This week so far - May 5th

It's been a crazy week and I haven't been able to get to my weekly update until now.
This week I've been working with tube rivets. It takes a lot of practice and some luck to get the back side of the rivet right. In the first samples I punched the centre hole and then domed the metal. I found that by doing it this way I had to be careful not to distort the middle holes.  I know my for my first tube riveting project I probably should have started with flat pieces but I enjoy a challenge!
Unfortunately these metal blanks already came with on hole in them so I'm trying to think up ways to hide the prepunched hole.
I've been searching online to find the best way to flare out the rivet on the back side of the piece. In the third picture you can see the results  of my flaring technique.
I think I still need a bit more practice. The fourth picture is a couple of flat pieces of metal joined together with rivets. I like how the finished piece looks so I'm going to keep at it. I'm also debating on whether or not I should get one of those tools that does it for you.

Tube rivet in the centre with ugly prepunched hole in small circle.

I think the rivet in the square one looks nicer than the one in the circle pendant.

I love the contrast in this piece. I'm debating if it needs something in the centre or not.

This week so far - April 26

This week was filled with more adventures in resin and bike chains. One of my cycling friends was doing a tune up on his bike and he gave me his old chain.
My current dilemma is do I pour the resin in the pendants before attaching the bike chain or do I attach the bike chain and then pour the resin. Both ways have pluses and minuses.
For instance if I pour the resin first it is easier to get a better seal and therefore I make less of a mess. The problem with this method is that you need to drill a hole in the resin. When drilling resin it is best to wear a mask because it creates a lot of dust and flying bits of resin (making a mess).
Using the second method you attach the bike chain and then pour the resin. In this method it is harder to get a seal (so you are cleaning up leaks and sometimes having to recast the whole project) but then you don't have to drill. Not that I'm against making a mess... far from it, some of the best crafting projects make my work room look as though a bomb hit it.
So here is one of my finished pieces.

Fun Foto Friday - April 22

Happy Friday! The photos that appear in Fun Foto Friday are random photos taken during the week on Kodi's daily walks. Feel free to add your own caption.
Kodi's new back pack.

This week so far - April 19

So this week my post is going to be a little bit different. I'm pleased to be a blog hop co-host with BlueEyedBlessings. See the bottom of this week's post to join the blog hop fun.

So far this week I've continued my experimenting with resin and backless pendants. Currently I'm working on a way to incorporate my backless resin pendants with bike chain (one of my favourite materials to work with). I'm not quite happy with the results yet (I'm pretty fussy) and so I'm playing with some different ideas. I'm hoping to get this sorted out by the weekend.
Also this week I'm trying to figure out the best way to dry cherry blossoms. The problem with cherry blossoms is that they turn brown really easily and they are so delicate. If anyone has ideas or experience with drying cherry blossoms please post them in the comments on this blog post.

So without further ado... on to the blog hop

Wednesday Store & Blog Hop hosted by Blue Eyed Blessings and Crocheted Little Things and co-hosted by me!

 

How will the LINKY work? Easy!  

1) Enter your blog and/or store into the appropriate Linky below!
*BLOGS* = 1st set of Linky’s*STORES* = 2nd set of Linky’s*For the STORES link, please specify what type of store: ETSY:, ARTFIRE:, etc.! 

2) Follow the Handmade Wednesday Hosts & Co-Hosts! Leave a comment letting us know you’re stopping by from Handmade Wednesday! 

3) Follow any blogs or stores that interest you! Leave them a comment too!

4) Grab our Button and Linky Codes to share with all your Blogging, Etsy, Artifre, etc. Friends! 

*Please remember that our blogs are Family Friendly and any thumbnails or links that we feel are inappropriate will be removed*  



Blog Linky:
Blogger & Self-Hosted WP Code:

WP.com Code:
Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

Store Linky:
Blogger & Self-Hosted WP Code:

WP.com Code:
Powered by Linky Tools
Click here to enter your link and view this Linky Tools list...

Fun Foto Friday - April 15

Happy Friday! The photos that appear in Fun Foto Friday are random photos taken during the week on Kodi's daily walks. Feel free to add your own caption.
Cherry Blossoms!

This week so far - April 12

It's been a busy week for me. Our dog got an eye infection and so we've been visiting the vet. His eye is looking a lot better and is almost healed. Spring has also arrived and that means spring cleaning.
I was inspired by the cherry blossoms on the trees in the neighbourhood this week so I dug out my pressed flowers. I picked these flowers from the yard and pressed them last summer.
Last night I poured resin over them using a technique I learned in the workshops I took a few weekends ago. Here's one of the pendants, I'll be adding more to my shop this week.

I'm also expanding my line of bicycle jewellery. I'm really enjoying working with bike chain. There are so many different items that can be paired with the chain. This week I found some wooden checkers and drilled a hole in them. I've also made a pendant from dominos. Here's the latest

This week so far - April 5th

This is my last instalment on the workshops I took a couple of weekends ago. I took courses in riveting, enameling, etching, soldering and resin. Last week I talked about the resin and etching classes so this week I'll talk about the riveting, enameling and soldering classes.
My second workshop of the weekend was the soldering class. I was excited about finally getting to use my butane torch. I've taken a soldering course before but we used an oxy-Acetylene set-up that was quite intimidating and expensive. As the workshop was a beginner class most people were in the same boat as me. We learned about safety. Our project was "bubble" earrings in sterling silver. I doing this project we used hard, medium and soft solders. I also learned not to place my small silver "bubbles" close together on the fire brick because if you over heat them the just melt into a ball. Here's the result of my class.

They need a bit more polishing and some earring wires but I'm quite happy with them.

The next morning I took a riveting class. This is definately not an activity to do if you have a hang over. A lot of pounding with hammers as we also textured the metal before riveting. We got to play with the fun expensive tools from one of the supplies from the tradeshow.

This is the results of the class

They just need the finishing touches, earring wires and a chain.

The last workshop for the weekend was copper enameling. Some people fell in love with this right away and some not so much. I'm still on the fence about it as the results seemed very hit and miss. The kit that came with this class was awesome, it contained enough materials for us to take home and experiment with enameling on our own. I plan to get some books about it and practice with it some more. I did have a few pieces from the class that I really liked and I've posted them in my etsy shop.

From my shop

These were some of my others:

I'm hoping to work with these new techniques and I'll be posting my results in the future.