3/26/09

Saul Bell Award Finalist: Jennifer Smith-Righter

The Etsy Metal Clay Team is pleased to present and congratulate our friend and member Jennifer Smith-Righter, known to us as Wearable by Design, for her place as a Saul Bell Award finalist!

Jennifer is thrilled to be a finalist and is grateful to the Saul Bell organization. Winners will be announced at the JCK Conference in Las Vegas in late May.

Cirque 2

Jennifer was kind enough to share her project notes with us:

Swiss trams on a cable; the swoosh and click of sliding doors; acrobats on the high wire: all of these inspire Cirque 2 - a whimsical piece that dances along a cable chain. This necklace features three precision milled discs with flush set stones, fixed into position by two corresponding plates, all held together by three silver pins.

I began by cutting three differing sized discs from a 3 mm slab of PMC. Once dried, the exact centers were marked. A hole was drilled to mount the discs on a flex shaft mandrel.

Once attached to the flex shaft, the disks were held perpendicular against a piece of fine sandpaper in order to create a true circle and then a fine, circular needle file was held against the edge of the disc to create the groove necessary to allow for tension against the cable.

Then, a series of graduated stones were flush set into the discs. The largest has a series of five, the middle has a series of 4 and the smallest has 3. I wanted the stones to accentuate the sense of motion and whimsy.

The three discs were laid on a piece of paper and pre-fit to the cable in place. With a fine mechanical pencil, the center positions were marked on the three discs, allowing for shrinkage and room to slide the finished piece over the clasp of the cable necklace. This triangle of dots was used as the basis for the template for the two plates.

Once fired and finished, the ends of three 18 ga. fine silver wires were balled. I sandwiched the three discs between the plates with the wires and laid it ball side down on a firing brick. With a torch, the remaining protruding wire was balled on the back side of the rivet to lock the pieces in place. After cooling and refinishing, I slid the entire mechanism onto the cable chain.

Materials:

PMC
Cubic Zirconia; Round Faceted
Large Disk: 4 mm; 3.5 mm; 3 mm; 2.5 mm; 2 mm
Medium Disk: 3.5 mm; 3 mm; 2.5 mm; 2 mm
Small Disk: 2.5 mm; 2 mm; 1.5 mm
18 Gauge Fine Silver Wire
2 mm Sterling Silver Cable Necklace

The second piece in the moveable art series: Art Modern

3/22/09

Etsy Metal Clay Team: Marvelous Monday

To start the week off right - I humbly present "Marvelous Monday" a collection from 20 Etsy Metal Clay Team designers in one fabulous spot. Each week we will create a mini shop comprised of different members and items to make you smile.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade
etsymetalclayteam.etsy.com

3/19/09

EMC Team members in print this month

It's great to see the work of several team members published this month. Check out the following:

Lora Hart and Catherine Witherall both had several metal clay beads and necklaces of theirs featured in Barbara Becker Simon's new book entitled "Metal Clay Beads". It's a beautiful book and its a great showcase for your work.









Dina Alexander's metal clay necklace "Locked inside" that she won the 2008 Saul Bell Design award (PMC) was shown in this month's Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist.

Ruth Baillie's metal clay "Three little pigs" necklace and earrings were also shown in this same edition.







Bev Gallerani has a tutorial on a PMC and dichroic glass pendant "Under a full moon" in the Spring 2009 issue of of Belle Armoire Jewelry.









Great to see our team members' work out there!

3/16/09

Just Do It Yourself!

Bookends by 1453 Designs

While clicking through my blog roll the other day, I came across a great tip on the EtsyMetal blog that I'm frankly just gonna steal to post here.  I bet they won't mind.

They found a cool site called DIY Photography which has all kinds of great tips on shooting for camera and video, give aways, photoshop insight and a terrific Back To Basics series.

For all of you who might be having a bit of trouble with lighting and can't afford a fabulous (and expensive light ten set up) here's a post on how to make a seamless backdrop and light it Mother Nature's way.

I haven't had time to surf through it all, but it sure looks interesting.  Hope you find something helpful there.

3/5/09

Let's Go Shopping!

Etsy Discovery of the Week -  I'm hoping to make this a weekly or Bi-Weekly column.  There are some wonderful sellers on Etsy who deserve to be seen.  My first discovery is Romazone Supplies.



Roma is a teacher based in Dallas Texas who offers all kind of delicious jewelry making supplies at great prices.  And if you order in quantity, she may even give you a discount! 


Roma carries soldering supplies including paste solder, bench pins and blocks, texture stamps, tumblers, Liver of Suphur... really - the girl's got it all.  Check her out before you make your next supply purchase.



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