Tunnel Mill

I love the workshops at Tunnel Mill in Minnesota, absolutely love them. The students are such talented learners from all different backgrounds. We had a retired chemist, a watch/clock maker, a "coal-pusher" in his words, an Army Reservist, a truck driver.... and a few others that I'm not sure about. Everyone has a story and a fun sense of humor. One student even understood my enjoyment of words that feel good rolling over the tongue, like "topography". We compared notes on big words for fun.
The first 8 pictures show students and/or workshop areas. The last 2 are me working. For some reason, I forgot to take pictures of the finished pieces. I can assure you that the students got some awesome tools and chasings done, amazing for a 3 day workshop.

Please click on the photo title links below in order to see the larger version of each image, with a short description.
1. Tunnel Mill students, 2. IMG_8251, 3. IMG_8247, 4. IMG_8262, 5. IMG_8256, 6. IMG_8255, 7. IMG_8266, 8. IMG_8251, 9. me working at Tunnel Mill, 10. me working at Tunnel Mill Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Hammer Love

My other birthday present was a new hammer, a specific type called a cobbler's hammer.  It is designed for leather work, and ideally has a softer face.  I prefer this type of hammer for chasing and repoussé.  The face should wear down nicely, in tune with my own striking rhythm, and will fit me perfectly.  I have another cobbler's hammer, but made the mistake of letting someone else use it.  Then the hammer conformed to her rhythm and it's never felt right to me since. 

Now I have my own, and I'm going to be especially selfish with it.  
How does a girl greet a new hammer?

Well first, I take off my rings.  Rings and hammers don't get along.

Then I test the weight and heft, how it falls into my hand.

Run my palms over all of the surfaces to check edges

Yup, it feels good.  The handle is a little short and fat, but I can still put it to work. 
Next week I will change it over to a standard hammer handle, slimming down the upper neck section
so it's a bit springier.

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I'm teaching a workshop this weekend at Tunnel Mill in Minnesota.  This is one of my favorite groups to work with, so I'm really looking forward to it.  I'll be there until Saturday night.  Any orders will be shipped out on Monday.
I get to sleep in one of these.

Sweet.

Pearly Buttons and Chasing Tools

At the Genoa National Fish Hatchery Event, they also talked about the old button industry, making buttons from the pearly shells found on the shores of the Mississippi River.  That made me think about my own stash of buttons, from the Grandmas of course.   I found a few hand drilled and handcarved beauties.

These buttons were more likely made from shells out of the Wabash River, along the Illinois Indiana border, as they came from the family that lived in that particular region.  The buttons on the left would make beautiful rings, or brooch elements.  Are the ones on the right some sort of embellishment, maybe for a pearly fringe?  They'd be wonderful as earring components.

In any case, I won't get around to using them for a month or so.  I am busy finishing up ten sets of chasing tools.

I thought I'd be taking all ten sets to my workshop at Haystack, but it seems that five or six sets may already be claimed.

I'll be teaching at Haystack June 1st through the 13th.  I'll be away from my shop and inventory during that time, so I won't be able to ship out any purchases.  If you do purchase something, I will ship it out within 2 business days of my return, so mostly likely, June 16th and 17th.  I do hope to get these chasing tools completed, sold and shipped out before I go.
I should have internet access while I'm at Haystack.  You know how much I love my email, blogs, Skype, discussion forums, etc....  Unfortunately, my travel computer isn't big enough to run my favorite online games- boohoo!   That's probably for the best.  I am hoping to get lots of small chasings done for jewelry.

Mother's Day is coming up.

What's your Mother getting for Mother's Day?

Mine is getting the silver heart ring in this picture.

Here's another one, size 7, available in my Etsy shop that could go to your Mother. Or buy it for yourself!

I know I like to pick out my own presents. I don't want to be surprised. I just want what I want.

Hey, if you do buy it for your mother, put a note in the "message to seller" letting me know if you need it shipped to a different address or if you need a gift card enclosed.

