Stargazer Lily Earrings and Lotus Blossom Necklace and Earring Set

Here are the finished Stargazer Lily earrings:


I've added a beautiful vintage (Victorian) opalite to the centre and lovely handmade oxidised copper earwires.


The opalite beads create a beautiful fiery effect on the copper when the sun hits them:



Note: The Stargazer Lily earrings are reserved for Fhiona. :-) However, if you like them, feel free to contact me for a similar pair or keep checking back as I am adding new designs every day.

I really liked the way the opalite looked with the copper so I used it again on the lotus blossom earrings:


I've added the wrapped opalite beads and handmade earwires and jump rings.


Here is the earring in detail:

This shows the front of the lotus blossom - all smooth and satin soft.


This shows the back where I've added lots of texture. The texture adds sparkle when the earrings are worn because the texture reflects the light differently - breaks it up - than the smooth surface on the front.




Here's the matching necklace. I've added oxidised chain, handmade clasp and jump rings and wired tiny crackle quartz and another opalite bead to the front of the flower:


Here's the pendant in detail:




Here you can see the amount of detail work that goes into each piece. The loop attaching the pendant to the main chain has been wire wrapped for a textured look:

Works in progress - Lotus Blossom Set, Stargazer Lily Earrings and Swallow

I thought the process on how I make some of my jewellery might interest you. I've recently been making lots of shapes from copper and brass sheet. Here are a few examples of works in progress. The next post will show some of them as the finished articles. The process itself is quite long winded and it took me all day to make the items below. Just to give you an idea of the work involved.


I started off with a paper template for this lotus blossom. Then I drew around it with pencil and cut it out with tin snips. (This is 0.3mm copper sheet.) At this point the edges are quite sharp and bend every which way.

I then cut out another sligthly smaller shape to make the lotus blossom 3D.


Here you can see how the two parts fit together after filing and drilling holes and shaping.



I added two more smaller lotus blossoms for earrings.

Before filing and shaping:


After filing and shaping:



My next project were two stargazer lily shapes for earrings. As you can see they are very small, and were quite difficult to handle. Below on the right is the shaped and filed lily. The one on the left has not been filed or shaped yet.



Here are the finished lilies, complete with oxidisation. I've used a pencil blow torch as I found I get a greater variety in colour and texture. Now they're finished, the stargazer lilies have a very natural feel about them and look a bit like star anise.


Here's a close-up to show the texture and colour:



This is project number three. Again, I've made a template for the swallow, then cut it out of copper sheet, filed and shaped it, then used embossing tools to add detail.


I've also oxidised the bird slightly to add some more texture and more colour to the embossed detail, however I will use liver of sulphur to bring out the detail even more.



Here are all the projects together, finished and all the sharp edges, left after filing and shaping, removed:


And here's a sampling of the tools I've used:

Orphan Works - Update - Petition Links

Here are a couple of petitions that can be signed by people outside the US.

http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/no-to-orphan-works-act/sign.html
http://www.gopetition.co.uk/petitions/the-anti-orphan-works-petition/sign.html
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/protect-artists-rights

We need to show the people who want to steal our art that we are not having it!!!


So go sign! :-)

Pictures From My Garden

Yesterday, when I took pictures of the jewellery (posted yesterday), I also took some snapshots of the flowers in the garden. I have a thing about weeds. Some are just too pretty to rip out, although, of course, they'd take over the garden if I'd let them.

The rest of the day was spent toiling in the allotment- we managed to rotivate half our plot (very late, yes I know!), planted four rows of potatoes, moved some strawberries and dug a little pond for the toads. The idea being that the toads eat all the slugs coming to visit so we'll have some strawberries this year. All this hard work meant I was too tired to post the garden pictures last night. So here they are now. :-) Some of them I've messed around with, but most of them are as they come. In some cases you see the before and after (I've messed around with all those filters in a well known image editing program). ;-)


Bluebells


Forgetmenots


Ivy Bramble


Sting Nettle


Pink Weed

Not sure what this is - any info welcome.



Image above - altered with filters.


