Latest Copper/Stone Jewelry

So I decided to try something pretty ambitious (for me anyway)!

I have some nice botryoidal jasper from a now long gone nearby locale and was trying to come up with a good setting. The edging was a little flaky so the first thing I did was wrap it in copper foil. Then I got out my copper sheeting and went nuts and here is the result.

I call it Gulliver's Treasure.

The back plate was hammered to give some texture and then holes were drilled to wrap the stone in copper wire and attach it to the hand hammered and drilled copper paddle. I hung it from a gorgeous premium Greek red leather that attaches to the paddle with hand made findings.

It was a lot of work (100% hand made except for the rock and the leather) but I think the results are awesome and plan on doing more like this in copper and, if I can screw up the courage, sterling silver.

Feedback is always appreciated, especially suggestions for improvement!

New Pieces and Exciting Expansion

Been busy of late, finishing some diverse pieces in the studio. Here's a gorgeous local agate/jasper set in a silver plate bezel and hung from a delicate sterling silver chain.

It even has a little sparkling crystal druzy! This next one is called Kaleidoscope- a multicoloured piece of local jasper wire wrapped in bronze with a hand made bronze clasp and gorgeous red leather cord.

Now for a change of pace, here's a pendant fashioned from museum quality polymer clay. It's called Pinwheel and employs a technique that produces a spiral lentil bead- a real head turner!

And now, here is another piece of amazing local Ocean Jasper, prong set using bronze wire with a hand made bronze clasp.

Here is one of my favourite pieces- a pendant fashioned from the essence of Digby Neck- basalt and vein agate and shaped like The Neck itself with sterling silver wire denoting the ferry crossings. A truly unique piece!

And last but not least, a piece I absolutely love because this expandable bracelet truly represents what we are about- creating unique pieces that exhibit the mark of the artist. All the copper work is totally hand made and the beads are hand blown glass.

And if that isn't enough, we have even more exciting news. Soon, these pieces and many more including the very popular guitar picks, will be available for purchase on line. We aren't totally functional yet but when we are, it will be announced here.

So now everybody can own a "Piece of The Neck"!

Latest Piece of Rock Jewelry

It has been really cold here of late so I finally got around to cleaning my work bench so I could finish a few things.

Here is a really interesting local stone that has a bit of everything- agate, jasper and pockets of crystalline quartz.

The stone is fairly large (4.5 mm high) and the quarts pockets make it "twinkle" as the stone moves. Because of the size, I was able to use 18 gauge copper wire to make the "prong" setting I have developed and it is nice and firm. And if you look really closely, you can see a few "artist's marks" which I like to leave on the piece. I hung it from a really nice persimmon premium Greek leather cord and used 100% hand made copper clasps.

And here it is ready to go to a very nice lady in Bear River.

My next piece is going to feature a copper plate with a very intricate cut out design to set a gorgeous piece of local carnelian so look for it in a couple of days.

Cheers!

Not Bad For a Monday

After 2 days of rain and fog, today, holiday Monday, is beautiful!

We were asked to produce a piece to be used as a prize and the buyer selected the stone but gave us total control of the setting so here's what we came up with.

It's Mexican Crazy Lace with a nice live edge in two spots and set with 100% hand made copper findings. In fact, Vickie just taught me how to make the pieces on the side, called balled head pins and those are two I made this morning.
Why yes, I AM proud of myself!
We finished it off with a really nice red leather cord that I just got in stock and it picks up the red in the stone perfectly!
Our objective at The Artist's Mark is to create interesting pieces that bear the mark of the artist(s) and that are also beautiful and we have many more like this in our shop. So come on by and check us out!
Cheers.

Treasures of the Far East (Coast of Canada)

Here in Nova Scotia, especially on the shores of the Bay of Fundy, we are blessed to be able to find beautiful agates.
Recently, we have been working with material from Mexico but now we are back home working with some beautiful local agate from the North Range.

It's called Straw Agate and it is formed by the agatization of small tubular structures (probably straw) that have found their way into cracks in the basalt, producing this amazing pattern. This piece is called "Straw Dreams".

It is about 2 cm. x 5 cm.and shows the unique and beautiful patterning of the stone. The setting is entirely hand made in copper and it is wrapped with brass wire. The copper clip at the top has been wire brushed for texture.

The next piece, called "Splendid Straw" is larger- about 3.5 cm. wide and 2.5 cm. deep.