Ahhhh

Now this is why I started making jewelry in the first place..... so I could make work like this mainly for myself at the time.  These days, even when I make jewelry to sell, I'm still envisioning it on myself.

Two sterling silver feather pendants- first handsawn, then hammered, then defined and refined with chasing tools over pitch.
 
For the finish, I tumbled the pendants for a few hours, oxidized them with liver of sulphur, and then burnished up the highlights with a 3M green polishing wheel.

This bracelet might be sold.  I have to wait to hear back from the client who suggested it.
 
I love how it turned out.  The oak leaf and acorn theme seems to be timeless.  I textured the metal first with hammers, then created the image with chasing and repousse, and finally formed it to the cuff shape with hammers again. 

The heat oxide is so beautiful on bronze.  Bronze gets a bit of copper plating on it after repeated heating.  There is so much copper in the alloy that the copper somehow comes to the surface during the annealing process.  So when I start to burnish back the surface, I go through a range of colors from black, brown, red and then finally the goldtones of the bronze.
I used a variety of 3M Scotchbrite brand buffs and wheels to get the right finish, burnished but still rugged, with lots of texture and color tones.

2nd Butterfly Finished!

 The 2nd butterfly pendant is finished!  It is created with chasing and repoussé, no molds or forms, completely one of a kind.

and a side view, just because

Both the first and the second butterfly have been claimed and will be flying off to their new owners very soon.

I love it when new owners claim their pieces even before they are completed.  Then I know the pieces have a story to tell and will stay close to someone's heart for a long time.

Butterfly, Ivy, and Wool Play Food

Do you think maybe I've got too much going on?

I finished one of the butterflies

I'd like to finish the second before I put them up for sale.  When I first started making jewelry, I made jewelry that I would love to wear but that I couldn't find anywhere else.  Now I'm doing the same and it's hard to part with these pieces.  Yes, I think I'm definitely entering into a jewelry phase.
(I still have to finish a few railings, but after that, it will be jewelry galore.)

I've been listing pieces from my English Ivy Art Collection.
#1  

#2 

#3 

and finally the felt play food
I looked at my wool and said "I don't know what to make next."  Of course the kids come up with all sorts of ideas for kitchen play.
 
I loosely needlefelt the forms, then toss them into the washer to firm them up.  Then I go over them again with a needle for shaping, more fuzzy color, and for the banana, to add the peel.  I have no idea what I'm doing.  I just keep jabbing it with a needle until it looks passably like an edible fruit or vegetable.

Felting is kind of like chasing and repoussé that way.  Sometimes I feel at a loss when I teach a workshop, because once we make the tools, I just want to say "now hit the metal until it looks like a leaf."  Use the little tools to pinch, pull, squeeze, and coax the metal into the shape you want.  No formulas.  Just do it, like you would if you were using your fingertips to mold clay.

Chasings, Butterflies, and Cattails - so much!

I have a lot of things to show you!

First, the exhibit pieces that are now in my online shop.
Remember "My Heart in December", the piece I did while teaching a workshop in Minnesota?

The Steel Bamboo Leaf Cluster

and the Bear

I am still slowly working on my silver butterflies.
 

And the marshy piece...
Now you can see how pipe transforms to cattails

I use a fullering tool to pinch in the pipe all the way around.  I work my way down the pipe, making what looks like a length of link sausages.  I'll break them all apart and weld on round bar above and below the seed pod shape for the stems. I'll be sure to post another photo after they're welded up.
Here are some of the leaves before I form them.  The tips are too pointy, so I'll make them more blunt first.

This is going to be a busy week, so keep checking back for more wall art, jewelry, and cattails in-progress.

My Chasing and Repoussé Back from the Exhibit

and ready to list in my online shop... Each photo links to its listing in my shop, so click on the photo for a price and more details.

Everyone's favorite, the Green Man!

This is the most expensive of the chasings that I will be listing. It is also the most detailed, most time consuming and most... well.. enchanting.