Weigela


Lilac



Same image above - altered with filters.




Sage
Altered with filters.


Rosemary



Same image as above altered with filters.


False borage?

Again, I am not sure what this is called. The leaves and the smell of the leaves when crushed are similar to borage, as are the blue flowers, but it's not. Does someone know?

Another Butterfly, Sleeping Dragon revisited, and Warrior Princess Bracelet

Been busy this weekend, not just with jewellery, but that's a matter for another post...

I had another play with wire, another butterfly but a very different design - much more butch!

Butterfly Necklace - Copper and Green

The wire is copper, so is the chain and all the findings. The jump rings and clasp are handmade. The stones I've used are small round green jade, a fluorite smooth drop and a lovely smooth chalcedony nugget.


Sleeping Dragon Necklace

Maybe you remember the Sleeping Dragon pendant I posted on here a while back. I wasn't sure what to do with it, but was inspired when I saw a necklace in a magazine. Mine turned out completely differently but the idea was born then. :-) (And, of course, mine is much prettier.)

Here's the pendant again - sterling wire - two gauges - and labradorite, oxidised and poslished.



Here's the finished necklace, lots more links in the same style as the pendants, and lots of sterling silver chain (very, very fine, the links are 1mm long/wide), and lots more labradorite: heishi and smooth drops.



On the picture below you can see the blue fire in the labradorite.


Another picture of the links further up the necklace.


Warrior Princess

This one turned out a lot heavier and more butch than intended. Well, working with quite thick copper wire might be part of the reason. LOL I love how it looks though. It's quite heavy but flows nicely and the two dark green vintage glass beads give it that special something. Each link was handmade, twisted and spiraled, hammered and oxidised. So were the jump rings and the pretty clasp. Everything was handmade really apart from the copper wire and the glass beads.

Think I'll have to make myself one similar to this one...

My Lovely Green and Pink Necklace

You might know already, if you read Natural Attril's Blog, that I snatched the pink and green necklace before anyone else could get their grubby hands on it.

It's so pretty and looks incredibly stylish when worn with a black dress. I am very pleased. Here are some pictures. And go and check out Toby's lovely jewellery over on Natural Attril.

Oh, and it arrived in the cutest little triangle box - picture of which has been provided too. :-)

A Definite Heart Theme - and some insects!

Here are some creations I prepared earlier ;-)

Fly, Fly Dragonfly Necklace

I have a thing about dragonflies. They are so graceful and pretty, and like the ugly duckling they're not half as pretty when they're little.

I made this one from copper sheet, which I cut to shape, then I filed and sanded it to get rid off the sharp edges and also to add detail to the wings. Next, I had some fun bashing it with some filigree laid over the top of it to create lovely detailed indentations. More filing, since this caused some sharp edges to reappear.

The body is made from hollow square sterling silver tube that I sawed into shape, brushed to create a texture and then wired to the wings with thin copper wire. Finally, I added a 'body' with a vintage butterfly glass bead that is etched with gold. A sterling silver chain finished the necklace.

I could have left it at that as it was pretty, but it wasn't quite pretty enough. So I oxidised the wings slightly using diluted liver of sulphur and a brush. I took off most of the oxidisation except at the wing tips and close to the body, and, of course, it stayed in the indentations. The next step was some verdigris (see previous post for the method), some of which I removed with wire wool and a cotton bud. The final step was some varnish to prevent skin irritations, although, the back of the dragonfly is polished (although that will tarnish over time). I may have to experiment with some superfine glitter to create some iridescence. Yep, it's true, I am a bit obsessed with getting this just right....

Here's the necklace with it's chain:



An image of the pendant:



An image of the wings on the right to show the verdigris and texture:


Finally, the body with the vintage glass butterfly.


Black Butterfly Necklace

This was made in the same way as the Dragonfly necklace above, although the butterfly is of course much smaller and I've used the black vintage flower bead for it's body and black faceted vintage glass beads in the lower half of the necklace. The chain is sterling, the beads are wrapped with thin copper wire.

