Week 24

Update on the pewter front: We're fighting. Will continue to fight with it. That is all...

So...naturally I went to a tried and true project that I love- hair accessories. I did a few more hair flowers, this time I started wrapping the bases so they look a little less like i just yanked them off of a wire stem (since that's exactly what i do) You've seen the yellow, but i made another and the picture was just so cute I couldn't help myself.

After flowers, I decided to fiddle with feathers. It could have gone more smoothly- i won't be selling this one as it's messier than i would like (though part of that had to with the fact that i thought a part of the accessories was actual grass/twig/plant material when it was really plastic which meant some accidental melting was involved.) I think it's pretty. I'll probably make another. I only had the one comb to play with though so i will have to buy more.

Since I was playing with glue, I decided to make some marble magnets- you've seen them, they're everywhere- i have several from different places. I was playing with glue and silk flowers so...naturally i backed mine in silk flower- it's a cream and green marbled leaf pattern that kiiiiiinda looks like a watermelon rind:

On a side note, I obviously didn't do this (seeing as i don't have the equipment, etc.), but I had a ring plated last week. My dad gave me (and my sisters) a lot of beautiful jewelry growing up, most specifically a diamond ring when each of us turned 13. I treasure all the jewelry I have from my father, but I don't wear it very often because it's ALL yellow gold (which i just don't happen to love with my skintone, i prefer white gold). I mentioned to my sisters i was thinking of having it reset and one them told me I could just get it dipped/plated to be white gold (which had never occurred to me seeing as i don't think a whole lot people plate over gold) I got it back on my anniversary and it is BEAUTIFUL! See?!?!?See?!?!?

Also note that I am clearly taking pictures with my kodak camera- so much better aren't they?

Also- just to throw it out there- it's wallflowers season again in our house (at the first sign of fall, my house smells like cinnamon, lol) and I realized last winter that i could refill my wallflowers. I only buy cinnamon stick fragrance oil, but if people would be interested in having me refill their wallflower bulbs at $1/pop(as opposed to the $5 minimum a new refill bulb costs with the added benefit of recycling/not tossing all that glass), I'd be happy to. Obviously, it'd be best if you save your caps if you decide you'd like to start refilling them. I kept almost a dozen from last year, and bought a few this year, but wallflowers need replaced so much quicker in the wintertime with the heat and everything.

Week 23: Part 2- Fun with Pewter

So...today was my first day with pewter. ::big sigh:: All told, it could have been worse and I feel like I learned a lot in my hours of melting and pouring and mold making. over and over and over again.

The molds: My past experience with casting has all been silver lost-wax-casting. I currently do not have any wax (ordered some) so I had to play around with other types of molds. Ideally, I'll like to cast nature pieces- specifically leaves, because I find that kind of detail hard to fake in carving. Naturally, all the molds I made today were of leaves. I had a few sculpey molds (imprinted with real leaves), severals molds where i made a base and border around a real leaf (in case you were curious, no they do not in fact burst into flames) and a couple of silicone molds. I do have a leaf in some plaster, but it needs drying time.

The pouring: From the get go I had issues with pouring. I was heating the metal for as long as it said to, but it was just pouring thick- way thicker than i wanted. The first sculpey mold i filled came out ok with decent detail, but was almost a quarter of an inch thick. At the end of the day, i can honestly say that basically the given time for heating was wrong because eventually i got the metal to pour just fine, if not always in the direction i wanted.

The results: I would say I spent a good 4-6 hours melting and pouring and mold making today. I give you 1 photo:

This is the only leaf I was happy enough with to photograph. It took many many tries to get a thin pour that covered the entire mold (leaves make shallow molds). I might have been happy with it if not for the fact that the mold was blemished- which i knew before i ever used it though i'm not sure how it got that way (if you're looking for the mark it's the little round spot mid left). In the whole day, i probably only managed about 5 leaves in general- one was too thick, several were surface damaged (from the water boiling out of the leaves when the metal touched them), many were incomplete (the metal didn't cover the whole pattern). I certainly would never sell this one though i might keep it (rather than remelt it) as a sort of first day token. I haven't melted down that first pour of a quarter inch leaf either. Can't wait to see how it goes with wax...

Week 23

Among other birthday fun, Bob took me to JoAnn Fabrics last week (it's probably a good thing that it's kind of far away, because i always spend way too much money there). I bought some really fun beads and some pretty clasps, but naturally i also bought flowers: Can you tell from the colors that I'm ready for Halloween? (It IS my favorite day of the year).

This is a silver bracelet for my niece, Lily. Her parents bought her a souveneir bracelet on vacation and it broke, so I took the seashell/stone out and made her a new bracelet. It's not perfect, but I hope she'll like it.

My foray into pewter casting began today, but i haven't really been happy with any of the results so far so no pictures. All I have been truly successful at with it so far is to melt down a 1lb ingot and pour it into much smaller blobs to make it easier to cast smaller things. I made a sculpey mold with a leaf imprint- worked just ok. Poured ontop of a leaf, the prints aren't very deep and it's hard to get the metal to spread out, it likes to pool. Will be making molds tonight and later this week for more fun experimentation. we shall see.