Oak Leaf Reflection

This piece shows off the best of my skills, with a chasing at the top and the reflected forged bronze leaf hanging from the bottom. I've been making oak leaves for as long as I've been doing chasing and repoussé, oh about 13 years now. The oak leaf chasings are very representative of my work and style.

and The Eagle

one of my favorite subjects this time of year, when the bald eagles are migrating North through Wisconsin's part of the Upper Mississippi River Valley. Many of them will stay and nest along the river. There are a few mature eagles that stay all year round.

I'll be listing the bronze heart and steel bear next.

Butterflies and other pretty bits in progress

Many Etsymetal Street Team members participate in a monthly theme challenge. There are no votes or prizes. The goal is to stretch our creative skills and grow as metalsmiths and artists. I'm currently working on the insect theme with butterflies.

There are 2 different butterflies, each one about 2 inches at its maximum dimension. I haven't decided yet if these will be pendants or pins, maybe both.

Some other things going on in the studio...

Leaves and cattails in progress! Oh, you don't think those pipes look like cattails yet? They will. I'll show you later this week.

Hearts and Leaves, No Bunnies

I know.  I should have bunnies right now.  Instead I have Hearts and another Ginkgo Leaf.

The matching set of heart pendant and earrings are on their way to their new owner.

And here's the back sides of them. They are created completely with chasing and repoussé.  You can see the little tool marks on both sides.

Yes, I can create more like this.  Yet every single heart will be slightly different, each one unique because I freeform sculpt each one with my little chasing tools and hammers.  I don't use a mold or form.

I also finished a sterling silver Gingko Leaf Pendant for my online shop.

Again, every leaf is individually handsawn and hammered out, using no molds or forms.  Every one is unique and has its own special magic.

Exhibits, Ornaments, and other new stuff

The show is up and beautiful at the Frehner Gallery of the Monroe Arts Center in Monroe Wisconsin!  This is the arts center, an historic Methodist church, saved from destruction and transformed into an active Community arts center.

Suzanne, the gallery director, went above and beyond the call of duty to install the show.  She did such a fantastic job, using fishing line to hang the work and keeping it perfectly asymmetrical, just the way I envision the pieces hanging in someone's home.  Now how often does that happen? 
I sold several of my leaf wallpieces right at the opening, pieces similar to what you'd find in the art section of my Etsy shop.

I did steal bits of time in the house to finish up some more wool felt ornaments.

The little acorn is made from vivid green roving and royal blue yarn.  It measures about 1 x 1-1/2 inches.  The heart is made from wool batting and alpaca locks and measures about 3 x 3 inches at its maximum dimensions.  I've got these safely tucked away in my ornament box for next Christmas, but am more and more tempted to sell them.

You might have already noticed this.  I've started selling the book Moving Metal: The Art of Chasing and Repoussé

by Adolph Steines in the commercial supplies section of my Etsy shop. This is the book that I recommend most often for medium to large chasing and repoussé work in my workshops.  I did not learn from this book, but I still look to it when I need some creative approaches and technical insight for my own work.

I'll be making chasing tool sets again in April. I've got 3 requests already.  Please contact me if you'd like to be put on the list of people to notify when the sets are ready.

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered!

Signed, Sealed, and Delivered!

I recently completed and delivered two 24 x 30 inch copper bas-relief horse heads for a commission.  This was a great challenge for me!

I can tell you that I spent a whole lot more time agonizing over these than I did actually hammering on them.

Keeping scale and function in mind, I deliberately kept them much simpler than my smaller work, with the emphasis on the lines of the drawing rather than on the surface detailing.

I did a brush and ink sketch, that was only line for the design. I scanned the design into the computer, sized it up to the right size and had it printed (facing opposite directions) full size at Kinkos. I transferred the design to the back of the copper sheets with lightly punched dots. (For a small piece I'd put those dots on the front, but not for a big piece.)

