Copper and Brass jewelery

So I recently ordered a jewelers saw so I could try my hand at some metal jewelry. I find cutting out the shapes are a fairly easy task – but soldering…that is going to take some practice! You can see in the bottom right (inside of the frame) there is a little solder peeking out. I don’t want that. This is actually the second piece I made just like this. On the first piece I really had solder leakage. (BTW – hate that word…leakage…ewwwww) So I scrubbed at it with some wire brushes and ended up copper-plating my brass! Oh – and the black part is patina’d copper and the gold part is brass. So…I now have two almost good enough pendants…one I’ll wear and this one I’ll keep scrubbing at and then dontate to the Cuyuna Range Whitetails banquet next year. (My hubbie is the VP and I’m the Secretary – lot’s of meetings…but FUN!) I have a couple more designs planned  but haven’t gotten to them yet. This may seem like a total random craft for me to try but it isn’t. I actually bought a coping saw about ten years ago to give this a whirl and it didn’t work very well – lol. Now I was gifted with some large pieces of copper and brass and decided it was time to tackle it again. I had an old work bench in the shed and I begged and bugged my 16 year old to get some friends together and get it to the basement – they did – yay! It’s ugly as all get-out but STURDY and it has a VICE and DRAWERS! And I can leave my mess down there – and start and stop whenever I want.

Here’s another one I did finish. I made the heart out of polymer clay – I have to take pictures of the backs of these don’t I. After I cut out the wings I realized they were very pointy and dangerous. I mean, if I fell wrong while wearing it I could puncture my jugular! But – they made a perfect way to hang it. I used thin copper wire to attach them to the chain. The copper should patina as time goes on. Next step in these projects is to etch the copper. I have all the supplies but now need the time…

I went to a garage sale yesterday and picked up a couple things. Just a couple. I got a pizza pizzazz for $5.00 and a couple skeins of yarn. I crocheted up the yarn last night into a scarf -

It’s a rather short scarf so I’ll have to figure out some kind of closure/toggle/thingy – I think. I’ll probably just wear it as it is for now. (Well, next winter…unless we get more snow!) The scarf is the background for the necklace pictures if you want to relook and see close-ups. I can’t donate this project cause I totally forgot how to single crochet and my edges are all wonky – I figured it out in the end – but this yarn does NOT unravel. It’ll break before it will come undone. So darn…I have to keep a wonky soffffttttt alpaca and mohair and acrylic scarf for myself. lol. (I’m so proud of myself – the yarn didn’t get put into the “someday” pile!)

And guess what – I won a give-a-way! That is RARE! I won this awesome tote from Nestle and Soar.

It’s a great tote – I used it yesterday :) Thank you!!!

In other news I’ve reorganized the back entry and still have to repaint. Grrrr. I took down all the old mismatched racks and added one longer rack. It took me about THREE HOURS to hang it! I don’t know why. It just did. It was a pain. It took two trips to the hardware store to get the correct wall anchors. The back entry is full of clean hanging laundry right now because it was supposed to rain yesterday – so everything had to be dried inside. Maybe…maybe I’ll paint today. I moved down and started cleaning the basement yesterday instead. Why and HOW does it get to be such a mess! Well, I know one way it gets so messy…KIDS! They had arranged all my totes into a pen for a puppy last summer…after I’d just sorted them out…and I lost heart for the project after that. This time there will be blood-shed and tears if anyone so much as moves a tote an inch! (Probably my blood and tears – cause I’ll probably throw myself onto the concrete floor and have a world-class tantrum!) And yes, my crafts are messy. But it’s a moving mess…it’s changing all the time – that’s gotta count for something right?

Happy Crafting!!!