Making metal houses

I just finished up another metals class. I ended up  with the theme of houses and home. Here are a few things from the studio today. I'll be selling them in my etsy store. http://www.etsy.com/shop/artnestbydiane

Enameling Metal Jewelry

I've been taking metalsmithing classes for the last year. I started with metal about 15 years ago and then stopped when I started working full time. This last year I haven't been working as much which has been a gift in many ways; one if those ways is more time to work on my art.

The current class I'm taking is an Enameling. Enameling a process where ground glass is fused to copper or silver when heated at high temperatures (1500 degrees). You can heat the metal in a kiln or through a process called torch firing where you apply the flame from a torch underneath the metal until the glass melts and fuses to the the copper or silver.

I am in love with enameling! I love color and experimenting with transparent and opaque enamels is so much fun. I'm never quite sure what I'm going to get because the powdered enamel colors look very different than the heated and cooled enamel. Here are a few recent samples I made.

Hearts From My Hands

Sterling Silver heart

I've been in a heart making frenzy, working in metal mostly to get Valentine's Day items ready for my etsy shop. I made a heart die using a product called Faux Bone and I've been using it to form 3-D heart shapes. First I anneal and texture the metal so they all have interesting surface treatment. Then I usually add a patina, liver of sulpher or dormant spray to make the surface more interesting. I've put a few of them on sterling silver chains, some just on a simple black rubber necklace. Here is what I've done so far....

XOX Pendant Copper and Brass

Sterling Silver Heart with Hammered Texture

Brass Heart

Sterling Silver heart with patina and net texture

Back side of pendant

Pedal to the Metal

I've been taking classes in metalsmithing for the last few months and I love this medium. My favorite part is texturing metal and then adding patinas. I have etched, hammered and fold formed brass, copper and silver and have made some earrings, bracelets and pendants which show all these techniques. You can see them in my etsy store and I'll post some pictures here.
artnest on etsy

Hammered brass dangle earrings

Fold formed Brass cuff

Pierced and textured sterling silver pendant with brass underneath.

Etched copper earrings with patina

Fold formed dangle earrings with patina