Found Object Jewelry

A New Spoon Bracelet

By: ornamento.blog January 16, 2014January 14, 2014

Art, Jewelry Making Tutorial, Materials, Spoon Bracelet, Upcycled jewelryArt, Found Object Jewelry, inspiration, Jewelry making tutorial, Spoon Bracelet2 Comments

Bracelet

I’ve had spoon parts banging around in my leftovers box ever since I made some earrings from the end of the spoon handles. “Too short for bracelets,” I told myself. Then one day, just fooling around, I put one of the spoons through the rolling mill to see how how it looked. Interesting but still too short for a bracelet.

I threw the piece in with a batch of copper scraps and rusty pieces and it sat for a few more months until one day I decided to apply a verdigris-like patina on the bowl part. I liked how it looked. I had to make it into something now! Even though it was still too short for a bracelet, I knew it was meant to be a bracelet. So here’s what I did:

I drilled a hole in the tip of the spoon bowl, in the middle of the spoon bowl and on the end of what remained of the handle. Then I balled the end of two pieces of 14 gauge copper wire. I dropped one of the pieces of wire through the hole of a drill bit gauge with the balled end sticking out of the hole. I hammered the end flat and sanded it smooth . I repeated this with the other wire. Then I used a plastic mallet and a bracelet mandrel to hammer the spoon and handle into an oval bracelet-like shape. I cut one of the pieces of wire to about 1 and one half inches and flattened the other end and filed the tip smooth. Then I threaded it from the back of the bracelet through the hole in the tip of the spoon and used a pair of round nosed pliers to shape a clasp.

I fashioned the two pieces of figaro chain and jump rings to clear the tip of the clasp and hold the bracelet closed by tension. There’s not a lot of play in the closure and you have to squeeze the bracelet slightly to release the chain from the clasp. The bracelet isn’t tight fitting, however, so this is easy to do.

Why did I use two pieces of chain instead of one? I thought it looked better! One figaro chain looked too delicate for this bracelet.

To make the focal piece, I threaded the remaining piece of wire through the center hole, a rusty washer, a Danish 5 kroner coin and a piece of drilled tumbled glass. Then I cut it close and made a small loop in it. This was a challenge to do without breaking the glass! I finished the bracelet with a dangle attached to the loop. All the parts fit snugly. I made sure I filed the riveted ends of the wire inside the bracelet until they were smooth; I hate to wear anything that’s not comfortable. I coated the spoon and washer with Renaissance Wax to protect the finish before assembling the bracelet.

Here are some basic directions on how to make the bracelet. I would be thrilled to receive pictures from anyone who tries it!

New Spoon Bracelet Directions

Found Jewelry from City Sidewalks

By: ornamento.blog May 12, 2013May 17, 2013

Art, Green Decorating, MonumentArt, Found Object Jewelry, inspiration, repurposing1 Comment

I challenged myself to make a piece of jewelry entirely from materials I found on the sidewalk. Well, here it is. What do you think?

The materials I used are pebbles, twigs, stripped electrical wire (12 and 18 gauge copper) and picture hanging cable.

I drilled holes in the pebbles and twigs with a hand rotary drill. Find a tute on drilling rocks here.

I cut sections of the 12 gauge copper, formed them into interesting shapes, bent a loop on top for hanging and pounded them with a hammer. I also filed the ends because they get sharp!

I made a closure with the thinner wire by wrapping it around the ends of the cable and fashioning a hook and eye.

Here’s a good tute on how to do that .

I don’t think I’d wear this necklace to a formal event, but I have worn it. I recommend is coating the twigs with resin after drilling to strengthen them. Then you could do all kinds of things with them! You could color them with pencils and markers and make Christmas ornaments or jewelry components or garlands or . . . the list goes on and on.