Here's the whole necklace:



The pendant:




The chain with the beads:

Rose Petal Earrings

I made these earrings when I had a little time before making dinner and just needed to do something creative because the whole day had been filled with things that should have been done yesterday... I am sure you know the kind of day I am talking about.

I created a leaf shape in sterling silver wire, wrapped the beads (red quartz and rose quartz) inside the leaf shapes, and added the swirly ear wires.

I think they turned out really well and they look delicate and the quartz beads are even prettier in real life than they are in the picture.



True Love Necklace

This is such a pretty little necklace. I haven't quite decided if I am going to keep it or if I can bear to let it go.

I started off with the heart shape which I cut out of copper sheet, then bashed into submission with some filigree to get the lovely textures on it. A little filing and sanding on the edges to make sure it was safe to wear.

Next, I created the custom bezel for it and added a little vintage brass heart and a vintage red heart bead - the same bead that I used in the Secret Heart. I made a lovely custom clasp for the necklace and added vintage ruby red faceted beads (round and rondelles) to the chain. Finally, I oxidised the whole necklace, then rubbed off some of the patina again to let the copper shine through. The satin smooth sheen of the copper and the textures I made with the filigree give the heart a look of old embroidered silk.



Here's the pendant in detail:



The pretty vintage chain and beads in detail:



This necklace is not for sale. Sorry. I am keeping it! :-)

Two Hearts Beating As One Necklace

The process for this necklace was similar to the True Love necklace. However, rather than using a readymade vintage charm, I made a wire heart shape of the same size to go with the copper sheet heart. I added three types of different vintage chain, lovely faceted vintage beads in differeent shades of turqoise and the turquoise heart was wired to the end of the chain. The necklace is designed like a lariat, it has no fastening. However I fixed the end with the turquoise heart to the other two hearts so it loops through, this makes the necklace hang better when the necklace is worn. Although there is no clasp, the necklace is long enough to just slip over the head.



The two hearts in detail:


The detail on the copper sheet heart:



Sold.

A little bit of fun and a cool website

I am a Snapdragon What Flower Are You?

Just did this quiz and thought it was good fun.

I found it on this blog. Jill also has a cool website (well, cool, if you make jewellery) and an Etsy shop where I just bought a whole load of stuff. Can't wait for it to arrive. You'll see when it has soon enough as I'll have to make something with it straight away! :-)

Verdigris - Going Green

I promised I'd post instruction on how to create verdigris on copper, brass or bronze. There's not an awful lot on the net about it and it was a bit of a hit and miss process. Alison gave me some good advice and so did Penny's husband (if you have cats, read no further just get the cats to have a little pee on your jewellery ;-)) and another little helper found some helpful info on the net where I'd failed to find it, however, in the end I experimented and this is what worked for me.

You will need:

• copper carbonate - pottery supplies should have this in powdered form
• vinegar - normal household stuff, although I used the white malt vinegar rather than the reddish brown stuff
• Salt
• a glass jar or bowl
• a flat bowl or plate
• some clingfilm
• an old spoon for measuring
• a brush
• some wire wool
  
• a warm place
• some paper towels or old tea towel
  
• copper, brass or bronze jewellery

The ratio between copper carbonate and vinegar is 1:5, one part copper carbonate to 5 parts vinegar or thereabouts.

Safety first, make sure cats, kids and other pets etc are safely out of the way! Work in a well ventilated area.

1. Take one part copper carbonate, add 5 parts vinegar, and a pinch of salt. I've used a 1/4 teaspoon copper carbonate, if you use more, add more salt.
2. Mix the ingredients together.
3. Cover the flat bowl/plate with clingfilm.
4. Prepare the jewellery by rubbing it lightly with the wire wool. Wipe off any dust/wire wool debris.
5. Lay out the jewellery with the side that you want to verdigris on top.
6. Brush on the mix lightly. Don't put too much on at once. You will need to do this several times until you achieve the amount of verdigris you want. Wipe off any bits that cover areas you don't want verdigrised.
7. Place the plate in a warm place like on the window sill, in the sun shine or on a warm radiator. I'd not put it next to an open fire, in the oven or on a cooker! No idea what would happen - chemistry was never my strong point - but I am thinking fumes here, and I am not sure how flamable the mix is...
   
