The Viking Knit Chain

 A few years back my Norwegian wife taught me how to weave this beautiful Viking Knit Chain and I use it regularly to create awesome pendants with my agate cabochons.

Normally I use 24G copper wire but when I want a challenge, I'll use 22G. The wire is "woven" around a wood or metal dowel.

As you can see, at this stage it's pretty irregular and doesn't look like much. After I have a length of about 8 inches, I'll take it off the dowel. By this time I will have used over 50 feet of wire. The diameter is the same as the dowel.

I have made myself a draw plate out of oak and this is what I use to "stretch" the chain.

Starting with the largest diameter, I draw the chain through successive holes until I get to a diameter of 7/32 inch. Now the chain will look like this.

As you can see, the weave has become much tighter and the chain has a little more than doubled in length. To make sure it doesn't unravel and to enable the addition of a clasp, I have to make end caps. These can be bought but I prefer to make my own out of 16G copper wire.

I then attach sliding copper bails to the stone so it can be hung on the chain. Some I make but the filigree ones are commercial.

Then the piece is completed with a hand made copper clasp.

The chain can also be used to make bracelets.

Every once in a while I make the chain out of sterling silver wire and then I use a spectacular sterling silver sliding bail.

It takes me about 4 hours to weave the chain and another 1.5 hours to do the finishing but it's a lot of fun and the finished product is well worth it.

Making Copper Bracelets

 While cleaning out the "Lap of Lapidary, I came across a piece of copper chimney flashing that had been saved from a derelict 100+ year home. So this copper is definitely "vintage". I knew I had to make something with it and decided to make bangle bracelets.

Here's how it looked after I cut the rough forms.

It looks grungy, beat up and ugly or in my eyes, perfect!

After a lot of grinding, filing and sanding and using the metal roller to add some texture,  here's how it looked.

The next step was to shape it around my form. To do this, I heated it up and slowly wrapped it around the form. Then, when that was done, I had to work harden it by hitting it with a rubber mallet. Here's how the first one turned out.

We liked that so much that we decided to get a little more adventurous. This meant adding more (distorted) texture and then "pickling" to give it an antique sheen. This is what we got.

These have turned out so well that we have decided to make a few more and get even more adventurous. I love the idea of creating something from material that had served its purpose as a chimney flashing and giving it a totally new existence. It's not every day you get to create a brand new "antique"!

These will be available on line or in the shop for $45 CDN plus shipping. We're gonna go crazy so stay tuned to see what comes next!

It's Earring Time!

One of the downsides of living in a house built in 1849 is a leaky stone wall basement. But in between mopping it up, I've had the time to work on earrings.

The first order of business was to make a second display. I used the same format as for the guitar string earring display

 Then I started to fill it. The first creations were a set of three using sterling silver sea themed pieces in beautiful abalone frames the real artist had kicking around. I used non-tarnish silver wire but sterling ear wires. The first features a whale tail.

Next came the anchor.

And finally, the shell. (sorry for the bad pic)

Now I am starting on the local agate and jasper I finished and drilled last summer. I plan on dressing them up a bit with some of the beautiful copper beads in my inventory and I'm pretty happy with the first pair.

So much for my day job. Normally, I make Viking Knit Chain in the evenings using 24 gauge copper wire but I am currently experimenting with a slightly thicker 22 gauge and really liking the result.

The real artist, not to be outdone, has finished her first sketch book using her home made dyes This beauty is totally hand fashioned, including the binding and we might have a few in the store by next season.

Stay healthy and sane!

Winter Comes to Digby Neck

 Well, it had to happen. Apparently global warming doesn't know Digby Neck exists! We have had much colder weather than normal along with snow, high winds and the inevitable power outages and missing roof shingles.

But in between dealing with this:

we've been able to get a fair bit done in the studio. Vickie has been working primarily on art but also a bit of polymer clay. One of these is a real polar bear claw and the other a clever Vickie "fake" care to take a guess?

I've been doing a lot of work with reclaimed copper and some beautiful and unique components I recently purchased.

Also copied a design based on a silver spoon by creating a copper spoon using a technique called "chasing"- quite amazing actually to think how you can "move" metal.