Learning to Make Metal Beads

By: ornamento.blog August 11, 2011September 20, 2011

Art, copper, Craft Video, Metal, metal etching, Metal Work, Metal Working, Patina, Pauling WargBeads, crafts, creativity, Found Object Jewelry, inspiration2 Comments

I’ve spent some time this summer learning how to make metal beads. The above bead is a copper lentil about 2.5 inches across. I etched the metal I used on the front before I made the bead and I patinated it afterwards. Theresa Mowery of The Patina Studio who commented on an earlier post, suggested that I try Miracle Gro as a patina agent. What a GREAT TIP! I ended up using African Violet food because I didn’t have to mix any powder, but the principle is the same. This stuff works fast! I got the patina you see above after a couple of days. I sealed the pendant with Sophisticated Finishes sealer and then gave it a buff with Renaissance Wax. Here are some more pictures:

The glass beads in the last picture are hollow lampwork. The beads are lengths of copper pipe that I cut from found scrap. I pounded them (after annealing) so they looked wrinkled,filed and sanded the ends smooth and soldered copper disks (with holes in center) to the ends of the pipes. More filing and sanding followed. I have a way to go with these. I found the lentil beads went together with less effort; maybe because it’s easier to sand the edges to get flat surfaces for soldering, so they clean up much more easily. And the metal is thinner than the pipe metal so it’s easier to work with. An addendum: forging can damage your joints including your elbows and wrists. A safer way to make the wrinkled beads is through use of a hydraulic press.

Here’s the part of the post where a recommend a book! Making Metal Beads by Pauling Warg is a fabulous book on how to make all kinds of metal beads, not just soldered ones. Be warned that there is no Precious Metal Clay in this book, but Warg does have directions for using cold connections to fabricate unique beads that will catch everyone’s eye as well as tutorials on how to alter ready made beads into something that looks unique and totally hand made.

Here’s a video featuring Pauline Warg:

Jewelry from the Trash Can

I have been exploring textile arts and learning techniques for incorporating them into jewelry. And making up a few of my own. The bracelets below are from recycled materials: old clothing dyed, stamped, painted and shredded, cast off electrical wire stripped and straightened, scrap stained glass tumbled and drilled, some gilded twigs from the sidewalk, pieces of old jewelry, and old plastic bangles or wire forms, There is no plan; I just start to wrap and embellish. I hit some of the bracelets with a heat gun to see how it would affect the fabric. Depending on the fabric, it will burn, seal the frayed edges, or melt the fabric to reveal what’s beneath. I got this idea from a video by Textile and Mixed Media Artist Maggie Ayres. There is so much information out there. Don’t limit yourself to what you already know or think you have to take a class (unless you are learning how to use a torch, or another technique where proper safety instruction is vital). Don’t be afraid to try something new!

New Ideas for Making Jewelry from Spoons

A couple of years ago, I posted a tutorial on making a bracelet from old spoons that proved to be quite popular. Here are examples of more types of jewelry you can make from old spoons.

Here’s a torch enameled spoon bowl pendant that I drilled for a jump ring before enameling. The copper ring is a big jump ring soldered shut, hammered flat and textured. When my friend Terri saw it, she remarked that she would have used the concave part of the spoon bowl instead of the convex side as I did. Which opens up a bunch of new design possibilities that I plan to explore.

Here are two pairs of earrings made from different parts of the spoon handle. First, I cut the pieces to the proper length and filed them smooth. I filed a gentle curve on the top pair because I think it looks more attractive than a straight edge. Then I drilled holes and filed off the burs. I patinated them in liver of sulfur, and made ear wires from fine silver on which I had previously balled the ends. After inserting the wires through the holes in the earrings I gently hammered fhe balls flat so the wire would stay in place and the earrings would hang properly. Finally, I smoothed the other end of the wires with a cup bur in a rotary tool.

