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  Markasky

Experimenting with Enamels

1/31/2014

7 Comments

 
I've been having the need to play with some enamels... so I got out my "Experimental Techniques in Enameling" book by Fred Ball.  So many fun and interesting techniques. He really opens your mind to experiment. I made most of my samples on 1" copper disks and did them 2 at a time so I will have a few sets of experimental enameling earrings. They are all torch-fired, using a Smith Little Torch with oxy-propane.


The first one I did was using borax, liquid white enamel, and salt, with some ground copper tossed in. I started off with a 1" copper disk and painted it with a thick coat of liquid white enamel. I covered it with borax and spread a strip of ground copper across the middle, then covered the lower half with salt. Then torch-fired it. I finished it with a layer of clear flux.
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The next set was done by first enameling orient red onto a domed copper disk. Then I put a layer of liquid white on top of the red and crumpled some foil to lay on top of it. Then painted the foil with liquid white and fired it.
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I edited these 2 pictures on my phone, using PhotoStudio app - more fun and interesting techniques to play with!!
This set was done again, starting with red enamel, then sinking part of a copper chore boy into the red by firing it again and then painting some liquid white enamel on top of half of it and of course, firing again.

Apparently I used the same paper that I used for the foil ones above – these are not domed or have aluminum on them!
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New earrings coming soon!!
7 Comments

Artist Interview #2 – Maria Apostolou

1/29/2014

2 Comments

 
Wednesday is my day for featuring artists on my blog. I have a series of questions/prompts that I have offered, the artist is free to answer all, some, or make up their own questions. 
If you would like to be featured here, send me an email and I will send you the list of questions/prompts. 
Today's interview is with Maria Apostolou:
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Succulent Brooch

1. A little bit about your background, where did you grow up, where do you live now, education, family, etc...
I grew up in a little village, in Greece, close to the forest and the mountains, but also near the sea. Later on, my family moved to Chalkida, a town near Athens. 
After completing my studies in psychology, I returned to my hometown and started working as a child psychologist. Somewhere along the way I was introduced to the wonderful world of craft and jewelry making. From there on, things took a new course and though I'm still a psychology practitioner, I’m also a full time jewelry-maker, trying to balance both worlds.
2. What was your first work of art & how old were you?
I can’t say I remember my first work of art, but I do remember making all sorts of things as a child with whatever was available. I didn’t have many toys which made me become resourceful. I created what I couldn’t buy. I drew and painted a lot, I made collages, played with my grandmother’s yarns and would even sew my doll’s clothes from old fabrics.

3. What did you do for fun as a teenager?
For the most part, I was going out with friends and listening to music. I also played in a volleyball team back then. This was a period when I stopped making things or doing anything creative. I reconnected with this side of me later, during my adulthood.

4. What and when was your first job?
During college, I worked as a research assistant in a project which involved a lot of travelling, and doing psychometric evaluations in children at their home environment.
5. What was your first work that really pleased you as an artist?
When I made the rectangle resin ring, I was really pleased with the simplicity and the strong geometrical lines of this design. This ring led to a series of geometrical pieces made with silver, resin and acrylic sheet.  
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Rectangular Resin Ring
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Home Sweet Home - 2 Acrylic Rings
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Bud Ring
8. How has your work changed?
I always loved experimenting in a attempt to discover new techniques, materials, and forms. In 2010, during the Ring-a-Day project, experimentation became a daily habit and this is when I realised how interested I am in organic forms and other elements from the natural world. This had a profound impact on my work, though it still remains clean and even geometric sometimes.
9. What things do you not like to do. 
The first thing that comes in my mind is cleaning the house. Who wants to spend time cleaning when you can play and make jewelry in the studio?

12. What toys do you have?
My jewelry making tools, needles, crochet hooks, yarn, paper, watercolors and of course my latest aquisition is my sewing machine.
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Crocheted Earrings
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Crocheted Brooch
13. What do you eat?
I try to stay on the healthy side, cooking most of my meals with local ingredients but I don’t really obsess over food. Oh, and I eat a lot of chocolate!

