Etching with transparencies

My love affair with etching copper continues as does my search for new ways to transfer the image on to the metal.

You may have seen on my blog, my idea of using stickers cut on a Silhouette Cameo to mask areas of metal to protect them from the etching chemicals. While this is a great way to create simple bold designs, it doesn't work so well on something with smaller fiddly details.

The most common way to transfer more complicated designs is by using Press and Peel Paper which is printed using a laser printer, the image peeled off and then ironed on to the metal. This produces a great result, the only down side is the cost. At around £20 GBP for 5 sheets, it's expensive.

I don't know about you, but using expensive materials to test ideas (which I do a lot) makes me a little nervous, and usually ends up with me only creating a mess. So having my regular scout around on the internet, I came across using laser transparencies. They're clear sheets of acetate, the same as used on the old school overhead projectors, but they're suitable for use at the temperatures needed to print on a laser.

So a quick call to the local stationary shop and 10 minutes later, I had 5 sheets for £1.25... bargain! I had to try it out and see how it worked for me, so here's my results...

To start, I drew up some designs and printed them on to the transparency.

So far so good! You can see the images here on the transparent sheet laid over white paper. My laser printer is a bit temperamental, but it shot through with no problems.

Next, I got out the iron. I tried at full temperature on my first attempt, which was too hot and started to melt the plastic. So after a couple of tries, I found a medium setting was best. You don't need anything to cover the transparency, just place the iron on it and check every 10 seconds how it's going. Be careful, the metal gets very hot!

If you look at the print on an angle, you can see that it changes to a more solid colour once it's stuck to the metal. You might need a few tries and some close looking to get the hang of what to look out for. 

Once it's stuck down, you need to leave it to cool. If you're as impatient as I am, you can run it under a tap for a second to speed it up.

Peel off the transparency and if it's worked, virtually all of the toner will be stuck to the metal and the transparency will be pretty much clean.

As you can see here, part of the design missed, but the great thing with this technique is, if it hasn't completely transferred, you can re-align the design and try again. You do sometimes get a bit of trouble near the edges if they're slightly higher than the flat part of the sheet through cutting, so just pop it back on and press again with the iron until the whole image is transferred.

And here's the image after etching with ferric chloride, you can now cut it from the sheet and use in your designs.

I hope you enjoyed reading and that you'll have a go!

To get you in the mood, here's a bit of inspiration... some of my favourite designs and components in etched copper.

Moongazing Hare ring by Anna McDade

Earrings by A Twist of Whimsy

Etched William Morris pendant by Thea Elements

Etched bangle by The Bronze Flower

Thanks for reading!

Caroline 

blueberribeads

Inspired by Ceramics; the Exploration of "Organically Grown" Metal

I have admired Keirsten Giles' work for a long time, her sense of wonder, and the desire to explore and play. So I was super excited when she agreed to occasionally guest blog for you, our wonderful AJE readers. Enjoy! -Jen

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Every few months I get kind of bored with the jewelry I’m doing and so I change it up a little. I often will be inspired by another artist’s work that has a slightly different vibe than mine, and I’ll start heading a little in that direction to see what happens. 

Lately I’ve been wowed by really archeological and natural-looking pieces with a wild, primitive feeling, and dark, moody metals. I started collecting beads and focals with more of this primitive, rustic feel, preparing myself to take a little side-turn when inspiration struck. Robyn and Rey of Ragged Robyn and Grey Bird Studio, respectively, have really knocked my socks off with both their imagination and their uncanny ability to create objects that feel authentically ancient or natural. I picked up a couple little things from their shops:

Porcelain pods from Grey Bird Studio (mine!)

Tapered pod relics by Ragged Robyn (mine!)

Absolutely fabulous—it isn’t easy to mimic nature, or true agedness, like this. My hat is off to these hypertalented women! I could sit for hours just looking through their Etsy shops.