As you can see Vickie is getting me out of my comfort zone- even getting me to embrace the beauty of oxidized copper patina.

And finally I got around to making myself a bracelet using a length of copper Viking chain.

So we are keeping busy and looking forward to getting into some exciting new areas in the near future.

And remember: It doesn't matter if the wine glass is half full or half empty as long as you have the rest of the bottle!

The Value of Imperfection

 Perhaps it's been being married to an abstract artist but as I "create" more, I've come to see the value of imperfection. We live in a society where perfection is in high demand- a perfect diamond, perfect smile, perfect teeth, perfect skin- the list is endless. And while perfection may be beautiful (and expensive) imperfection intrigues me more because it's ...interesting. The stone I am currently working on is a "perfect" example.

I love working with agate but agate is never symmetrical and it's the impurities that create the amazing patterns and colour shifts. Without them it would be a bland piece of quartz. This stone is a highly imperfect local agate. If you look closely, you can see a fissure in the center where the crystals have grown together and there are areas of inclusions and impurities. But these all contribute to the structure and banding and make the stone interesting. I'd look at it a lot longer than I would a flawless gem. 

I set the stone in upcycled copper that starts off looking like this.

I'd love to leave it looking like this but people don't like copper oxide rubbing off on their clothes! So I do the next best thing- I leave imperfections. Look closely at the copper setting above and you can see some scratches and areas where I haven't removed all the patina and the forms are not identical. I have the equipment and materials to make it flawless but I choose to leave it slightly imperfect because it makes it more interesting.

My shop is called The Artist's Mark NOT because my name is Mark (a question I get regularly from visitors) but because I want people to see the mark of the artist in the finished product.

Don't get me wrong, I am not denigrating those who set perfect gems in perfect settings. They have their place and require patience and expertise I admire but don't possess. But think of it- we remember imperfection- the crooked smile, freckled skin, unruly hair. So I'll stick with my style and, hopefully you will find the pieces...interesting!

Solveig's Song

 Solveig was a unique and amazing woman whom I was fortunate to meet through my wife's family. She, like they, was Norwegian and lived in Montreal, where she had a beautiful apartment downtown and a rural chalet in St. Sauveur that was straight out of the mountains of her home country. She was an impressive woman in many ways, having married five times and standing at least 6 feet tall with a truly striking appearance- in other words, she looked like a modern Viking.

But Solveig had another side. While very wealthy, she valued and enjoyed simple things and she especially admired intelligence and determination- two traits she had in spades.

In Montreal, there was an entity known as the Norwegian Seamans' Church and while ostensibly a church, it became the hub for all things Norwegian in Montreal, including the many Norwegian sailors who visited the port. At that time, many Norwegians were emigrating to Canada and my father-in-law, Thorleif, was one of them. He arrived in Montreal with little besides a dream, having left his wife and small daughter, Wencke behind until he could afford to bring them over. And that's where Solveig came into their life. She was an active benefactor of the church and tried to help get people established. She helped Thorleif and when his family arrived, showed them much kindness as well. 

She took great interest in Wencke and even helped pay for her McGill tuition. She and her husband Larry shared Wencke's love of reading and especially science. And Solveig and Wencke both loved art and became accomplished artists. They shared another thing. Both had Norwegian names that Canadians found hard to pronounce so Wencke became (my wife) Vickie and Solveig became Silvia.

Solveig was an extremely accomplished artist and sculptor and it's a shame she didn't get to see Vickie's talent or this piece I created but I just know she would have loved it- both for its beauty and the fact that someone she knew had acquired the skills to make it. So I give you Solveig's Song.

 The necklace is made from a copper Viking Chain that I wove from 24 gauge copper wire and drew through a series of draw plates until it was 3 times as long. Then, in honour of this modern Viking, I hung a Viking axe charm framed by copper beads and spacers.

Finally, I finished it by adding lengths of metallic copper, premium leather cord (for comfort) and finished it with a hand made clasp. I can actually see Solveig wearing this and treasuring it as much as her diamonds and jewels because that is who she was.