YaY! Jewelry: May 2013

Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Into Etching I Go

Etching Metal

Hand Drawn Bubbles With a Black Sharpie

It is always nice to cross something off that has been on your bucket list for awhile. I think I had these etching materials for 6 months before I pulled them out.

You can see some of my ingredients above.

*Ferric Chloride - from Radio Shack: Etchant, will work on copper brass and nickel silver NOT on aluminum, fine silver or sterling. (fyi nickel silver takes longer to etch)

*Baking Soda - as a neutralizing agent

*Metal cleaner - Sculpt Nouveau : Metal Cleaner Degreaser, Barkeepers Friends or Penny Brite. Barkeepers Friend is great and you can find it at your local Target.

*Baking Soda - Neutralizer

*Green Scrubbies - Metal Cleaning you can get at Target

*Plasic or Glass containers - 1 for the Ferric Chloride & 1 for the Baking Soda and Water.

* StazOn Stamp Ink pad, Sharpie Black Marker or Toner Transfer - There are other resists you can use also.

*Gloves

*Packing Tape, Duct Tape or Painters Tape - There are others tapes you can use to.

Etched with a StazOn Ink and a Stamp. Vintaj Patinas.

1. First thing clean your copper using Barkeepers Friend or what I have here is Metal Cleaner Degreaser from Sculpt Nouveau. Use your green scrubby pads. They are fabulous. Skin oils can act as a resist. You don't want your finger prints to etch the metal.

2. Draw your design using a black sharpie or a stamp using StazOn black stamping ink. Try to prevent to much handling of the metal, make sure your hands are washed and degreased at least. Above I used this stamp with StazOn Ink for my resist.

3. Pour the Ferric Chloride in a plastic tub or glass as you can see 3/4 - 1 inch. You will tape the back sides of the metal with the facing side you want etched down in the solution. I have also seen people use foam as a float and your metal taped to that. I actually think this would be a less sloppy way to do it. Tape or use your sharpie for any areas you do not want the etching process. You can see the tape on either side of the plastic. I etched this for 1 hour & 15 minutes. I think you can etch it in less time but I wanted a good etch for this. You can accelerate the etching time by adding Citric Acid from the grocery, but this is not necessary.

This one was done Etched using StazOn Ink as a resist.

4. You can check your etching just pull up the tape back. If you make the floats as stated above that would make the checking really easy. I wear gloves when I do this. When done, do use and scrub in the Baking Soda Solution to neutralize and stop the Etching.

When you are done clean your metal with your metal cleaner. You can now use your designs as is or patina them as you wish. Here are a few of the ones I have etched and added patinas below.

Abstract Koi Fish - Hand Drawn with Black Sharpie

Modern Victorian Chic Bracelet

Made this on for the Bead Soup Block Party 7

Traveler Bracelet

Now just make some fabulous jewelry and cross etching off your bucket list.

It is easy and addicting.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

Bead Trends Designer Highlight April 2013

Marie - Noel Voyer - Cramp - On Cover Early Night Sky

It has been a whirlwind of a year. Those that know me and have followed my blogs know that 2012 was a bitter & sweet year. I am still grieving the loss of my mother and miss her dearly. One of the reasons this has taken me so long to give this honor its proper attention.

Last year was my first publication and 6 months later Tatia from Bead Trends asked me if I would be willing to hold the honor of being featured for their designer highlight for April 2013. The answer to that one was pretty easy.

YES

I sent her pictures and she nicely responded and said to me “Kristin you don’t need to send us pictures we like your work” I love creative freedom in all things so I ran with that.

The first piece I made was called Beach Urchin, I love to comb beaches. I could dig for hours on the beach. This necklace was made with a pendant shell, Kyanite Sticks, Natural Bamboo, Fossil Shell, Swarovski and Howlite. I thought the spikey Kyanite sticks looked like a Sea Urchin and the little Howlite beads looked like fish eggs. This is one of my favorite of the necklaces that I made. I buy many of my stone beads at Dakota Stones, love their high quality and interesting cuts.

I also made these earrings to match Beach Urchin.

The second necklace I made I called Oceans Oracle. I like to play with weights in necklaces, unexpected. I did question this one as the weightiness of one side is a little stronger than the other. This was made with a Madagascar Ammonite. It is lovely with it’s pinks and mossy greens. I paired it with some chunky Czech Glass, Rhodochrosonite, Canadian Jade, Rose Quartz, Lampwork and Seed Beads. This one was all tied with waxed linen. Stones were once again from Dakota Stones. I also made earrings to match. I am a bit simplistic in my earring designs and that is mostly because I love - love - love to make necklaces.

The third necklace I made I called Beatnik Baby. I like to think of these necklaces as my Earthy Urban Chic line. I love assymetry and again playing with the chunky weightiness of the beads. I love the Faux Beach Glass from my friend Jeff Plath from TF Bead Store. I am in love with Greek Mykonos, everything. I use these donuts in many of my designs. Also paired with some Fire Agate and wood beads.

Dream Weaver was really fun to make. I bought the patina’d link from Stacy Klinginger Smith. I really just started to play with it and started to randomly wrap the Waxed linen and went from their. This bracelet is reminiscent of a dream catcher. It is double strand with 2 lobster claws to attach to the ring on either side. I paired this with ceramic, Chrysoprase, Yellow Jasper, Swarovski, Fossil Shell, Lampwork and Honey Flourite.

Loves Entwine was born out of frustration really. I wanted to do this prong challenge that the Artisan Whimsey Group was having and I didn’t have the supplies. The question in my mind was how could I cage a bead with out knowing how to solder etc. I just happened to grab this mesh and a Basalt heart and started to play. When I realized this would work I ripped it apart and started with a plan. The tying and macrame is what is holding the heart to the mesh. I have since used this technique to do this with other beads.

The last necklace called Mindspring was made with a lovely pendant from Angel Whisperer on Etsy. I bought this long skeleton key at the Junk Bonanza, I randomly wrapped it with Swarovski crystals to attatch it to the pendant. Tied it with some of my favorite beads and colors. I think you are beginning to see a theme in my color choices. I do love watery colors.
The patina’d clasp was made by Melinda Orr.

Some of my other favorite designs were from - See Below