Gem Show Goodies

I drove down to Asheville yesterday to the gem show at the civic center. One of only a few opportunities I have each year to buy supplies in person versus through a catalog. It's time to stock up so that I have enough supplies this winter, when I produce most of my work.

I bought a lot of silver chain. Some by the foot and some finished snake and rope chains. I was extremely low on chain due to the high silver prices recently, but it's come down a little in the last few weeks and I was desperate for chain. That's an expensive pile of loot you're looking at!

Which makes this pile of copper things I bought all that much more appealing. I've been increasing my copper stock recently since people seem to be a little more interested in purchasing copper jewelry than they used to be. I've been enjoying working with this rich, warm metal more, too. I made several things from copper clay during the first two weeks of my recently finished class, as I had to fire student copper pieces anyway. I've also done some things with 16 gauge wire that I'll show you soon.

I also got this little pile of beads. From top to bottom, some lapis, rainbow moonstone, some gorgeous faceted aquamarine and some pearls. I just wasn't into buying many beads after I spent so much money on metal.

Now that shows are over and my schedule has eased up a little I'm starting to think about next month. I'll be gone for about half of November and, since I'm mostly a hermit, there's a lot of planning to do around that. Again, more on that coming up, so stay tuned.

Oh, Happy Day! Copper Success!

Just look at this pile of copper lusciousness! I guess third time's the charm (no pun intended) for me to have a successful copper firing. Everything sintered, and when I drop them onto the table they make a jingling sound like coins, not the "thunk" of un-sintered metal clay.

This time I used the two-phase firing schedule recommended to me by Lora Hart. First, I fired the pieces on an open kiln shelf at 555 degrees for one hour. Then I transfered them to the firing pan with the carbon and fired them at 1670 degrees for three and a half hours. And voila! Hard, shiny copper! I'm no scientist, but I think this has something to do with the binder burning off. You metal clayers out there know that when the binder burns there's a smell, right? When I put the fresh pieces in the firing pan with carbon I never smelled that smell. When they were on the open shelf the smell started when the kiln hit about 450 degrees, just like with silver.

These from the Fern Series have a patina applied to show off the texture. I'm not sure yet if I like this. The Liver of Sulphur darkens the entire piece a little bit. The bright, shiny color right out of the tumbler looks so nice, but I don't know if that will last over time. One of the benefits of using metal clay rather than sheet metal is the opportunity for wonderful textures and when you darken the recesses the texture shows up better. With silver there's more contrast, so the jury is still out on whether to patina copper, or not. Anyone out there have an opinion on this? Please leave me a comment on this, and links to photos would be great to help me make up my mind.