16. What advice would you give to others?
Be kind, smile a lot and  try to create something everyday!
Website
http://www.createjewelry.gr
Blog
http://www.createjewelry.gr/blog
Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/CREATEbyMariaApostolou
Twitter
https://twitter.com/CREATEbyMaria
Flickr
http://www.flickr.com/photos/maria_apostolou/
Pinterest
http://www.pinterest.com/createbymaria/
My work can be purchased through my website and also through selected stores in Chalkida, Hydra, Spain and Sweden. 
2 Comments

You Can't Have Too Many Hammers

1/27/2014

2 Comments

 
I have a lot of hammers. As a matter of fact, my husband and I were talking about hammers tonight. He used to work in an auto body shop when he was in college and was telling me about the hammers he used there. I said, 'you mean like this one, oh and wait like this one, too?' We were talking about hammers because the other day I found some nylon rods that I had bought a couple of years ago to use for chasing tools and hammer heads. Of course, I hadn't done either, I was using them to hang coils of wire on. 
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I decided it was time. I found a couple of hammer handles where the heads had come off, (back when I bought very cheap hammers on eBay from discount tool sellers - remember, never throw anything away.) He took the nylon and one of the handles to his shop and cut them and drilled them for me. I put them together tonight. I had to taper the handle more to fit into the hole. I used my flex shaft with a grinding stone. Finally got it to fit, then drilled a small hole through the nylon and the handle and put a 16-gauge piece of copper wire through as a rivet to secure it. Then I filled the top with glue. I still need to finish the ends of the hammer head.
This hammer was made with a small nylon rod. I drilled a hole through the middle and stuck a chop stick through it. I haven't done anything else to secure it, I haven't tried it yet; maybe I won't need anything else. 

These pictures were taken on my phone and edited on my phone with an app called PhotoStudio. There are waaay too many things to play with and learn out there!!! It's 2am, I gotta go to bed!!
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This was edited on my phone, using PhotoStudio, with color charcoal special effect.
2 Comments

Why I Love Enameling in 100 Words or Less

1/24/2014

6 Comments

 
I love enameling because it is so wide open for being able to experiment. That’s what makes art exciting and fun for me. There is ALWAYS something new to try, it makes me feel like a scientist. Today’s lab study was enameling with Borax. I’d add a layer onto a piece of copper, then heat it up - best part! It bubbles up and moves all over the place. Then I sift some transparent enamels on top and heat it up again – bubbles and moves again… I could do this all night!

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6 Comments

Interviews – Artist #1 Anne Brewster

1/22/2014

5 Comments

 
Wednesdays will be my day for featuring artists on my blog. I have a series of questions/prompts that I have offered, the artist is free to answer all, some, or make up their own questions. 
If you would like to be featured here, send me an email and I will send you the list of questions/prompts. 

Today's interview is with Anne Brewster:

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Wooden box embellished with metalwork
1. A little bit about my background.
I was born in 1952 in a small town in Michigan and moved to the San Francisco Bay Area when I was around 13 yrs old. At 17 I left home, traveled around California and ended up in Santa cruz. Except for 4 years in the Sierra Foothills, the Santa Cruz area has been my home base for the last 30 years. I have a 25 year-old daughter who lives  here and is an amazing artist!
2. What was your first work of art & how old were you?
I can't remember my first work of art, what I remember is a neighborhood art show when I was 7. My painting (stick figures!) got an award and my picture was in the local paper. I still have the newspaper clipping.

3. What did you do for fun as a teenager?
The late 1960's was an exciting time in the Bay Area. My friends and I were involved in the Anti-war Movement; smoked dope and went to awesome concerts in Golden Gate Park, The Filmore, The Family Dog, and at City Beach. 
4. What and when was your first job?
My first job was house-cleaning for elderly people when I was 15. I hated it!

5. What was your first work that really pleased you as an artist?
I built a stone wall (about 20 feet long) on the ranch in the Sierra Foothills that I was very proud of. 
     Also the first work I did in metal & enamel.
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Wooden box embellished with enamel and metalwork
6. What art movements do you relate to?
Indigenous Art, Folk Art, Land Art, Installation Art, Steam Punk, Art Deco,
and Contemporary Art.

7. Most significant project or accomplishment.
 Everything I've done so far is significant in one way or another. I look forward to new and exciting projects.
8. What are your goals?
My goals change all the time, but at this moment I took forward to following my heart and imagination towards new and exciting goals.

