Sacerdotesse

Third times the charm..

Well, after my third go at applying Aura to my first ever pendant, I’m finally happy with it! I fired again last night and burnished it hot. I’m getting much better results by firing in the dark, so I think I’ll continue on with that.

I’ve burned through a few polishing pads in the tries I’ve made..  it’s amazing how much stuff you can use up while you are trying to work out how to get a technique exactly right!

I put the aura 22 on a pendant I had made in my first class.. however I had a problem with it de-laminating from one section of the rim.  I have a theory that it delaminates if it hasn’t been heated up enough so…  I put another layer on.. and overheated it so that the gold disappeared into the silver.  Doh.  I remembered what the lovely May Bartrum had told me about burnishing the gold when it was hot, and burnished it hot after my second attempt.  Like keum boo.. apparently this helps the gold to fuse to the silver underneath better.   I’d love to try my hand at Keum boo sometime!

I think one of the hard things about starting off in any new crafting endeavor is getting the tools together.  There is always something more that you need, want, or simply lust after!

Here is my list of things I’d like to have (in no particular order)

• A kiln
• Donut cutter
• Linda Stiles Smith’s delicious clay cutters
• Agate burnisher (or 3)
• Tumbler
• Rio Grande’s Aegean stamps
• Circular clay cutters
• Clay Extruders
• Linda Kaye Moses fantastic looking Doming plates
• Enameling supplies
• Dockyard/wolf carvers

Today, I messed around with Aura 22 and my new blow torch for the first time. My first round was a bit of a disaster.

I torched the ring I’m working on outside, but this meant that I couldn’t get a good look at the color of the piece and I think I over heated it because all of the gold seemed to disappear into the silver! 

Dome 1

Dad told me this one looks like a salt shaker. Thanks Dad!

Showing Granulation

Ring 1

I fired this one in my second lesson, the one about color pencils and Aura 22.

I’m going to apply Aura to the rims, set coloured stones in the bezels, and LOS the peacock stamp imprint.  Wish me luck!

05/06/09

I’ve added the aura and one stone (a sapphire).  Just waiting for the others to come in the mail!

Aura and sapphire added

Pendant 2

First pendant I ever made! In a class run by the fabulous Roz Eberhard-Swan of The Eclectic Studio.

This one still needs some gold on it and some enamel in the middle.

Visby Lens

Note:  Scrapbook entries are basically cut and pasted information from around the web.  Sources and links are given where available.

Photo: Visby lens displayed at the Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm. By mararie. Used under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic Licence.

Polished rock crystals set in silver have not been found anywhere in the Nordic regions except on Gotland. They turn up among hoards and grave goods from the transition period between the Viking Age and the Medieval Period and they also appear during this period out in Europe.

outer rim done.. inner rim to go

I had some fun today starting to cover the wood clay forms I made earlier.

I rolled out a 3 card thick circle, and then pressed a stamp in to it to give it some texture.  This is the top side of the new pendant I’m making.  I did the same again for the underside of the pendant.  I then used the wooden form as a template and cut out 2 discs to fit the top and bottom side of the form.  Using some slip as glue, I waited for the 2 disks to become leather hard, and glued them on to the form.  I then trimmed back the disks a little to fit the form flush.  (I had to trim back a little of the form to fit the disks too!)

Well the wood clay pieces that are made are finally dry.. and it does look as if I will be able to sand the back as they are quite brittle.  The only issue I now have is that they warped in the drying process!  I’m going to put something heavy on them while I’m away over the weekend.. hopefully that will flatten them out a bit.