Learn To Bead

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Posts Tagged ‘metal work’

Gallery Hopping in August

Posted by learntobead on August 14, 2009

    Jewelry Exhibits at Galleries Around The World

The Sting of Passion
Saturday 11 July 2009 – Sunday 25 October 2009
Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester, England
http://www.manchestergalleries.org/

 

Twelve international jewellery designers present new commissions in response to our Pre-Raphaelite painting collection.

Marianne Schliwinski for Joli Coeur by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Marianne Schliwinski for Joli Coeur by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Jivan Astfalck for Sappho by Charles-August Mengin

Jivan Astfalck for Sappho by Charles-August Mengin

 

 

Guild of Phillipine Jewellers
Winners from Past Design Competitions
http://www.guildofphilippinejewellersinc.com/index.php

 

 

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Dorothea Pruhl
http://www.farlang.com/exhibits/padua-dorothea-pruhl/home

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Dorothea Pruhl is a leading exponent of the current art jewellery scene.
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Her aesthetic stance is informed by abstract impressions from nature, concentration on essentials, eminent sensitivity and sculptural power.

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She makes basic statements in gold and silver – but also in wood, aluminium, titanium and stainless steel – impressions manifest in generously proportioned, clear entities.

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Starting with what is there, she tracks it down to its inmost core, applying to its quintessence a new aesthetic idiom – it might be a flower, the wind, a house, birds in flight.

Born in Breslau in 1937, Dorothea Pruhl studied art at Burg Giebichenstein in Halle before working in industry as a designer of manufactured jewellery.

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Susanne Klemm
http://www.susanneklemm.com/susanne.html

“Art creates memories of nature.”

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An Interview With Vintage Costume Jewelry Collector Carole Tanenbaum

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/an-interview-with-vintage-costume-jewelry-collector-carole-tanenbaum/

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By Maribeth Keane and Jessica Lewis, Collectors Weekly Staff (Copyright 2009)

Carole Tanenbaum talks about vintage costume jewelry, discussing the major designers (such as Coco Chanel, Schiaparelli, Trifari, and Schreiner), popular fashion trends, and the origins of costume jewelry. She can be contacted at her website, caroletanenbaum.com.

 

jennifer trask: flourish

Susan Lomuto | Aug 11, 2009 |

http://dailyartmuse.com/2009/08/11/jennifer-trask-flourish/

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Jennifer Trask’s latest series, Unnatural Histories: Flourish, begins with the following definitions of the word flourish:

1. To grow well or luxuriantly; thrive
2. To do or fare well; prosper
3. To be in a period of highest productivity; excellence or influence.
4. To make bold or sweeping movements.

The Hudson Valley, New York based artist, best known for jewelry that incorporates snake vertabrae, beetle shells, feathers, bone, pre-ban ivory and sea urchin shells, might have included her own name for a fifth definition. As her new work of removable jewelry mounted on encaustic drawings and paintings shows, Jennifer.Trask.Is.Flourishing.

 

Polymer Art Archive
http://polymerartarchive.com/

This is a site where professional artists working in the medium of polymer will find inspiration. Museum and gallery curators will be able to access documentation about the evolution of this vibrant medium for artistic expression. And serious collectors will discover windows to new works and the medium’s most collectable artists.

Sandra McCaw, Persian Cuff, 2007

Sandra McCaw, Persian Cuff, 2007

 

 

Rachel Carren, William Morris Sebo Brooch, 2009

Rachel Carren, William Morris Sebo Brooch, 2009

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TIPS AND TRICKS

Posted by learntobead on March 2, 2009

rightprofileseated3TIPS AND TRICKS

Occasional insights into beading, jewelry making, and business…

 

Turning Silver Black (Oxidizing)
There are many ways to oxidize or blacken silver.   You can buy some products that do this for you.   

 

One is called Liver of Sulphur.    With Liver of Sulphur, this turns silver into a dull black.     When using Liver of Sulphur, either the solution needs to be hot, or the metal needs to be hot.    To heat the solution, you can put it in the microwave for 90 seconds.

Another product is called Black Max.    Black max turns silver into a dark black.   The product does not have to be hot.    It has a shorter shelf-life, however.

With both of these products, you can darken your silver, and then take a soft cloth, like a piece of denim, and buff the surfaces, so that the top surfaces gleem, and the crevices are dark.

Another thing you can do is to buy an antiquing solution, or use a dark color varnish.   You paint this on, and then rub it off with a soft cloth.   Let it dry for about 20 minutes, and repeat, if you need the antiquing to be darker.    This leaves a glossy black finish.    Here, again, you usually want to leave some gradations of color on the metal, so that the top surfaces are shinier than the crevices.

You can also use a hard boiled egg.   Put your silver in a plastic bag along with a hard boiled egg.  The sulphur from the egg will blacken your silver.

If you want to speed up the tarnishing process, but do not want to turn your product black, spray your metal with Windex with Ammonia.   The ammonia will turn the silver black, and the low amount of ammonia in this product will make the process more gradual.

 

 

 

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