Susan’s Blue Candy Dish

By: ornamento.blog October 14, 2010October 14, 2010

Art, beads, lampwork, Personal History, problem solving, recycling, repurposing, risk takingArt, creativity, Found Object Jewelry, inspiration, recycling, repurposing5 Comments

I broke Susan’s cobalt blue candy dish. An old cobalt blue candy dish. It was probably an heirloom. Susan took one look and said “Phooey.” Then she smiled. “Make me something from the pieces.” So I took the pieces home and stared at them. I got an idea. I put them in my rock tumbler and tumbled them into velvety looking beach glass. I didn’t know what to do next. I showed them to Susan and asked what she thought. “I liked it better shiny,” she commented. Phooey, I thought. I put the glass away. That was twenty-five years ago.

One day I took the glass out and stared at it because the time had come to make something for Susan out of the glass. The glass was talking to me. Not only that, I had taken up lampworking in the twenty-five years that had passed, and I will stick mostly anything in the flame. Well, that’s not exactly true. I don’t cook in the flame or light combustibles or body parts. I respect the flame. But I love to play and experiment.

I made lots of beads for Susan using all kinds of inclusions where the COE of the glass didn’t matter. I had didn’t have a plan or directions; I just heeded the laws of chemistry and improvised as I went. After kiln annealing, I put the beads in a box along with with some findings and jewelry tools and other beads and gave them to Susan. She took one look and clapped her hands. “Oh, goody gumdrops!” she exclaimed.

One day when I can tie her down, we will make things with the beads. Here’s to the next 25 years, Susan!

Here are the beads I kept.

I will post next week on how I get these effects with scrap glass.

New Metal Work

By: ornamento.blog June 10, 2010June 6, 2010

Art, Brass, copper, Materials, Metal Work, Metal Working, PatinaArt, crafts, creativity, Enameling, Found Object Jewelry, inspiration, jewelryLeave a Comment

Soldered copper patinated with liver of sulfur

Recycled brass from an old charger plate!

Soldered copper patinated with ammonia and salt

Torch fired enamel on copper

How did You use Milk Crates in College?

Ok, so maybe Joe Girandola is not in college anymore. In fact, he’s a sculptor and teaches at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia. Sometimes I walk up Broad Street on my way to work past the University’s buildings. Imagine my delight winter day when instead of snow and gray skies, I saw these.

Here’s a short film showing some more of Girandola’s work. It’s pretty obvious he has a sense of humor.

Jewels from the Sidewalk

I walk to and from work every day and I constantly scan the sidewalk for treasures I can use to make something. Trash day is the best day of the week!!!

Awhile ago, I wrote about making lampworked beads from glass I found on the sidewalk. Now I have added brown beer bottles to my cobalt blue wine and aqua Bombay Gin bottles. And a co worker contributed too! She had a beautiful yellow glass vessel sink in her powder room and when it cracked and she had to have it replaced, she gave me the broken glass.

The pictures below show each kind of glass, plain, fumed and fumed with stringers on top.

Since I don’t know the COE of the glass, I don’t mix the colors. I cut the glass as best I can and hold it in the flame with a long hemostat. It’s loads of fun and you never know what you’re going to get.

Make Clasps from Found Objects

I’ve been thinking a lot about jewelry made from found objects lately, probably because I have been asked to give a talk on the topic at the April meeting of the Main Line Bead Society. So this morning as I was brushing my teeth, it hit me: Why couldn’t I make a clasp from those cool copper washers I got at Harbor freight? I always get my best ideas in the morning. I had to wait until I came home from work to give it a try.

I took two washers about 18 gauge thick and sawed a slit in one just big enough for the other one to fit through. Then I made jump rings from 18 gauge copper wire and soldered them on the washers. Then I pickled, cleaned, punched a pattern on the clasps, gave them liver of sulfur bath, and polished them up. The placement of the opening relative to the jump rings is critical; you want your necklace to stay on. I don’t recommend this clasp for bracelets. It has kind of an old Roman feel, don’t you think? Here are the pictures.

This last clasp is from an object I found on the street- a sheaf of 10 gauge copper wire encased in black electrical tubing. You can take off the tubing and use the wire. I made a clasp out of mine. Here’s that picture.