8. Wait for the first layer to dry completely. The first layer is usually very disappointing, not much to see, but do not despair, just apply again.
9. Repeat brushing the verdrigris mix onto the jewellery until it has the desired amount of verdigris.

Since we're talking about jewellery here, I'd use a couple of layers of spray varnish over the top of the verdrigris so there will be no skin irritations when the item is worn. I'd also always apply the verdigris on areas that face away from the skin. Should you cover the back by accident, just rub it off with wire wool before you varnish the piece.

Hope someone finds this helpful. :-) I'd be happy to see and post your successes. :-)

PS. Watch out for new items tomorrow (hopefully).

Quick Update

I've just updated my Etsy shop and a lot of the jewellery I've shown you here is now available to buy. There will be more tomorrow.

Orphan Act - Update and UK Info

Here are three addresses to contact with your concerns:

The Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills

http://www.dius.gov.uk/contact.html

Department for Culture, Media and Sport

http://www.culture.gov.uk/global/ContactUs/

The World Trade Organisation

http://www.wto.org/english/info_e/cont_e.htm

With regard to the WTO, it's an important place to contact, as this USA bill would totally conflict with the agreetments in place for enforcing copyright infringment.

If you are a member of Etsy or any other artist community, make sure you spread the word there, too.

Presents

Alison (check out her cute Platypus and her cool photos!) and her kids are always on the lookout for sea glass for me, so I thought they all deserved a special treat.

Green Man Necklace

Alison (if I remember rightly) really likes the Green Man and I found a lovely vintage brass stamping of him which I decided to use in a special necklace for her.



I've also added a nugget of deep green sea glass that, although it has been through my pebble polisher, still has some texture and wrapped it in some brass filigree. The green man stamping didn't have any loops so I created two by bending the sides of his beard backwards and by soldering a jump ring to the bottom of his beard. (That took me longer than making the whole necklace!)



The chain, bead caps, clasp and the little leaf charm are all vintage. I used two different types of chain, one has almost rectangular links, the other has figure of eight links; both are brass.

The beads are all new from the dark green round beads encased by teeny flower petal bead caps to the peridot green flower beads and the Japanese seed beads which are a wonderful dark, matte green.

The final touch was a little dangle made with an eye pin, the aforementioned green seedbeads and leaf charm:

And here's the whole necklace:



Feather Key Ring

Alison's son been busily helping collecting glass, so here's his treat, a key ring made with lovely wooden beads in different shapes, sizes, in varying shades of blue and cream, a lovely ceramic bead with a simple bird drawing engraved in it and a gorgeous feather charm. The beads are all strung on silky rat tail in two different shades of blue.




And here's the third present for Alison's daughter.


Tattoo V2 Necklace

Like the first Tattoo necklace, this was made with spirals that have been hammered flat and then strung together with much thinner wire. However, this time the whole design is slightly smaller and made from copper and bronze wire. I like the two-tone effect after the oxidisation process. I think it really works to make it into something special.

Secret Heart and Forgetmenots

More fun with wire. :-)

Been playing with wire shapes as you could see with the Pear Blossom necklace and the Cloudberry Bracelet. This time I've set my heart on a wicker type heart with a little heart hidden inside it.

Secret Heart

I started with a heart shaped wire frame I made from 0.9mm bronze wire, which I hammered flat to strengthen it. Then I added centre supports and a sort of scaffold going out from the centre supports in 0.5mm bronze wire.


I added the little wrapped vintage heart bead in the centre, and finally covered the heart shape in a criss cross pattern with 0.2mm (very fine) bronze wire.


Next, I started on the barbed wire chain.


I used the 0.9mm wire to make little eye pins with eyes on both ends, which I hammered flat. With the 0.5mm wire I then created the barbs for the wire on each of the little links. The next step was making jump rings and a custom made clasp for the chain. I linked everything together and the necklace was finished apart from the oxidisation. The chain - although it does look like barbed wire - is perfectly safe. There are no sharp edges on the barbs, as I've just squashed loops to make them look like barbs, which works just as well but is comfortable to wear.