9. What toys do you have?
My hydraulic press, enamels, and hand tools.

10. What do you eat?
I try to eat lots of raw and cooked veggies, some organic meats and a small amount of junk food.
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Wooden box embellished with enamel and metalwork
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Wooden box embellished with enamel and metalwork
11. What are your favorite movies/ tv shows?
I do not have cable, so no favorite tv shows.
My favorite movies are: The Sapphires
                                      Lady in the Water
                                      12 Monkeys
                                       Waitress
                                       Donnie Darko
                                       Strictly Ballroom
                                       Across The Universe
                                       The Fall
                                       Flight of the Conchords
                                       Edward Scissorhands
                                       The Piano
Just to name a few! The list changes all the time.

14. Do you believe in magic?
Yes, magic is essential to being human.

15. Should there be censorship?
Not sure. It would depend on where, when, and who.

16. What advice would you give to others?
I don't have any advice to give at this time, actually I would like to get some!
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Copper, fold formed, woven, liquid enameled.
To contact Anne, you can email her at aebrews@gmail.com
You can see more of her work on Flickr
5 Comments

Hyperbolic Paraboloid #2

1/21/2014

0 Comments

 
Hyperbolic Paraboloid #2 - A little bit smaller than the first. It's still difficult trying to figure out how to form the metal. I'm not sure if I'm doing it correctly and it's supposed to go this slowly, or if I'm hammering in the wrong places and the wrong direction. I still like what's happening, I just need to do a few more! Hopefully, I will have a whole room full of them!
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Hyperbolic Paraboloid

1/19/2014

3 Comments

 
Hyperbolic Paraboloid. I think most of all I just like saying this. Hyperbolic Paraboloid.
Secondly, I am becoming obsessed with having to make this form. When we were doing a Ring A Day, I made my first attempt and attached my hyperbolic paraboloid to a ring. It really was a sorry excuse for a hyperbolic paraboloid, but I still liked it. I tried following the instructions in Form Emphasis for Metalsmiths by Heikki Seppa, but there weren't a lot of directional photos, and I really didn't get how it worked.


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This one looks kind of like a tough little hyperbolic parabaloid, hanging out on a street corner.
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In the meantime, I bought Creative Metal Forming by Betty Helen Longhi and Cynthia Eid who have taken Heikki Seppa's techniques and added some great directional photos and instructions. So the first thing I attempt, of course, is the hyperbolic paraboloid. Even with good pictures and instructions, it was still way harder to grasp than I thought it would be. The directions still make my brain hurt. I drew the diagram on my square of copper with lines and letters and numbers and started hammering away. It reminded me of my attempts to do origami - fold it like this, then this, then fold fold fold twist turn hop on one foot and you have a crane. Huh?! 
So after the first 2 pages of following directions, I got tired and figured I understood what was happening and I could just hammer. Still not quite that simple. I just didn't seem to be getting anywhere. I did finally figure out that I was hammering in the wrong direction and that helped. I think the other part of it was that I had been working all day and I was just tired. I'll have to read through the directions again and make another attempt tomorrow.

Here is my attempt, not a terrible form, just a little bit lumpy. I enameled it.
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3 Comments

Medieval Jewellery

1/12/2014

0 Comments

 
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Hammered heavy wire ring, welded together, with a prong-setting soldered on to tubing, set with obsidian.
I have a strong attraction to medieval jewelry, I like the regal and solid heavy feel, the marks of handcrafted work, and the creativity of set stones. You could tell a lot about a person by the jewelry they wore... their social significance and wealth, their faith and superstitions, allegiances and even literacy. It was worn by men and children, just as much as women, in all levels of society. People with money usually wore silver and gold, while those with less cash-aroony wore base metals, copper or pewter, sometimes set with imitation gems, like colored glass. I really like that gems were usually just polished and not cut.
 I am strongly inspired by the book "Medieval Jewelry" by Marian Campbell. This book focuses on an important collection at the Victoria & Albert museum in London. It's an amazing collection and has a lot of great pictures and descriptions of the jewelry. It's not really a how-to book, but it's great for inspiration. If you have some jewelry making-experience, it's not a far reach to look at the pictures and figure out how to make a lot of the pieces. 
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Ring brooches were quite popular and were used to fasten tunics up until the late 14th century, when clothing became more tailored and buttons came into use.