I started off by working them over sandbags, from the back side, with a variety of hammers. I worked a few areas with my pneumatic chisel (and bits modified for chasing). I annealed the sheets one time and then went to the refining. I did most of the refining from the front, and just a little from the back. I couldn't figure out how to do it without pitch, so I set up a wood block with pitch on it. I did the refining over pitch in sections.

You can see the wood block with pitch in this picture, waiting on top of the anvil. I filled up the section to be worked with pitch and slowly melted it with a very very bushy flame. When it was melted enough, I plopped the wood on it and weighted it with a sandbag until the pitch firmed up enough to move the whole thing.

I didn't want to set up a huge pickle bath, so I scoured the surface with an improvised scotchbrite buff

then patinated it with Midas red to black patina solution (from riogrande.) 

I burnished back the highlights with handheld 3M Scotchbrite pads and sealed the surfaces with a low gloss tung oil varnish.  

For you metalsmiths, yes I do love the 3M Scotchbrite and unitized wheel products for finishing.  I buy them from industrial suppliers. I always wear a respirator when I use the products.  I'm not so crazy about the FX wheels or radial discs, but I prefer a more distressed surface, even on jewelry.

Wisconsin Hoarfrost and Minnesota Workshop

I've been busy, but not too busy to stop and photograph this lovely morning sight

It was so cold all day long, but still, a tad bit warmer than the day before, and certainly warmer than 2 days before. 

The workshop went very well.  Here's a taste....

1. Guild Workshop '07 in MN -1, 2. Guild Workshop '07 in MN -4, 3. Guild Workshop '07 in MN -2, 4. Guild Workshop '07 in MN -3, 5. Guild Workshop '07 in MN -5, 6. Guild Workshop '07 in MN -6 Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
Minnesota is just the best place to teach a workshop.  The students are ready to learn and always surpass my expectations.  They teach me too.  You'll see, when I photograph the piece that I worked on as a demonstration piece....

Owls in Progress

Here are a few more wallpieces I'm finishing up for the show.
Owls in progress, both in steel. I'm following an instinct to keep them more lyrical, more of a fairytale quality to them.

I'm working on a third, but trying to get these 2 done first.

Studio, Inspiration, and Food

A recently finished wallpiece - a bald eagle image in bronze

Queen Anne's Lace in October

Cool weather food

Here's the photo of the finished stew, that Smarticus requested. It was good!  Husband is tired of seeing the little curly things (quinoa).  The pickiest child took seconds and ate it all.  That's all that matters, so I'll put the quinoa in next time too.  And yes, that's soft white grocery store bread next to my crockpot soup.  Recipe- Put a bunch of stuff in there, including mushrooms and onions.  Add plenty of salt and some curry powder. If you forgot to soak the beans, then start it at 9am, set the crock pot on high and let it go all day. 

Studio Update- english ivy or grape leaf pieces

I am going to do a post and run. I don't have a lot of time to think through a thoughtful entry. Here's a mosaic photo of all 8 of the english ivy (or grape leaf) series. Nance1 asked me what motivated me to use the grape leaf form.
Honestly, I think you can't be a blacksmith without eventually making grape leaves and grapevine. It's such a classic motif and the form is gorgeous. There's also a lot of room for individual expression.

1.
Ivy leaf panel 1, 2. english ivy 3, 3. english ivy 4, 4. english ivy 2, 5. english ivy 5, 6. english ivy 6, 7. English Ivy 7, 8. English Ivy 8 Created with fd's Flickr Toys.
You can click on the photo titles to see the full image.

I think the ones with the negative spaces are influenced by the recent flash flooding, the way it tore up the landscape around the area.

What's next? I'm working on a bas-relief eagle now. Then I'll be doing another Greenman and probably an owl too.
I've got to work on a commission involving steel bamboo.
I've got to ship out 2 packages of my forged leaves- both packages to very special people, which makes me smile. I hope to ship out a 3rd package to another special person in a few days.
I need to draw up some new leaf shapes and order them cut in steel.
I need to order more pitch, for another workshop.