It looked nice in plain bronze - see the Etruscan necklace - but the secret heart was not very visible and oxidising it made it far more interesting. A bit gothic, admittedly, but I think it works.




Forget-Me-Knots Necklace

This was born from a little sunshine and the pretty blue vintage flower beads (made from lucite) that arrived in the post the other day.

I started off with a kind of sprig in 0.9mm bronze wire to which I attached three flowers made with the lucite flower beads, some ivory coloured size 8 and yellow size 15 Japanese seed beads and some thin (0.5mm) wire.



I made three of these flower sprigs, connected them with handmade jumprings and added some ready made copper chain and a handmade clasp. The copper chain works much better with the bronze wire as the bronze wire looks almost like rose gold and the rosey sheen of it is closer to copper than the grey/gold/green sheen of ready made antiqued bronze chain.



The final touch are the Miyuki drops in yellow, pale blue, deep blue and white I attached as a little dangle next to the chain.

Orphans Act 2008

This is for everyone who doesn't know about it yet: last Friday both the Senate and House introduced variations of the same bill: The Shawn Bentley Orphan Acts of 2008 (S. 2913) and The Orphan Works Act of 2008 (H.R. 5889). If these bills pass, they will have devastating consequences for visual artists.

The information here was summarised by Joanne Fink. I will post any links and other information on my blog as and when it is available.

This doesn't just affect illustrators and artists in the US but worldwide. It's important that we are aware of this here in the UK and everywhere else.

Having been involved in strategy sessions for the last few days with Brad Holland (Illustrator’s Partnership) and others, let me outline what you can do that would be helpful.

1. Write a letter to your congressional House leader and Senators stating your opposition to the bills. Send the letter both by e-mail and fax.

2. Help raise awareness about the potential consequences of this legislation, and ask everyone you know to write and send letters.

A number of groups which oppose this legislation are collaborating on creating a website which will enable you to e-mail your congressional leaders with the push of button. It will also contain sample letters. I will post the link as soon as the site is live.

The main reasons to object to this legislation are listed below. In case any of you want to start work on your letters before the sample letters are published, I’ve also included additional information to help you explain and clarify these objections.

1. It changes the 1976 U.S. Copyright Act (enacted in 1978), and makes it virtually impossible for artists to protect their work. It basically allows anyone to use a design without the copyright holder’s permission.

Under current law, you receive basic copyright protection even if you don’t register your work. Under Orphan Works law your work could be declared an orphan even if you have registered it. Congress, in enacting the Copyright Act of 1976, provided that copyright exists in the creation of any work that is copyrightable subject matter, regardless of whether or not the owner has performed any legal formalities, such as registration, or copyright notices, or taken any steps to protect or defend the copyright. Since 1978 (when it was enacted) many creators have relied upon the Copyright Act of 1976, and employed business practices based upon the protections it offered. The proposed Orphan Works Act of 2008 would have the effect of depriving certain creators of the ability to enforce their copyrights because they did not take steps that the Copyright Act of 1976 did not require them to take. In essence, it will give infringers the legal means to use a design without the copyright holder’s permission.

2. It requires artists to attempt to protect their work by registering it with a digital data base system (presumably for a fee, in addition to the copyright filing fee)—when no such system exists!

The proposed legislation is predicated on the establishment of private, profit making registries that would establish databases of digital versions of artworks and provide a place for infringers to try to locate the artist, BUT it will be enacted whether or not these data bases ever come into existence. This will relieve the infringer of liability if he simply attempts a search that cannot possibly be performed successfully.

In addition, the legislation places no limit on the number of these registries or the prices they would charge. The burden of paying for digitization and depositing the digitized copy with the private registry would presumably fall entirely on the artist, and even if an image is contained in the registry, as long as the infringer “looks” without finding it, the infringement is allowed. There is no liability imposed for the failure of a database to find an image registered in that database when it is searched, and no requirement that all available databases be searched, thus potentially requiring multiple registrations (and multiple registration fees). Also there are no safeguards to prevent any person or company from fraudulently registering work they do not own.

