A Peek into Production

Well, it's that time of year for me, the time of year when I crunch to have enough stock for the Berks Bead Bazaar in 6 weeks.  As of last weekend, I had nothing  to sell.  I still don't have anything sell ready, but my beads are underway.  So I thought I'd give you a peek into the madness, I mean, production.

I also have lots of new designs, including some toggle clasps!!!  I made my Moon Babies smaller this year, and shrank down some other designs as well, because sometimes they need to be the accent and not the focal.    So without further ado, here is the photo journey of bronze beads.

Bronze clay freshly molded, still damp

Then they go onto the hot plates....when I go into high production, two is not enough!  (I am not patient at all)

Next they get sanded with a soft sanding pad to smooth the edges, and holes get drilled at this point

Then they go onto a tray .

After that, they are fired in the kiln.

This is what they look like out of the kiln, with a light brass brushing under water to clean the carbon off.

You can see the finish is kinda matte- that's because the particles are not compressed yet.  The bronze is very porous at this stage.  To make it shiny and add strength, I put it into the tumbler with steel shot for anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour depending on the finish I want.

Looking into the tumbler when they are done polishing.

All shined up and ready for patina or a liver of sulfur bath.

The bunnies are new- and I plan to use ball head pins, balled on both sides, to rivet them to a backing.  I will hopefully have that to show one of these Mondays!

Here are some more of my new designs before they are cleaned up.  

I hope you enjoyed this peek into the process of bronze mass production. I really enjoy working this way- in batches!  I get into a nice groove and just go with it.

What about you?  Do like to work in big batches, or small / single projects?

Men wear jewelry too

by LeAnn Weih 

It started with these two bracelts that I made for myself. Then I made another for my daughter. Peter remarked, "you know, men wear jewelry too."  I should not have been terribly surprised by this revelation. A couple of years ago my 7 year old nephew went into a bit of a pout when I made his sister a necklace. We ended up selecting a bronze dragonfly and a simple leather cord for him. Or there were the men who would come by my table at art market and look at metal pieces and then be disappointed that I didn't have cords that were a good length for men.

So this started me thinking maybe I should make Peter a bracelet or two. So I challenged myself to use the basic design of these two bracelets to come up with the masculine counter parts. Bronze components seemed an obvious choice but most of the pieces I make are decidedly on the feminine side.

So I made up some new styles of components that were a bit more rustic and had a somewhat heavier feel to them. I used much heavier leather than in my bracelets. All of the beads I have are more feminine than I was looking for in men's jewelry. So instead I made up coils of heavy 16 gauge bronze wire and used them in place of beads.

Your turn!

Do you make men's jewelry?

What do you look for in the design of men's jewelry?

Home Sweet Home

Hi, All! It's been a while since I've been on the LMAJ blog. I'm just now feeling a little bit settled since we made the big move from West Texas to North Carolina. It's been a long trip in more ways than one. Life could not be more different here. For one thing it's really, really green.  West Texas summer is hot, dry and kind of brown. And there are hills here and it rains...a lot.

The house we moved into hasn't been lived in for more than 3 years. You can probably picture the state of the gardens. Total wreck. We've spent many hours out there cleaning things up. It's something of an obsession of mine right now. I love to grow things. Yes, I know this is a jewelry blog but we're getting there. Truly.

The heat last week chased me back inside and to my new studio. Air conditioning is the best thing since sliced bread! I'd show you pictures of the new studio but it's a disgraceful mess right now. It's starting to feel like home sweet home. Maybe another time I'll give you a tour?

These are some of the things out in the garden that are inspiring my work right now. Coreopsis, bitty baby tomatoes, new leaves, tickseed. It's not so much about the colour as the shapes. I love the form of seed heads, the unfolding of leafs, opening blossoms. I take a little tour every morning as the day is getting light. I'm looking for new small wonders to reveal themselves. I'm never disappointed and always feel quite in awe of the beauty of quietly growing things.

Bronze head pins. I never in a million years would have thought I might make head pins. But they just seemed the way to put together beads into something that mirrored my feelings about all of the lush green growing things out there in my little world.

And bead caps. I have one hundred zillion ideas in my head for bead caps.

These are my tomatoes. OK, I know they don't really look that much like tomatoes. But that's the great thing about taking a leap from the literal to the abstract. You can use what you see, what feels good as a spring board to expressing your own unique world view. 

So what's inspiring you right now?