Thursday, February 28, 2013

Making Mixed Metal Beads

The first teaching I'm going to do on this site will be about making the mixed metal beads pictured to the left. They are composed of silver, copper & brass and some include discs of gemstone material. I also sometimes use lamp worked
glass, bone, shell and other materials. All of the beads that you see here are cold connected, tube riveted, there is absolutely no soldering involved. I use a torch to heat color the copper sometimes but no solder. I have another extensive series of beads that use similar techniques but have soldered elements that are included in the design.
This is a small selection of the hundreds of beads I've made in this series that started in 1997. I make each of the metal shapes, they are sawn, pierced, stamped, roller-printed, rippled, slotted, engraved, drilled, oxidized, heat colored, bent,
domed, hammered, filed, sanded, polished and anything else I can think of to do to them in my endless search for new variations. I'll be on the road for a little while but when I return I plan to start the process of taking photos of each element in the sequence of actions that result in the creation of these beads. If you have an interest in seeing how these forms are made, send me an email letting me know. I'm motivated by emails and will it done quicker. Email to Jima@mcn.org

Friday, January 13, 2012

Don't Give Up


I hope to have an initial posting about making cold connected mixed metal beads up soon. I've started 3 other blogs and have been working a couple of them a lot, especially MixedMetalJewels. Check there to see some of the beads that I'm talking about. It's now mid February of 2013 and I hope to have a posting here in the next few weeks, pleae check back. I‘m starting this blog as a way to share what I’ve learned about working with metal in creating jewelry forms for over 40 years. In my studio over those years I’ve taught about 30 people to make  jewelry and for the last 15 years I’ve taught workshops at the Mendocino Art Center. As I find 70 years old I’m making some changes and simplifying my life and as part of that plan I’m intending to stop teaching workshops. BUT I still want to find a way to help people who are interested in learning the techniques that I use in making my mixed metal jewels. I’m hoping that the blog will help with that effort and when I have the information organized, crisp & accessible I also hope to put it into a book form.

The blog will grow a bit at a time so I hope you’ll check back in periodically and also give me some feedback so I’ll know if I’m doing OK with it. I will also try to answer questions about any aspect of the techniques if you’ll ask them in an email. I'm going to start out with the technique of texturing metal  using a process called roller printing which is what created the textures on the jewels in the pictures to the right and left of this writing.