3. It eliminates statutory damages wherever an infringer can successfully claim an orphan works defense, thus eliminating the only tool the law provides to prevent deliberate infringement.

Current law almost certainly deters rampant infringement because the present remedies – damages of up to $150,000 per infringing article-- make infringement risky. By “limiting remedies,” the Orphan Works amendment will effectively create a no-fault license to infringe.

4. It allows for an infringer to create—and copyright—a derivative work from the original design.

Under current law, the right to create a derivative work is one of an artist’s exclusive rights. Section103(a) says a user can’t copyright a derivative image that he’s infringed. “Protection for a work employing preexisting material in which copyright subsists does not extend to any part of the work in which such material has been used unlawfully.” Under the proposed new bills, since the entirety of an infringed work can be included in a derivative use, then the copyright of the derivative will amount to a copyright of the original. This would be a de facto capture of new exclusive rights by the infringer. In other words, these bills allow infringers to make and copyright derivatives—even if the copyright holder to the original work objects.

If this legislation passes it would mean a return to pre-1976 U.S. Copyright Act when many artists' works fell into the public domain because they could not afford to comply with the formalities of registration as a condition of copyright protection. This violates the trust under which American artists have worked for the last 30 years, and nullifies our U.S. Copyright registrations. Further, it is against the Berne Convention, and invites retaliation from around the world because international artists' works are just as vulnerable to infringement under the U.S. Orphan Works Act.

Now let me recap the current situation:

The Senate has only given a few days for comments on the bill to be made; they are due Wednesday, April 30^th. The House has not specified a time-frame, and may give as little as 24 hours notice before closing the window for comments. There are several loosely allied groups which are opposing the legislation. These include The Illustrator’s Partnership (illustrators), The Artists’ Rights Society (fine artists), The Advertising Photographers of America (photographers), the Artists Foundation (fine artists), the Textile coalition (4 textile groups) and the Industry Coalition (whose members include the Craft and Hobby Association and George Little Management). During an OW strategy session Friday afternoon, Corrine Kevorkian, counsel for textile giant F. Shumacher, shared that the Textile coalition intends to recommend to the Senate that they adopt the House version. If this happens, the Textile industry will be spared the draconian impact of the Orphan Works Act because the House version exempts useful articles (see #1 below). She also intends to emphasize that the legislation shouldn’t take effect until the electronic data bases actually exist.

Although the bills are similar, there are some important differences to note. Both are devastating to all visual artists, but the House bill is somewhat less objectionable. Here are the three main differences:

1. The House bill includes an exception for useful articles, which (as far as I can determine) means that products (such as textiles and mugs) which are functional whether or not design has been applied to them, will not be impacted by this legislation.

2. The House bill also requires that manufacturers file their intention to use an image before they can use it --although it does not (a) specify a time period or method for doing so, (b) does not require an image to be included, only a verbal description (the Mona Lisa, for example could be described as “a dark-haired woman with an unusual expression” which would supposedly allow Leonardo to identify his work), and (c) does not require the filings to be readily searchable to allow an artist to monitor unauthorized uses of his/her work.

3. The House bill allows for a longer (possible) time period before implementation: January 1, 2013 vs. the Senate bill which uses the date of January 1, 2011. Unfortunately both bills are scheduled to take effect on the earlier of: “the date on which the Copyright Office certifies under section 3 at least 2 separate and independent searchable, comprehensive, electronic databases, that allow for searches of copyrighted works that are pictorial, graphic and sculptural works, and are available to the public through the Internet; or the January 1^st, 2011 or 2013 listed by the respective bills. This means that if there is no visually searchable database operable before the date(s) listed, the legislation goes into effect anyway!

If you would like additional information on the potential impact of this legislation, you can learn more by

a. Reviewing the submission to the House by the Illustrator’s Partnership

b. Listening to Brad Holland’s informative webcast.

This is a very serious situation, and will require a concerted effort on all of our parts to stop it.