I don’t work in ceramics but rather metal, so I have been mentally exploring ways to make a piece of metal seem organically grown, or naturally aged/distressed. Lately I have been looking at pictures of ancient pottery shards on the Internet, and thought, “Why not try to fake up my own broken pottery shards, but with metal? It’ll be fun!!” And off I went.

I thought I’d make different sizes I could use for pendants, bracelet clasps, necklace connectors, etc. I had too much trouble trying to draw faux-broken edges, so I just sketched the basic shape and then let my saw wander where it might.

My freshly cut metal “shards”

It was way harder than I expected to create random edges! But I will say I overcame my loathing of the saw—it was actually kind of relaxing. Especially once I was using the right gauge saw for my metal. And nothing beats a fresh blade and some beeswax!

My plan was to etch them, so after filing and sanding the edges, I applied my designs using digital files printed onto PressnPeel sheets, using a household iron.

Shards ready to etch

Freshly etched shards

After etching them, I tube riveted most of the holes (I have an aversion to plain holes in metal components, and I also feel a little more secure using them with linen cording if there’s a tube rivet—fewer sharp edges to cut through the cording during the normal wear and tear.)

Tube-riveted shards

Then I blackened them to have a nice dark base to apply my patina over:

Shards nice and black from the LOS bath

I thought for this first batch, I would try to suggest the idea of old glazed pottery, so I used dye oxide patinas on them rather than leaving them as bare metal. I wasn’t totally thrilled with the results—I have a hard time getting a pattern to stand out using these patinas—so I applied a whisper of gilder’s paste over the top of the finished patinas to highlight the patterns a bit:

Finished shards ready for sealant

I couldn’t help leaving a couple of them bare metal (I love the color of copper! In retrospect, I think I would have preferred to leave them all bare copper, just adding other small patinaed elements to them.)

Bare copper necklace connectors

I just got a pile of really rustic recycled glass beads from Happy Mango Beads, which I think will work nicely with my “shards,” and I still have my hoard of Petra Carpreau treasures, plus my new earth relics from Rey and Robyn—I’m all set, so stay tuned. I should have some new jewelry to show in about six months, haha!

Keirsten’s Etsy shop: www.etsy.com/shop/lunedesigns

Keirsten’s blog: www.cerebraldilettante.blogspot.com

Keirsten’s Flickr photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lunestudio/

Whole Bead Show

Last weekend I had the unique opportunity to get an insider's look at a bead show, even though I do not create beads.  I helped fellow AJE team member, Kristi Bowman, with her booth at the Whole Bead Show in Lynnwood, WA.  It was Kristi's first time being a vendor at a bead show and she did quite well.  Of course that was no surprise to me, because her copper and polymer clay components are so unique and gorgeous.

I arrived on Thursday and helped her with the pre-show setup.  I'm familiar with the whole setup and breakdown routine from my experiences with the fine arts and crafts shows where I sell my finished jewelry.

Thursday night.  All's quiet and ready!

Kristi's  banner was newly ordered from Vista Prints.  Originally we'd placed it on the bulletin board behind the booth, but we were told that we had to remove it.  We weren't sure how best to attach the banner to the booth and we learned from a fellow vendor that you can attach your vinyl banner to your table cover using double stick foam tape.  It holds well, doesn't damage the tablecloth and peels off fairly well from the back of the banner when you're all done.

Friday morning was a bit slow, but by the end of the day, Kristi felt pretty satisfied with her sales.  We found that we worked well together.  I'd wrap up the purchases and write the receipt, while Kristi added up the sales total, added the tax and operated the Square.

You can't imagine how difficult it was to spend 3 days with all this treasure right in front of my nose, tempting me!  I wanted it ALL!  I kept picking components up, fondling them and then reluctantly placing them back in the trays.  

Each day of the show, I wore different jewelry featuring Kristi's copper components. Pictured below is the jewelry set I wore on Friday.

