I am really trying to post to this blog more often but job and entertainment keep getting in the way . But I did manage to start some Christmas gift making.
I have a girlfriend who loves unusual and flashy jewelry. So I thought of a design that might fit her.
I recently saw a necklace design on Pinterest that I thought I could use for inspiration.
It spurred me on to make this for her. Since I have recently decided to do more metal smithing and learn all I can it was a good chance to try it out on a small scale.
It is by no means real "smithing". But it's a start.
I drew out the pattern and cut it out with shears (don't have a saw yet):
I wanted to put beads where all the little marks are but decided that was too safe for this girl. I tried all kinds of beads that just didn't feel right like these below:
Kind of liked these but not enough of them.
These just don't look right.
These were too feminine with the metal.
It's really weird how the metal plate looks so different in different light. I hammered the hell out of it, then annealed it for more fire scale and finally sanded it. I still have more sanding and polishing (not too much polishing) to do. But I love how it turned out and I think she will too.
I bought an old watch with the insides still there and couldn't decide what to do with it. I finally had an idea (although not a really unique one). I used resin to fill the face and then added some rhinestone chain around the face. The beads I used are some very old grungy looking carved stone beads. They are a light greenish color with discoloration on a lot of them. For me that's cool as I like old looking stuff. What do you think:
Excuse the lighting. It's been rainy and cloudy here all weekend. But oh well it's the best I could do. I think i'm going to put this one in my etsy shop just have to figure out pricing. What's on your work bench now?
Thanks for reading!
I have a girlfriend who loves unusual and flashy jewelry. So I thought of a design that might fit her.
I recently saw a necklace design on Pinterest that I thought I could use for inspiration.
It spurred me on to make this for her. Since I have recently decided to do more metal smithing and learn all I can it was a good chance to try it out on a small scale.
It is by no means real "smithing". But it's a start.
I drew out the pattern and cut it out with shears (don't have a saw yet):
I wanted to put beads where all the little marks are but decided that was too safe for this girl. I tried all kinds of beads that just didn't feel right like these below:
Kind of liked these but not enough of them.
These just don't look right.
These were too feminine with the metal.
So, I used a vintage necklace that I got at an antique store and took it apart for the brass beads and voila!!! there it was. See what you think:
I bought an old watch with the insides still there and couldn't decide what to do with it. I finally had an idea (although not a really unique one). I used resin to fill the face and then added some rhinestone chain around the face. The beads I used are some very old grungy looking carved stone beads. They are a light greenish color with discoloration on a lot of them. For me that's cool as I like old looking stuff. What do you think:
Excuse the lighting. It's been rainy and cloudy here all weekend. But oh well it's the best I could do. I think i'm going to put this one in my etsy shop just have to figure out pricing. What's on your work bench now?
Thanks for reading!