I think that's enough for the next few days.

English Ivy leaf series

Here are the next 3 in my series of 8 ivy leaf chasings.

approximately 3-1/2 x 2-3/4 inches

approximately 7 x 5 inches

approximately 8 x 5 inches

I've got 2 more done, ready to photograph and 2 more still in progress.

Studio Updates

It keeps raining here, multiple inches each time.

I promised photos of what I worked on at Touchstone , 3 relief pieces. These are all completely formed, but not what I would call finished.

Greenman needs hanging hardware on the back and a final burnishing.
See all those bits around him? I pondered making him part of a larger collage, but decided against it.

Little ivy leaf piece will be a part of a larger collage. I'm going to make more of these small ones, oh about 3 inches max dimension, and use them to create 2 or 3 larger, but not really big, wallpieces.

Bear will also be a part of a larger steel collage, again not a huge one, just collaged enough to frame it out. He's based on the same design I recently used for some drawer pulls and fairly low detail.

I'm completely focused on wallpieces from now until November. I'm planning on lots of small pieces rather than trying to make big pieces. I'm inspired by many artists, but these days, I really like seeing Miss Laurence's stitched pieces, allisonstrine's art show with lots of small works, ruthrae's intuitive mixed media collages, and more collages by Xanthe. They work in very different styles, yet they all share a kind of raw intuitive approach full with joyful life energy.

and when I'm in the house, which seems so often, I've been working on these little acorns in wax. Eventually I'll cast them all in silver or bronze.

Then I'll hammer them into life.

Here's a pile of hammered and cut thin copper scraps, waiting to be beat up some more.

After I get some kid to punch more holes in them, I'll tumble them and use them for earrings or some kind of promo magnets.

Workshop at Touchstone Center for Crafts

I'm back! I had a wonderful relaxing and inspiring week at Touchstone Center for Crafts in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, USA.
Take a look at their fantastic blacksmith shop, with twelve coal forges and plenty of space to work.


That's me, demonstrating one of my forged leaves


There's Bill below

Now Skeeter and Henry

I only had 4 students. One left midweek for mysterious reasons. Another, the jewelry shop Resident Assistant, focused on toolmaking. I didn't get any pictures of him. Bill, Henry, and Skeeter, shown above, were devoted and cheerful, ready to learn about chasing and repousse.

This is Skeeter's copper cross in progress. He also worked on a few other designs that I didn't photograph.

Bill and Randy, the resident studio assistant are discussing something. We all did a lot of chatting. That didn't interfere with our productivity.

Bill started off doing the same design in 2 different metals- a great exercise. Bill took this workshop last year, so he was able to skip most of the toolmaking part and get right into the chasing work.
You can see how the horse head shape improved in the steel on the left. He alternated working on them, but finished the bronze one first. Steel takes longer because you have to wait for it to cool slowly after annealing.
Then he started working on a bronze Greenman.




Henry worked on a leaf in steel

and an Angel in bronze

Henry had seen me demo over 8 years ago in Ohio, but had never actually tried the technique. He caught onto the concepts right away and did an amazing job.





With such a self-motivated and talented crew, I was able to get a lot of work done myself. I'll post those pictures in my next blog.
For now, I need to get caught up with chasing tool orders. I'll be unpacking, grouping and photographing tools today and tomorrow, so I can get them up in my Etsy shop. A few peoploe have already contacted me about the tools they want. Feel free to contact me through my blog or Etsy shop if you are looking for specific tools or a set.

Keep checking back for more....

By the way, we are just a few miles south of the torrential rain that fell in parts of SW Wisconsin and SE MN. We did not get the flash floods at our location, but many of our driving routes are washed out or shut down. We can get where we need to go, in about twice the time it usually takes. Pray for our neighbors in Vernon, Richland, and La Crosse counties in Wisconsin, and the six Counties in MN that lost houses and had their property re-scaped by raging flash floods. SE Minnesota got it even worse than Wisconsin.