Stamp Your Way Into Her Heart

Are you a mom? Do you have a mom? Do you know a mom? Then you might have started thinking about Mother's Day. It's a little ways off still (May 12), but I've started brainstorming about what kind of mother's jewelry I want to make.

I made a "Secret Message" ring, that can have almost countless variations.

As you can see, the outside is very simple. It could be a plain band, or an initial, or any of 100's of design stamps that are available, and the inside has the secret message; which could also be anything that fits on the ring.

I made some of these rings for a boutique I am going to be at, so I made them in a one-size-fits-all cuff style. It could just as easily be made into a full ring though.

I also came up with this mother's necklace. Another simple piece (I'm kind of leaning towards more minimalistic styles lately. Just cuz.) that allows for 1,2,3, or 4 birthstone beads.

This one could also be easily customized. It could have a heart instead of the word "mom," or a name, or whatever. The beads could also just be decorative instead of birthstones. I just had a thought... A star with a red, a white, and a blue bead. Patriotic, right?

Endless possibilities! That's what I love so much about making jewelry. Especially when it's hand stamped, because it can have personalized meaning. I recently became a distributor of ImpressArt Metal Stamps. They have such a huge variety of design stamps, and alphabet fonts - I'm really having fun with them! You can check out some of the stamps here if you're interested. (I've just set this up, so I'll be adding lots more in the coming weeks!) Even if you've never done any stamping, jewelry like this ring and necklace are so easy and fun to make! Think of the fun you'll have whipping out Mother's Day gifts, birthday gifts, YOU gifts! :)

Mother's Day is in just over a month. Better get started!

Alisa

Water Casting... Thoughts?

A few months ago I took a water casting class at The Sawdust Art Festival in Laguna Beach, CA. Fun? Yes!

Water casting is pouring molten metal into a pot of water, where it almost immediately solidifies in random shapes. As students, we each got to melt a mixture of sterling silver and a bit of copper in a crucible with an acetylene torch, which we then poured into the pot of water. It was fun (and a little scary!) to use the torch in one hand (a much larger and hotter torch than I usually use), and swish molten silver around in dish in the other. I kept visualizing myself splashing some out on my foot or someones pant leg. Exciting! :) We could either pour the silver directly into the pot of water, or pour it into a bundle of straw which had soaked in the water and was standing up in the pot. I wish I had pictures to show you of the straw method, but I didn't go that route, so no pics. They came out in sort of a long shape with vertical grooves in them. They almost looked like some kind of crystallized mineral or something. They were pretty cool, but I watched several unsuccessful attempts, and decided to just use the pot of water.... It was a larger target to aim at! I had time to do it twice, and ended up with two very different pieces.

This was the first one I made. The metal hits the water and cools immediately in whatever shape it splashes into. Each piece also comes out with an interesting patina. The colors in the patina depend on several factors like the temperature and length of time the metal was heated, the combination of metals used, and the speed of cooling. We didn't get into trying to acheive a particular patina... we were just newbies, but I kind of like the golds and greens and pinks in this one.

And this is my second piece. I like the more compact shape of this one. I played around with the patina a little after I got home because I wanted to accentuate the high spots by darkening the nooks and crannies. I like the effect, and I also like how, over time, the high spots have darkened to a goldish color because of the copper mixed in with the silver. However, the original patina had some of the same greens and pinks that the first one has... maybe I should have just left it alone. Trial and error. Live and learn.

Ever since I took this class I have wondered about making some pieces like this to sell. They are very different from my usual style. I normally like to plan something out ahead of time, and then make my jewelry according to plan. These water cast pieces are completely random. I suppose with practice I could control the outcome a bit, but not much. You get what you get. Maybe that's good?

What do you think?

Alisa