6 Roses
This is the process of creating Russian Roses in preparation for the Bayou City Arts Fair at Mamorial Park
I cut 54 inches of this wire into 9" lengths
I flattened them out using a big carpenters hammer on a Kevin Potter round jewelers anvil
My favorite hammer. I'm like a guitarist. I gave to talk about the. Instrument. This is a flat peen hammer designed by Jewelry artist, Michael Goode and manufactured by his neighbor in Maine, Bill Fretz. I met Bill. Nice guy. Great tools several more are on my list.
1st course finished. Next step is to heat up the metal to about 1200 degrees then drop it in water to cool it down real fast. That will loosen up the molecules and make these strips like clay again, ready for a second course.
I'm going to make 6 Rearview Mirror hangers with Swarovski crystal
Traditional Hand-Forged Components
Nile Fahmy came back by popular demand to give another masters class in forging of metal jewely components at the Creative Side Academy. Here are a few pictures of the results. His website, The Tattooed Tinker Studio is worth some time. Currently he is directing his efforts to the art of raising vessels. He says the 24kt plating inside the silver cups make the spirits taste better. I thought I would show a few of the tricks I learned from this master who at age 35 has 30 years' experience.
Fold-Forming
This piece is about the size of a jumbo shrimp. It started out as a 1 inch by 1 ½ inch piece of copper which I fabricated using the fold form technique invented by Charles Lewton-Brain in the 1980’s. This technique will show up in our Spring jewelry line. I might make up a few shrimp.
Calla Lilly
According to the internet, "You'll be hard pressed to find a more unusual flower with such a deeply rooted cultural and historical significance as the calla lily." WE'll be seeing more of these. I can also see where the techniques used here will work well with the shrimp.
Leaf
We have been featuring leaves in our designs. I wanted to pick up a few more leaf tricks.
Twisted Bracelet
Many new variations and avenues of creativity are suggested by this form
Quartz stand in from of Ralph Parker Painting
On my way back to work after class one day I stopped off at Crystal Works (11th and North Lamar in Austin, Texas). There I discovered a box with several pounds of the very finest quartz points I have seen in 30 years. The photograph doesn't show just how brilliantly vibrant these are. I made a stand for one of them and I look forward to making a few more.