if not fall out - it does at least alert an dishonest person that, "Hey, that looks like a ring!" I'd like to hope that the latter would never be the case... but why give anything away?
I also like to insure just about everything. I'm one of those better safe than sorry people. So if you are seller, keep your packaging safe, and if you have a customer mailing something to you, please remember to remind them to package it safely too! Most people just aren't used to shipping packages very often, a little helpful hint could save a piece of jewelry from getting lost!
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