First Semester Metals

Ok, I'm going to cram a whole semester of metalwork in this post. Since I didn't document the process like I did in the last one, it shouldn't be too bad.

Our first project was a study in riveting. I made this:

It's me....though very abstracted. I learned about hidden rivets and regular rivets doing this piece. I could definitely afford to do it again now that I have better control with a hammer and more knowledge of the techniques.

Detail.

This is the original picture that I based the piece off of, just so you can get an idea.

For our second project, we did band-on-band rings. This was my first time working with silver, and this is the point where we learned to solder. We use solder that melts around temperatures between 1300 and 1440 degrees, depending on which type you use. We do not use the type of solder that you use a little soldering iron for. That's called plumbing (or soft) solder and it isn't really strong enough to stand up to what we put our jewelery through. We use torches, and it's fun.

It is important to note that this ring was made by taking two pieces of silver, forming them into rings, and then soldering them together. It is not cast like most of the rings sold in stores.

For the third project we were tasked with making a toy that is also a ring. The perameters were pretty open for this one. The concept of what is a toy was left compeltely up to us, and as long as a finger could go through the piece somehow, it was considered a ring. I decided it would be funny to make an electrical outlet ring, since some kids apparently think those are toys.

I roll-printed a canvas texture on it to make it look like wallpaper. The bottom and top look slightly different because they are made in two different ways. The bottom is a hollow construction. The holes go all the way through and the form is completely closed up. The top one is not made like that. The face of the top one comes off so it can hold things. Originally it was supposed to hold an LED light, so that if you stuck something in the socket, it would light up. Unfortunately, I could never get that to work for more than about 10 minutes, so I just left it empty and open to possibilities.

That's Lauren's hand. This piece is actually in Houston RIGHT NOW, at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft, in their CRAFT TEXAS juried exibition! It's my first show!

Our final project was to create a reliquary with a found object. Last Christmas, as a gag gift, I got a little resin Elvis bust (because I like Elvis), so I decided to make him a stage. Check it out:

He comes complete with a functioning curtain and a rotating platform so you can make him dance!

 From the back, with his jailhouse-esque bars

I had an old snowglobe music box that plays "Blue Sued Shoes", so I took it out and installed it in the bottom platform, so he has music to dance to.

Here's Lauren making him dance!

And there you have it! My first semester doing metals. I spent the first two projects thinking I sucked at it, and then by the third project I had gained a little more confidence, which I think is evident in the work.