April Bloom Earrings and Fly Away Necklace

On Saturday and Sunday we were battling gorgeous weather.  With summer-like temperatures, people wanted to be outside digging in their gardens, sailing their boats or playing sports.  Attending a bead show indoors, slips lower on the priority list in those circumstances.  Vendors told us the turnout was lower than the year before.   We had gaps of time when it seemed like there were more vendors than customers, but then there were other times when we had a pretty steady stream of shoppers.  At the end of the second day, Kristi was happy with her sales and she knew that she'd be able to call this show a success.  

Linda and Kristi at the Whole Bead Show

I spent the nights at Kristi's house and I must say that I fell in love with her 2 adorable long haired dachshunds, Shasta and Ginger.  

I had earrings made for Saturday's show, but I'd run short of time and had never made a necklace.  On Friday night, after the show, I created a necklace to go with the earrings. I was so tired by then that I was getting cross-eyed trying to wire on those dangles!

Saturday's jewelry du jour:

My daughter and her boyfriend live not too far away from where the show was being held, so on Sunday, I met them for brunch, since the show didn't start till noon on Sunday. That was an enjoyable bonus treat!

One of the best things about the show was getting to know our nearby booth mates.  We had so much fun laughing and goofing off together!  So much talent and such a great sense of humor. To the left of Kristi's booth, was Sheila Davis of Stone Designs.  Unfortunately, I didn't get a photo of Sheila or her booth, but her lampwork is truly gorgeous.  Both Kristi and I bought a good deal of beads from her.  And, not only does she create lampwork glass beads, but she also designs intricate jewelry which features her beads.  Swoon!

To our right, were three more talented lampwork glass artists:  Judith Billig of Judith Billig Contemporary Lampwork Beads, Lori Bergmann of Lori Bergmann Design and Lara Lutrick of Lutrick.

Judith, Lori and Lara - photo by Lori Bergmann

These three women are immensely talented and both Kristi and I bought a lot of their gorgeous beads!  During slow times, we talked shop, laughed and goofed around.

Judith hamming it up and showing off her "Angelina Jolie lips"! 

She cracked me up!

Judith with her delightful lampwork

Lori and Judith at Lori's booth

I bought some lovely sage green lampies from Lara on Saturday and used them to create earrings to wear on Sunday.  I paired the new earrings with the necklace I'd made the night before.

Ammonite Impression Earrings

Overall the show was a success.  Kristi did well at her booth, we both scored lots of great new beads and we enjoyed the company of great people who shared our passion for beads and jewelry.  I returned home inspired!

Linda

Linda Landig Jewelry - ArtFire 

Linda Landig Jewelry - Etsy  

Chestnut Brown Copper

I love, love, love the deep chestnut brown patina that is possible with copper... but it took me a long time and a lot of experimentation to perfect the process so I could get it consistently. The thing I love best about this is that the resulting patina is very dimensional, which may be hard to see in these photos - but give it a try yourself and you'll see.

Start with a copper piece that has been pickled, neutralized, and brushed clean with a brass brush. The "neutralized" part of that is really important - use baking soda in solution with tap water. Un-neutralized pickle on a piece of metal can react to the patina and sealants over time.

This piece is really clean - what you're seeing are reflections on the metal.

Place the piece on your soldering block (choose a clean spot!) and gently heat it with your torch until it darkens. Make sure it's completely dried off before you do this, since the water can leave mineral deposits on the metal as it rapidly heats and evaporates.

Quench the piece, then use a green scrubby and running water to clean it. Don't use soap! Just the green scrubby and a little elbow grease will be enough to brush back the patina on the high points and even out the color. Be sure to dry the piece thoroughly before moving on to the next step - any water left on the piece will dilute the patina as it comes in contact with the metal.

Sorry this is a little out of focus!

Get your work area set up with the darkening liquid patina of your choice and either running water or a water bath nearby. I use Novocan Black in this demonstration, but liver of sulphur gel works great too. Then, quickly submerge your piece in the liquid and take it right back out, putting it in the water bath or rinsing it under running water. Really: just dip it in and take it out, then rinse it thoroughly.

