I love experiments!

by Patti Vanderbloemen

One of my "bucket-list" techniques to learn was how to reticulate sterling silver. There are lots of videos and how-to's for this technique, but it basically entails heating the sterling silver sheet until it glows light pink - hold it at this temperature for 2 minutes, and carefully drop it in your heated pickle. This stage of the process is called depletion gilding, whereby a layer of fine silver is created at the surface of the silver sheet.  Repeat this heat/pickle process 3 times, until the surface of the silver turns frosty white (and it really did turn frosty white - I was excited)!

The next stage of torching involves focusing the heat slowly over the surface of the sheet until it turns a dull red.  As you move your flame away, the surface layer crinkles and folds and creates my favorite thing in the whole world - texture!.

While my first try at this process was not what I would call stellar, there is some texture going on here! Of course I forgot to take a picture of my entire sheet (I was excited to use it), but as you can see, there is lots of missed opportunity for texture on my sheet below.

But, I was able to use a few areas of this reticulated sheet and I made a few charms...so far.

First up, I had these gorgeous porcelain drops from Scorched Earth with a glaze called Hematite Shimmer.  I swear, in natural light (not under my photo lights, unfortunately), they ooze glitter!  I even took the earrings outside to photograph, but as soon as I opened the door, I was accosted by the insane humidity and turned right back around.  

Next up, some handmade porcelain charms by Carol Dekle of TerraRusticaStudio.  These are such a pretty light blue..almost turquoise color. 

I love using porcelain beads/charms - they are so lightweight and easy-peasy to wear. 

The next pair also feature porcelain charms by Carol - pretty texture and a lovely Evergreen color.  I paired these with two itty bitty sterling silver hollow beads that I made.

My favorite pair of earrings feature Carol's Tree of Life porcelain charms. In researching its origin, I read so many interpretations of this ancient symbol...these are my favorites:

• A Cosmic Family tree, telling ancient stories of shared roots that link to the past, showing connected struggles and aspirations, and desires to reach for the light.
• Similar to a Family Tree, the symbol illustrates roots and branches where one has both diverged and joined.  It shows where we come from and who comes from us.
• It also carries the meaning that we are all related to the Cosmos - humans, animals, earth family, beyond earth family, etc.  All of these Cosmos are inter-connected ...DNA and chemicals link us and it is this link where we find compassion and tolerance.

I paired these charms with tiny copper beads that I textured and rolled, along with some sterling silver because...come on...MIXED METAL!  Yum!

Carol also gave me several porcelain cabochons to play with.  I used the first one to make a ring.

What I love about this cab is that she has cut facets into the sides...which are NOT symmetrical.  I hand stamped the back plate, and was successful with my second split shank!

The split shank is fast becoming my favorite!  It looks substantial, but unlike a wide band ring, it is so comfortable to wear!

I started cutting some silver for cuffs, with the intention of stamping some designs.  That will have to wait until tomorrow!

Thanks so much for stopping by..I truly appreciate it!

XO

Patti

Where have I been???

Oh my, but it has been a while since I have blogged!  Shame on me!

Well, my niece, her husband, baby and their precious pup Griffin moved out of my house and into their new home last week.  Their home is absolutely gorgeous, and I wish them many, many years of happiness in their new digs!

While my blogging has been sparse, I have managed to make a few new things, though, including a few new spinner rings.

The brushed sterling silver, below, is a new favorite texture!

The bracelet below was tough! I was feeling brave and wanted to try and make a sterling silver bangle from 6 gauge wire - the thickest wire I had ever used in the past (silver) was 8 gauge.  Oh my - it was touch and go there for a while - lol!  Lots of annealing was involved in forming this baby.  I thought the hard part was going to be torching - wasn't sure the heat was hot enough with my torch - but the soldering was the easy part!

I wrote a blog post today on the Love My Art Jewelry blog, where I discussed working with copper tubing.  A hollow bangle!  But, the walls of the tubing are not thin nor weak- I had a lot of fun wrangling this into a bangle!

The necklace in the next two photos features a focal made with copper tubing, and a new-to-me technique involving sterling silver cross-pins.  Truth be told, the first few attempts were a complete fail, but I was determined!

I wanted to use that focal piece in a bracelet with wire - but with the cross pins, you cannot put wire through the focal!  So, I had to dig (and I mean DIG) out my beading wire and crimps - a technique I have not used in a long, long, time.  That necklace was 4 different bracelets before it ended up in its final state!

The earrings below are my favorite!  Since the "copper tubes" are not curved and only an inch long, I was able to maneuver the sterling wire around the cross-pins. I also soldered little jump rings to the ends - love this mixed metal look! These remind me of bullet casings.

A few weeks ago, I made a few hollow sterling silver beads - waiting for the "next perfect match" to make a necklace.  Well, they went into this bracelet instead.  Gorgeous purple-hued Ammonite lampwork beads by Sue Kennedy (her shop is here).  My love of "no bead the same in a set" continues! The hollows remind me of clam shells, so I think this is a perfect "Beach" bracelet.

Lastly, one of my favorite new necklaces, featuring lapis, sodalite, sunset dumorlierite, some more hollow beads, and an incredible pewter cross by Vincent Cav (his shop is here). 

I am sure that I have made more jewelry since my last posting, but I don't want to bore you with all those pictures!

Since I usually end my posts discussing the weather (why do I do that??), let's just say it is Summer - Hot, Humid, Sticky...yuck!  We have had an inordinate amount of rain here in Northern Virginia, usually in the form of nasty thunderstorms.  Sarge DOES NOT appreciate this!  Wish I could send this rain to California!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!

xo

Patti

There are days I sit in my studio in a complete stupor - there are so many techniques/tools/beads - you name it - that I want to try, but there is no mojo. None. Zippo. Zilch. It can be so depressing. Today was NOT one of those days.

So, I have had these beads by Judith Billig sitting on my bench for about 4 months now.

Photo and Beads by Judith Billig

I am not a pastel person, by any means.  But these colors are truly fabulous.  What I like about this set is that there is more than one color in each of the beads, yet all of the beads are different.  I did not want to "over design" this one, but I knew the end result had to be special - I mean....those beads!

I truly felt patinated silver was THE metal to use, so I looked in my stash for some sterling accent beads.  Not. A. Single.Bead...that would work (believe...I am not lacking in beads-it is a sickness I have!).  So, I made three hollow beads instead.  I love this texture - it reminds me of reticulated silver - kinda melty and "touchable" by the texture.

See the striations of color?!  And, Judith gave these a matte finish, so appropriate with this pastel palette.

I really, really like how this piece turned out!

While the silver elements were tumbling, I decided to re-visit a hoop design I made - only once before.  Kept my fingers crossed that I could solder this design again, and so happy it worked (did you hear my screams of joy about 10 AM this morning?!)

The last time I made this design, I did not texture the sterling. But, I knew I was using these gorgeous turquoise beads and went at it with the hammer. I think these have just a bit of Southwestern vibe going for them.

In combing through my stash for a silver accent bead for the sterling necklace above, I got side tracked and went through my own handmade findings box.  It's a mish-mash of copper and sterling - beads, toggles, clasps, jump rings.  I forgot about these hollow copper beads I made quite a while ago.  See...distraction is a good thing!

This is another amazing lampwork set by Judith.  You need to zoom in on the pictures - rustic turquoise!  This is actually my favorite piece today - the beads are just so intensely colored.

See?! :)

So, today was a blissful day in my studio.  I am grateful for days like today, where everything seems to fall into place.  They do not happen very often, and I hope I have more of them!

Thanks so much for stopping by today!!

xo

Patti