Making Chain - Just Chain

Yesterday, I shoveled and raked out the last of the dirt along the walkway, planted the micro-clover, and dampened the soil. Now, I'm watching "grass" grow. Too fun. So far, the walkway is looking the way I envisioned which is good. The section from the street to the back of the house is complete and that's all I plan to do this spring. I may do a bit of the back in the fall but most likely not until next spring. I'm ready to play in the studio. THIS - more play time - is why I bought a townhouse!

The heart themed piece isn't finished but it is further along. This is the stage I'm at. Yesterday, I was downtown snoop shopping at our high end women's boutique and there were some copper and resin pieces on display. Simple. Barely any material. Not a whole lot of skill involved. Sometimes even cheap looking but VERY expensively priced. It always intrigues me - and often frustrates me - what people will pay for a brand name and not for a literal one-of-a-kind. 

When I think about the kind of jewelry I like to buy or sell, it's not anything brand name; it's eccentric, authentic, hard to get, handmade by the artist in her studio, one at a time, one of a kind, uniquely special. 

I've been spending a lot of time looking at inspiration pictures and developing a path forward for doing more metalsmithing. These pictures - directly above and below - have been in my Jewelry Inspiration file for some time. I wish I could tell you the artists' names but I can't. 

 

What the images have in common is chain. I tend to do better when I focus in on one aspect of a topic and develop skills one at a time before layering them. So, I've been making chain. Just chain. 

These were created by wrapping a long length of copper around a metal pipe and then cutting through the wrap to separate each link. The links were then cleaned, soldered closed, and pickled to remove the fire scale and are now ready for sanding and taking forward. They are less than best and that's okay. There is still plenty I can do with them while learning how to do better, especially with soldering. It's a skill I'll be using a lot and want to learn well. 

Another of the pieces I saw at the boutique was put together using links made from cording with a circle of fabric folded over the join. There was no stitching visible so it appeared they were glued closed. Since one of the things I really want to do with my jewelry is include textile elements, my mind immediately wrapped some hand painted fabric bits around my less than best chain links and saw potential. YES YES!

What are you making? 

Talk soon - Myrna

Grateful - inspiration