Week 22

I'm thinking about doing some consignment so I made some silver ditties this week. More of the silver lightning/tree root pendants (because i fell in love with the first one i made and well, it's mine. lol) and some ear cuffs.

True to nature, the pendants don't follow any pattern other than squiggly and directional. I don't want them to be identical (where's the fun in that?) They could maybe use some more tendrils- i may go back and amp them up a bit.

The earcuff's were originally going to be earrings (which is why they match), but then i decided that i'm not overly fond of earrings anyway and these would look way cooler going up the curve of the ear than hanging below. I haven't added the cuffs because i ordered some cool patterned half-round wire that i want to use for the cuff, but i think you can imagine them on an ear. I decided to make them cuffs before i actually made them, but also- you can see where i got a little impatient with the torch and *perhaps* melted one of the loops on the one on the right. It doesn't look bad- it just melts into a ball, and i may consider intentionally melting the others on that piece...I have to weigh the benefit against the possibility of accidentally turning the entire piece into a lump of molten metal...

I'm reeeeeally happy with this week's doodle. I did hit a point where i had to tell myself to put it down and stop adding stuff though, and this has been photo shopped to erase two little tendrils where i decided i had gone too far. I intend to color the flower periwinkle blue, but wanted a black and white version on my harddrive.

I also bought myself some birthday presents. The first thing I bought is everything I need to experiment with pewter casting. I've never worked with pewter before but it has a much lower melting temperature than silver and requires a lot less equipment. I bought the melting pot for casting and the kit that came with it including an ingot of lead-free pewter and silicone for mold making. I'm hoping to cast some pewter leaves, we'll see how it goes. I THINK i can also do wax casting in plaster (without a kiln) and i read that you can also cast in sand. It should be fun and hopefully allow me to make some of the things i really miss making.

The second present to myself was a purchase from riogrande for about 30 feet of sterling wire in different gauges, one with a pattern in it, and some beads and findings. I had a gift certificate from my catalogues (when you order a rio grande catalog, they charge you $10 for each one, but give you a gift certificate equal to the amount of catalogues you purchased. I subscribe to 2 so i had a $20 gift certificate) and Bob's mom sent me a $50 visa giftcard so it i got to buy $70 in silver fun. happy birthday to me. :)

Week 21

Last week I got on a feather kick. I told you I'd figured out how to make them even more feathery so naturally, I had to make a feather pen- see how there's no blank space in the middle:

Unfortunately the metal that i was trying to salvage last week really just does not seem to be salvageable so i started over. I added some glass beads and a hair pin and think the small one came out really cute. I broke the cheap pair of scissors i usually scissor cut with though so i tried tin-snips on this piece. The result is that the edges of the feathers don't curl.

My weekly doodle:

Outside the realm of The Xarata Project:

Bob's 24th birthday was yesterday. We went out with friends for sushi and all split a sushi boat which he loved and ate with my most favorite thing i bought for him- a pair of lightsaber chopsticks. I was so proud, because i knew he would like them but they weren't on his list, and he couldn't figure out what was in that present- shake and squeeze as he may. I also made him white coconut cake(his request) and huevos rancheros for breakfast(also requested). He spent most of the day playing videogames which kept him happy.

I ate a turnip out of my garden this week. They're still small, but i was excited.

It was kind of a lousy week. I had to replace my car's computer after a mishap with some jumper cables, and the landlord's son mowed over my pumpkin plant- again. With the rent this month, they received a short letter reminding them that the roof was supposed to be replaced a year ago- with accompanying photos of waterdamage in the house as well as a reminder that we had been told the original fencing was going to be remounted when we moved in 1 1/2 years ago, it hasn't been and any fencing that I put up keeps getting broken because they move and mistreat it. I also let them know that we had finally patched the numerous holes that were in the walls when we moved in that THEY were supposed to fix. They haven't said anything about plans to fix the roof or put up the fencing, but they did unceremoniously leave our hose on the porch (it was over with the other hoses and water hookup on the front house, because our outdoor water hookup isn't functioning and when i asked at the beginning of the summer they told me they don't know how to make it work). The landlord's son has always been rude, but if things continue this way, i will find another house. Between the leaking roof, flooding basement, and their complete ignorance of necessary repairs, i really don't think they can make me pay anything for breaking a lease either.

If anything I would leave this place in much better condition than it was when i came. I've done landscaping, put up lattice over the very rustly railing, enclosed the yard with wire fencing on one side and a gated arbor on the other, repainted the bathroom and replaced the very cheap aluminum fixtures with more aesthetically pleasing antique brass finished ones, patched and painted a lot of holes that we did not make, ripped out 2 rooms and a stairs worth of stinking and pet soiled carpet(with permission), mounted shelving in the basement and added privacy film to the lower windows in the living room so they don't have to be covered (there's no ceiling lights so light is precious). This week, I also tiled the backsplash of the stove and its awning: