a bit of an obsession...

I hate to admit it, but I am rather fond of zebra print.  I try to keep it to a minimum, but I can't help myself. Some little girls want a pony, I want a zebra.  I've made a couple pieces utilizing this striking pattern, I wonder how many other 30 something women are captivated by this print as well.

These earrings are on my Etsy site.  I started out with a piece of copper, cut it with sheers and gave it a slight dome. You must also pre-drill all your holes prior to enameling since you can't drill very well through the glass finish.

I used a technique similar to what I use when doing cloisonne to apply the enamel. After firing on my base coat, the stripes are applied by adding water to the enamel powder. Before firing the enamel must be completely dry or it won't turn out and you may get air bubbles in the enamel.

 The pendant below is also on my Etsy site.  The base for this is silver.  I cut out a silver circle, soldered on a bezel and added a simple bail.  I did a little watercolor and ink picture, inserted it into my frame and covered the piece with a 2 part resin, similar to mixing an epoxy.  Little air bubbles form, but carbon dioxide will pull them up to the surface. So you can either breathe on it or use a butane torch if it's a large surface.

The resin is incredibly durable, a friend and I covered an entire coffee table once with the product, it hardly scratches and cleans up well.

I'm about to re-upholster a chair with a white on beige zebra pattern.  It's subtle, but I think it will bring a nice statement to my living room.  I look forward to the day when I may have a zebra skin (faux of course) rug in my home...

Life is short.

Lost two friends in one week.  Greg was 29, just got married in June. Car drove into his lane, he couldn't swerve out of her way. Keith, 38, cancer.  Got married in Mexico only a couple months ago.

Royal...

Yes sir, life is royal.

A little something...

I generally don't have an idea in mind when I start a design. I just fiddle around until I come up with a shape I like. I'll cut everything out, apply the resist so the acid doesn't etch everything & stare at my blank little canvas until I decide what I want to do.  I generally start over a couple times to get the layout right.  It's so hard to draw on such a smooth surface. Since there's no tooth, my burin slides all over the place & I have to touch spots up. 

Roses are etched...

Simple silver earrings adorned with the delicate etching of roses.  I cutout the rectangle shape with scissors, just using scrap metal.  It's only 22 guage metal so it was easy to maneuver.  I slightly domed the form, rounded the corners and coated the silver in an Asphaltum resist.  I used an intalio burin to draw my lines and etched the image in a 2:1 nitric acid solution.  After my image was etched, I filed the edges again as my dedicated print instructor Dave Williams taught us to do.  Quick sand, polish, drill a couple holes & attach jump rings and hoop.  You have yourself a pair of earrings!

Yes Eight...

Apparently octopus have 8 legs...errr...tentacles.  This is a screen print I created, I have a love for them, for the way they look at least.  I can manipulate everything, create movement and fluidity.  There is a joke among my family and Metalsmithing class in college I never made my octopus with 8 tentacles, sometimes aesthetically it just doesn't fit!  So I made an edition of 8 prints with 8 tentacles and titled it "Yes Eight" to be spiteful and make my point.

A long time friend Chad Bowles, also an incredibly talented piano player purchased on of my prints off my Etsy site.  This was also the inspiration for his album cover I created for his beautiful music.  The concept was to create the fluidity of the music, how it dances through your mind and air as you listen.

Bracelet of Petals...

More silver, more etching.  The bracelet was originally a flat, plain piece of metal.  I cut out the form in 2 pieces (to save silver) and soldered the two together to have a semi-symmetrical piece.  I fabricated the shape using a sinusoidal stake, (picture to the right), creating a compound curve. 

My mentor, Joe Cornett who teaches at Northern Arizona, was adament about teaching us the art of metal fabrication.  He said it would set us apart from the others.  It is a satisfying feeling starting out with a flat piece of metal and hammering it to no end, annealing it, hammering it again until you've created this shape you didn't even know you were capable of doing. 

I soldered on 4 bezels and set Champagne colored CZ's. Etching this piece took quite a bit of time because of the large surface area.  Well worth all of the effort.  Unfortunately I do not have one of these stakes, or the set up at home at the moment so I can't create any more of these curves...sigh.

The bracelet may be viewed on my Etsy website.