These two brooches are part of a series on romance. Romance comes from the French 'roman' meaning a tale, and were stories about lovers or heroes and courtly love read by people of the court, and by townspeople, as well. A major theme was gift giving, where men and women exchanged love tokens. Affection was commonly expressed with inscriptions, usually in Latin or French. The round brooch is stamped with the words 'pense de moy' or 'think of me.'
These are some of my medieval-esque rings. They start with a heavy gauge copper wire that is hammered and formed into a ring. The first 3 are set with a tube setting and have hand-cut prongs added. After making several stone-set rings, I started thinking... do I need to use a stone and came up with the last ring here... instead of a stone, I fused a brass ball on top, instead.
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Blog Carnival 1/6/14 New Year's Resolutions

1/6/2014

3 Comments

 
Etsy Metal's Blog Carnival questions for the New Year!
What New Year's Resolutions have you made for this year? Which ones did you make last year that were successful? Do you have any advice for keeping resolutions throughout the year?

I guess the good thing about last year's New Year's resolutions is that I don't remember what any of them were! I checked back on my blog thinking that there was probably a New Year's resolution list somewhere on there where I could see what I wrote down, but apparently we didn't do this last year, so I am stuck with just my memory. 
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I guess I resolved last year to participate in the Brooch A Day (BAD) group. Looking back to see how many I made, I was actually surprised to see that I made 107. In my memory, it felt like I had only made about 10. I just couldn't keep up with it this time.
I also resolved to quit eating sugar. Actually, I resolved to cut back on sugar. When I told that to a friend of mine, she said you can't do that, you're addicted to sugar, you shouldn't eat it at all. She was right, so I opted to cut it out completely and I did. Hmmm, seems like I started eating sugar again in June, about the same time I stopped making brooches... Seems like you could say eating sugar reduces productivity.
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Those are the only resolutions that I can remember from last year. How long do you have to keep a resolution for it to be considered a resolution? Was I successful? I guess if I had said I wasn't going to eat sugar for 6 months my resolution would have been successful?
Onward  to this year...
I'm back to not eating any sugar, blogging regularly, and working more consistently.
Ok, I'm just going to say it, one of my resolutions is to beat all the levels in Candy Crush, while at the same time cutting back on playing the game.
My biggest problem in achieving these goals is I am easily distracted. I had to go on FaceBook to get a link that I wanted for this blog, took me about a half an hour. I started looking at everyone's posts and ended up watching 3 videos... they were good ones, but still... During that process, I looked up a few times with a blank feeling on my face thinking 'what was I looking for?' That is also tied in with procrastination, after all they both end with the same 4 letters (procrastination - distraction). Here is a really good blog on the 'Procrastination Monkey.' I swear they followed me around one day and took notes.
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I was just reading this article, Forget About Setting Goals and focus more on figuring out a system or a plan. Like, should I have a goal not to eat sugar for 6 months or a year... or would it be better to figure out a plan for a healthy lifestyle for the rest of my life. It talks about how sometimes only having a goal can backfire because once you achieve that goal you don't have anything to motivate that behavior any more. It's good to get into the habit of doing something because it gets you past those impulse moments when your brain is trying to talk you out of doing something (see procrastination monkey blog.) I want to go to the gym regularly, but my brain can easily talk me out of it - oh, I don't feel like it today; oh, I'm tired; oh, I'll get other stuff done instead... BUT if I can just, without thinking, put on my work-out clothes, I'll think, well I'm dressed for it, I might as well go. It's that impulse that really only lasts a few minutes and if I can find some way/habit to get me through that I can end up being very productive. (Really, read the procrastination monkey blog!!)

So, I think that my biggest resolution for this year will be to figure out ways to get past that initial impulse that keeps me from doing anything, to try to remember that it exists and that if I can wait a few minutes before acting on it, it will pass.

See what other Etsy Metal Members have resolved to do this year!!
Laney  
Konstanze 
Laura Jane Bouton 
Abella Blue

3 Comments

National Bird Month

1/5/2014

0 Comments

 
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Welcome to National Bird Month! National Bird Month was established by bird activists to recognize the plight of captive birds and to draw attention to their exploitation in the US.

The only birds we've ever had as pets were 3 successive parakeets all named Shim by one of my sons. We couldn't tell if they were male or female so he combined 'she' + 'him' = Shim. It was shortly after that with our last caged pets, guinea pigs, that we realized maybe having caged animals wasn't such a good idea. It seemed like most of their existence was spent trying to get out of the cage.
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Now the only birds in my house are the ones I make out of metal or the one tattooed on my shoulder.

I do enjoy watching the hawks flying around my neighborhood and I watch Alfred Hitchcock's 'The Birds' frequently.
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Evelyn markasky
Santa Cruz, California

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