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The Beauty of New Supplies
The beauty of receiving new supplies in the mail is that it really gets me excited about creating new things. Over the last few days, I’ve been dabbling with some new weaves and getting back to some materials I
hadn’t used in a while.
Early on, I started using copper and loved the feel of working with the metal. I never made a whole lot of copper pieces, however, because I was always worried about disappointing my customers if the copper, over time tarnishes. Some love the look that copper develops into after some time of wear and exposure to oxygen and others prefer it to stay like a clean, shiny penny. When you see one of my copper pieces, they will be as shiny and sparkly as a shiny penny because I tumble my pieces in my tumbler which polishes them beautifully. Now, of course, not everyone has a tumbler at hand once they bring a piece of copper jewelry home but there are several ways to bring copper back to that shiny glow. The easiest I have experimented with is just a bath in some lemon juice or some vinegar, water and a pinch of salt. I haven’t tried it but some people swear by putting their copper in ketchup…. Yes, ketchup. It’s all about the acid. I think I must go and try the Ketchup trick myself to see if I can support the claim. I have tried a commercial tarnish remover that said it was good on copper but I didn’t enjoy the results. Right now, I’ve got about 3 copper pieces in various stages of completeness but this one is all finished, shiny and bright:
Now, stainless steel is not a first for me. I LOVE stainless steel. I think it’s cool. It’s kind of industrial looking, not as shiny as bright aluminum or sterling silver but it’s a work horse of a material. It does not tarnish and
gets shinier with lots of wear. It’s also very strong. I’ve been wearing a basic Byzantine bracelet, one of my first creations when I first was learning, pretty much 24/7 for several years and it’s as good as new. That’s so boring, I know, but I love that bracelet and I love seeing how it stands the test of time. The novelty of the bracelet I’m about to show off is that I have never made a double spiral using 18 gauge rings before. I love how this bracelet turned out. It’s like a thick, heavy rope and would look great on a girl as well as a guy. Here it is:
And last but not least, I was enamoured with these little metal scales. I picked some sterling silver ones up and then also some made from anodized aluminum. They are so much fun to play with and I’ve made a bunch of earrings from them. They are not huge, maybe about 1″ in length and I have them in many bright colours. If you combine more than one scale in an earring, they will jingle softly.
Aren’t they fun? Maybe I’ll play with the sterling silver ones tonight. I’m not sure how I’ll use them as I don’t have many. I bought those for experimenting.
I have some necklace designs in my head, too. I drew them out on scrap paper yesterday so I just have to play and experiment with those.
On Wednesday nights (tonight), I spend time waiting for my daughter, sitting in a highschool cafeteria. I used to have a chatting partner (one of the other Moms) but she had other commitments to tend to so for the last few weeks, I’ve been solo. It’s a good time for me though. I can tune out the world, nobody is talking to me or wanting something from me, I put the i-pod on and listen to something good (usually podcasts of some nature) and I play with rings. I love it. I’ll have to think about what box of rings to take tonight. I think I need some more anklets.
Until next time…………….