Inspiration, Dimension, Tutorial of sorts……..

By Staci L. Smith


I love the beach.  I could spend hours upon hours, just standing there, where the land meets the sea.  When we go,  I can often be found scouring the shoreline for goodies……mostly sea glass, but also shells, old, full of holes, broken, smoothed, beach stones, driftwood, and anything that makes me look twice.

They end up in bowls and cups and sometimes just piles everywhere in my home. I just love to look at them, and they always inspire me, and remind me of the shore I long for.


You see, I love texture, so to me, these little items that I collected become endless inspiration.........the shapes, lines, and TEXTURES find their way into my jewelry.

I promise, this is going somewhere!  Stay with me.

So the other night, I was in my studio, with lots of sheet metal. I wanted to make something with texture and dimension to it. I tried some fold forming and made some cool leaves…..but I needed it to be round. Thats what was in my head, and I wasn't going to rest until they I had them (I am drawn to circles and spirals, in case you didn't notice..…)

So I got out my handy dandy, super awesome, disc cutter and began to cut out discs. I cut them out in all kinds of sizes, and then I went further and cut some of the centers out of them too. I planned to make some funky version of a lentil bead for charms and pendants.

Since I walked you through the inspiration, I will walk you through the process. It amazed me how simple it was. It amazed me, how transformed my little metal discs were. I loved it so much, I made a zillion of them (ok, not a zillion, but a lot for sure)!

First, take two discs, one a little smaller than the other.

Place the larger disc on the dapping block, and dome it.

Take the smaller disc, place it on a rubber block, and with a center punch, make pointy dots on it for texture. (you can make any texture on yours, this was inspired by a shell a found with little points on it)

Then place that disc, texture side down, in the dapping block and dome it.

Then punch a hole in the larger disc towards the top.

Smear some Easy Solder Paste on the bottom disc where they will meet.

Put them together, lentil style, and place onto your solder block.

Torch it.

Quench it.

Pickle it.

Voila.

Then tumble and patina.  These were antiqued in Liver of Sulphur.

There are still cookin’ in some cool Miss Fickle patina’s.

Do they look sea shell like in nature?  Do they have that "found by the sea" feel to them?  I think they kinda do.....
Tomorrow these will get buffed, and sprayed, sealed and then waxed.  Then, they are ready to go.  Some for my designs, some for my shop. 

See, you can take any simple design idea (like a lentil style bead) and turn it into something all your own....all you need is a little inspiration!!

Have you ever taken a common shape or form, and re-made it into your own style somehow?

"OOOoooooo.....................What is this?"

By Staci L. Smith

I don’t know about you, but I am a real stickler about making sure the jewelry I make is good quality.  I give a guarantee, and if, for some reason, it breaks, or they are unhappy, I will fix or replace it.  Now, I don't mind doing that at all, because I want people to be happy, but I don’t really want to be fixing stuff all the time either.  Mostly, I don’t want my customers to be without their jewelry.

In order to avoid this, I test it.  When I create a new design, I make sure to wear it around the house, carrying diaper bags, and groceries.  Cleaning, playing, ect…..  Only then do I feel confident enough that my design can be worn and worn and worn, with no worries. 

Since I have been working in copper, I have been agonizing about how it wears over a long time.  I use patinas on my copper and bronze, and seal them.  I tell my customers NOT to wear them in the ocean, or pool in order to protect the color.

So, last Friday, we went to  Long Beach Island for a day trip, and I decided to see what would happen if I wore one of my necklaces to the beach.

before fun in the sun and surf

I picked this one.  It has some copper loops with a verdigris patina on them, sealed with permalac and wax.  It also has a copper bezel that is only waxed lightly.

I did not go into the water completely, but I did play in the surf with the kids. 

(Oh, it was such a nice day for it too!  Lots of stuff on the beach to salvage as well!)

On the way home, after a 12 hour day trip, I took off my necklace and looked at it.  “OOoooooo…………..What is this?”  There, on my lightly waxed copper, was verdigris beginning to develop.  It had patterns, as if it were splashed on.  Splashed……………like from water..........from the salt water!!!!!  (and yes, my mind was a tad slow to put this together.  I try not to think too much after a day in the sun)

After fun in the sun and surf

So I did what anyone would have done, and Googled “patina by salt water” from my phone.  Guess what?  It works.   It’s and it’s all natural.  I am totally trying this, and hope that when I do it on purpose, it looks as cool as when the ocean did it by accident. 

So this week I plan to Google more ways to naturally patina my metal.  I am always trying to keep my studio as green as possible.  I also may buy Tim McCreights DVD on patina. 

I hear he tells you all about using household products to color your metal surfaces. 

WOW!  I just love when something like this happens.  I really wanted to find out if my patina would hold up with the salt water (and it did, though I still don’t recommend wearing it in the ocean), but I found out something new and exciting too.

So, share with me……..have you had any happy accidents?  Discovered something totally different then you set out to?