Mount Tamalpais Ring -- Silver

Silver ring with outline of Mount Tam . My first "more designed" ring, second ring I've made. Two layers of 20 gauge silver...cut the mountain out of one sheet, solder it onto the other. Form the round ring, solder.  Dip in liver of sulfur to oxidize, polish as desired....in this case I polished the mountain for contrast.
Mount Tamalpais jewelry.

Stitched Card -- Tintin and Snowy

Ok, cheating because it is not my artwork.  Stitched around picture of Tintin and Snowy for a thank you card for a friend.  Felt that if I made their eyes and other face details I would mess up...so, they look a little "blank" on the side that has the stitching most prevalent.   Fixed omission on front, didn't put new picture of fix on back....can you tell the difference (quiz appropriate for 5 year old?)?

Used sewing machine, thread, and paper. 

My first bezel...

Practicing skill still.  Bezel not quite adhered to the stone, but is soldered in place, and next steps should be easy.   Still using copper since I am beginner here, but makes for a good experiment element.  

Steps:  a. sketch design, b. rubber cement to copper plate,  c. cut interior  (the interior of "petal" here)...first drill small hole so your blade can fit through, then cut as desired d. cut outside lines e. file edges...bevel as desired f. measure and cut bezel as desired g. solder bezel together h. solder bezel to piece i. pickle k. polish l. place stone m. bend bezel to conform with stone.   

Some of my polishing needs work near the bezel, so I didn't bend bezel so I could pop out the stone while I worked further.  I like that this is "3d" in that the petals bend...interior and exterior. Took the idea from a pin my Grandma used to wear...wasn't this shape, but the petals undulated. 

Plexiglass Cutting -- Invisible Man

Cut with fine tooth saw blade by hand.  Plexi glass. Lots of control with the blade because it is so fine --able to get detail.  The image is from a photograph of a doll I had from a kid....image I have used in a few things...simple with some detail.

Will see what I do with the this technique....I like being able to cut plexiglass by hand....also am drilling holes in it....so technically (pun intended) invisible man can hang or hold with a aperture in most suited place.

Bear Costume Drawing in Copper

Totally not my drawing...illustration grabbed off google search for a bear...illustrator is Sophie Blackall.   I am practicing, this is not for
commercial purposes....would be nice to be able to draw like she does when I want to....my people tend to be glorified stick figures.

Anyhow...this is still raw, not sanded, beveled, or polished...but, I like what it can lead to ---so lovely to be able to cut metal by hand. Using a bench pin, jewelers saw, and this illustration -- cut out the image in about 15 minutes. The finishing part will take longer -- will texture the bear part, heads, etc....but, to cut metal by hand relatively easily....yippee.  Will move to silver once I practice more.  Update: I textured it...including adding their faces.

Necklace -- Copper

Ok, still a rookie.  Used cuts and soldering. About 3" x 3" at widest parts.  Trying to make a bezel to wrap a stone for another project ....seems simple, but my edges aren't soldering right...so more practice.  Soldering does seem a lot more easy than welding....not good at either yet, but soldering is just melting really, dainty steps, yes, but not quite as much precision, and a lot less heat needed for soldering. 

Will move to all silver once I get skills a bit more polished.

Glass Butterfly for the SoCal Contingent

Glass pieces glued on plexi...still in the craft mode with this...just wait for the Rothko or whatever (cathedral windows?!)....the glue part of this operation is limiting b/c I can't sprinkle, have to hand place, and watch for glue trails.

Update: Cut out butterfly shape....gad, that was labor intensive. Cutting by hand worked very easily for the "man" figure I had experimented with, but for this, the blade breakage was crazy high. Helped to use masking tape and some blade glide oil, but still for the patient (or for those watching the Giants win  the World Series).