Repeat this step several times - dry off the piece, dip it quickly into the patina, then rinse thoroughly. Every other dip in the patina, use the green scrubby to even out the color - no soap or cleanser, just the scrubby and some water. After anywhere from four to six dips in the bath, you'll have a beautiful, even deep brown patina with highlighted texture.

Sorry this one's out of focus too!

Put the piece in a tumbler for at least an hour - if you have a vibratory tumbler, you can get the same effect in 20 minutes or so. You're looking for a deeply burnished surface that glows, and you'll start to be able to see the dimensionality of the patina.

Toss in a piece of large link copper chain to tumble with your piece - it helps create a random organic texture.

After an hour of tumbling, these pieces have mellowed to a beautiful, deep chestnut.

Use your fingers to rub a little bit of Renaissance Wax (I love that stuff!!) into the surface of the piece. A little goes a long way, but you want to make sure you get thorough coverage. Set the piece aside and allow to dry for at least 15 minutes - longer is better. Then buff with a soft cloth.

All of these pieces have had Ren Wax applied, but only the center one has been buffed. Note the matte appearance of the other two?

The Renaissance Wax will continue to harden over several hours - this is my favorite finish of all because it is so durable and imparts such a pretty glow - not too shiny, just right.

All the pieces buffed.

So that's how I do it - I get consistently deep, rich, dimensional color and beautifully highlighted textures with this technique, and the finish is extremely durable and stable.

Do you have any tips to add? How do you add patina to your copper?

Until next time!

Announcing the March CoM winners!

Thank you to all of you who left comments on the March Component of the Month giveaway post - the giveaway competition is now closed and the winners' names have been drawn out of the hat (well, out of a pottery dish that usually sits on my bookshelf). Drum roll please!

Congratulations to 

 Stephanie Weiss
Niky Sayers

Kathy  (Northern Light)
Carolyn (Carolyn's Creations)

Jess Green

I will email you all tomorrow!

Jo Tinley
Daisychain Designs 

 

Earring Challenge Reveal 3 (weeks 5-6/52)

Welcome to the third reveal of our AJE earring challenge which focuses on weeks 5 and 6 of our 52 week marathon. I hope you're enjoying creating for this event - It's become something of a ritual for me to go and check out our challenge Pinterest board with my first coffee of the day and it's great to see what a huge variety of designs there are. Hopefully these will also help to inspire everyone to try new ideas throughout the year and develop their repertoires.

Here are just a few of my favourites from the past two weeks..

I love these gorgeous rustic earrings from Claire Lockwood - the combination of textures and shapes and the mix of earthy tones with a bright pop of turquoise just work so well. It's a great photo too, clean and sharp with the props providing depth and interest but not overwhelming the earrings.

 

I was also very taken with this striking set by Kimmy Sayers with a very cool (icy even!) urban sort of look. These must have been a devil to photograph - I know I struggle with clear glass, but I think  Kimmy has done a lovely job.

My next choice comes from my AJE team mate Melissa Mehman and what grabbed my attention here is the fabulous rich mahogany colour and texture of the copper and the way it catches the light. Green is always a perfect pairing with copper and the choice and variety of beads add layers of interest and all finished perfectly with the contrast of silver ear wires.

And finally we have this  pretty Boho design by Cynthia Machata which I can just envisage on a hot summers day at the beach. I'm fond of using fiber in my own earring designs and I think it adds a real sense of playfulness to these.

So...now I can't wait to see what's in store for the weeks ahead - the next reveal will be on Sunday 3rd March and will cover weeks 7 & 8. Don't forget to mark your pins with the week and reveal number so that you have a chance of being featured here.

If you are blogging about you designs from weeks 5 and 6 you can add your links below and hop off on a challenge tour. Have fun.


Lesley
The Gossiping Goddess