Welcome, Chic-Steals Readers!

Today, I'm doing a giveaway over at chic-steals.com, and I'm looking forward to reading the comments to get feedback from my etsy store!

I am working on a new post that I will finish and put up after my final critique tomorrow! Please feel free to look around!

My Absence

Oh man, is there a lot going on! I have my graduate exhibition and speech coming up on May 1st, and that has been taking the majority of my time. It's shaping up really well, and I'm expecting to be able to pull it all together in the week before the show. My plan is to do some setup each day of the week instead of waiting until the weekend to do it.

BUT, I am proud to announce that my Etsy is now up and running!! Check me out!

http://stinajimerson.etsy.com

ps-I already sold something!!

Original Jewelry Line

Time is flying by. I meant to post this about a month ago, when the project was due :-( I blinked and a month flew by!

Our first project of the semester was to create a wearable, sellable line of jewelry (10 pieces), and the main object was to move FAST. I didn't quite get that part down. I decided that riveting beads on instead of bezel setting stones would be faster (which it probably was), but it definitely still took FOREVER. Speed was not something I achieved with this line. In fact, I didn't even get all 10 of my pieces made.
I got very very sick a few days before it was due, but even if I hadn't gotten sick, I still would have been way behind.

I learned several things along the way. The planished forms look a lot more interesting than the ones that are sandblasted. It gives them more movement, I think. Also I learned halfway through that I need to seal the copper BEFORE the rivets go on. Otherwise, even with spray finish, I can't get a good solid coat on the pieces. Woops. I also realized that a variance in size/shape of beads looks better and more interesting than just having a lot of the same size. So, my last one (the large brooch pictured above) is the best one, obviously from all the things I learned along the way. The rest are nice, but I definitely need to work on some of them.

Oh, PS. they're based around the idea of throwing up. I think it's funny, and I've gotten very different reactions to the idea. Most people my age think it's hillarious and cool. Older people look disgusted. I named the line "Cute Puke" and the display cards are black and white with a faint mouth in the background (which is where the product sits in the display).

Mokume Gane

A couple weeks ago, some friends, our professor, and I began our Mokume Gane journey of 2011. Let me explain.

Mokume Gane is a japanese metal-fusing technique that offers the most BEAUTIFUL patterns in the metal. Here, let me show you: (All these pictures are samples that Ted McDonah brought with him when he came to show us this technique in Fall 2009.)

Cool, right? Here's how it goes down:

First, We need a LOT of metal. The billet (that's what we call the big hunk of metal that all these sheets of metal will become) consists of around 25ish (depending on what you want) sheets of metal that are 2x3 inches each. The stack ends up being around 1 inch. This picture (above) shows my stack of metal in the contraption we use for firing it. My thumb is in there to show some perspective. Oh, ps-the metal has to be REALLY clean. SUPER clean. It took quite a while to clean all this metal properly.

Once the metal is all ready, we fire up the forge. We use propane gas and that forge gets so hot, sitting in front of it is almost unbearable. 

Every minute, I had to flip the billet over. It's not that heavy, but it's at the end of a long pole. Plus the forge is small so the billet has to be turned in one spot. It's somewhat difficult, and we realized pretty early that using a stool to rest the supporting elbow on is the only way to do it.

After about 7 minutes or so, the billet is done cooking, so we take it out. As you can see from Lauren's face, it's REALLY hot.

Then, to get it out, the bolts have to come off.....while it's hot....

Once the billet is out, it gets forged down on the anvil. This process takes a while, and gets done at several different points in the mokume process. The billet gets hit with a heavy hammer, then put back in the forge to anneal, then hit again, then back in the forge, over and over again.

Finally, we end up with a billet that looks like this. It's about 1/2 an inch high now. Those blobs poking out are the unknown alloy that seeps out during the forging process. It's not really a useful material, but it's still fun to collect it.

Now the "fun" part. The sides have to get cut off. During the forging, cracks frequently form on the sides of the billet. The billet has to be cut down so that those cracks get cut off. If the cracks don't get cut off, they will just get longer and longer. Even using the hacksaw, it takes about 45 minutes to cut the short side of the billet! We eventually moved to the band saw, but it still takes about 20 minutes each side. You can see all the layers squished into the billet.

So more forging happens and the billet gets down to about 1/4 inch. This is when the patterning can happen. All the different patterns in the first pictures are made in different ways. Drilling, twisting, denting, and stretching all combine to form various patterns. During the patterning process, the billet continues to be heated and forged with the hammer.

We ran out of gas for the forge this most recent time, so we are stuck for the time being. Currently we are at the "cutting off the sides" stage. From start to finish, this process takes a very long time. I mean it can take weeks. I imagine if someone devoted all their time to this process and didn't do anything else during it, AND if they had someone to trade off swinging the hammer (your arms start to hurt REALLY bad), this imaginary person could probably do this whole process in a few days. Buuuutttt that's not how it happens in our world. 

Me and my glowing billet. It was...warm.

Hey, check me out!

Carly J. Cais featured a link to my blog on her website, chic-steals!! This is excellent!

I've been up to a lot recently, and I'm trying to compile pictures to post soon.

WaHOOO

I've been accepted into "The Rising Eyes of Texas" show in Rockport, Texas! The show is March 2 through April 2, and I am SO excited! First acceptance of the new year!

This is the piece that got in, which surprised me a little. I decided to name it "Petticoat" because...that's what it reminds me of.

Other things I do when I have time

To veer from my mostly-metals content for a minute, I thought I would show images of some things I do when I have time (mostly to make money).

I do portraits of people and animals totally out of glitter. They're very popular and super fun to make. I love just love glitter, and the fact that it gets everywhere really doesn't bother me at all!

I also decided to play around with photoshop and see if I could develop a more fluent skill with it, so I thought it would be fun to make a family portrait series with our portraits made out of text that spells our names over and over.

So this is mine..obviously..all the text says Stina...

Veronica's

Our oldest cat, Justin (1 1/2)

Our baby, Margene (8 months)

I just wanted to share what I do when I have some free time. I also do general crafty things like crocheting, sewing, and just general making things (like wreaths).

Check out www.whipperberry.com too!