Again, note the amazing patterning. In this case, the copper clip at the top has been textured by running it through the rolling mill we got from John Hood at Scotia Gems (thanks, John!!). As with the first piece the setting is totally hand made as are all the findings but we added a manufactured copper clasp and copper beads. The ends of the copper wire wrap are tucked neatly into a channel in the copper clip.
We are featuring copper in a lot of our settings recently because it is easy to work with and really goes well with the rock we have been using. Plus, I have to try and use at least a small bit of the copper wire, sheets and findings that Vickie has stashed up over the years! lets just say we have 10 of EVERYTHING!

Finally, I'd like to show you a pic of a piece we featured in an earlier blog being worn by the new owner.

It was so nice having Seonaid, a fellow Nova Scotia Rockhound visit the shop and become our first customer of 2018! She even signed the guest book! And as a die hard Boston Bruins fan I have to admit that the piece even looks good on that red background!!
A similar pendant is on its way to a customer in Florida as soon as I get to the post office tomorrow. Hopefully, she'll send a pic or two so we can show that one off as well.
Digby Neck is expecting a big storm on Tuesday but after that, the outdoor sign will go back up and we'll be in business so if you want to spend some time browsing some very interesting stuff, come on by!

"Oceana"

Just finished a new pendant called Oceana.

It features a beautiful piece of ocean jasper that was cut, polished and finished in the VT Rock Lab.

I came up with a pretty unique copper wire wrap that kind of looks prong set and finished it with a hand-made copper clasp and a jumbo buna cord.

The detail on this stone is truly amazing and the polish finish has created tremendous "depth" to allow you to see the patterning in 3 dimensions.

So if you find yourself on Digby Neck, come on by and see this and many more truly unique pieces of jewelry.

The Rest of The Story

Does anyone remember Paul Harvey? If you do, you are probably, like me, getting up in years. Paul used to do syndicated radio features where he would dig out little known facts behind major stories or the lives of famous people. And he always finished his segment with this line:
"And now you know the REST of the story!"
After I published my last blog post, a couple of people asked about the mechanics of the piece. It struck me that if I was calling it "process jewelry" I should show you the process. So here goes.
First, I must tell you that Vickie has several decades of experience making jewelry from polymer clay and her work is spectacular (we have some beautiful examples in our store). Moreover, she is known for her exceptional finishing- the added care that makes her pieces rise above the rest.
Second, our philosophy, especially when working with copper, is to make every piece we can. So here is the back of the piece.

As you can see, there are marks visible on the back of the copper plate. We could remove these but choose not to. These are the artist's marks and we feel that they should be left to show the "process". Here, you can also see the backs of the hand hammered eyelets and how the fastening copper wire is joined. Care is taken to tuck the ends to ensure there are no loose ends to catch on skin or clothing and, if necessary we smooth the ends by using a file or sanding using 600 grit paper.
Also, you will note that the connectors (jump rings) are hand made from copper wire. A rod is attached to a power drill and the wire is connected to the end of the rod and then wrapped using the rotation of the drill. WARNING! If you do this, be sure to use leather gloves to hold the wire as it can cut you if it gets loose. Then, a jeweler's saw is used to saw individual rings. (As the lowly apprentice, this is my job). The coils used to hold the cord are made in much the same way with sections, rather than individual rings, being cut to the desired length. The top end is pinched to secure the cord and the bottom end is opened up to accept the jump ring. Finally, the cord is cut to the desired length and a clasp is added.

Both sides of the clasp are hand made from hammered copper wire. It is important to flatten the paddle on the open piece so it can slide easily into ring on the left of the photo.
So the process starts with the shaping and finishing of the stone. Vickie decides on the shape and I do the execution. Then, Vickie comes up with a concept for the setting and we are both involved in the execution with her deciding shapes and me making all the copper findings.
The end result is a piece that is not only sturdy and beautiful in a somewhat primitive way, but also very interesting.
And now you know the REST of the story!
We hope you are having an enjoyable holiday season and look forward to seeing you at the Artist's Mark Shop in the New Year. There are some exciting changes that I will be detailing in upcoming posts as well as more examples of our process jewelry so come back and check from time to time..

New Jewelry Line Takes Shape

Sorry for the gap in posting but both Vickie and I have been fighting problems with our sciatic nerve and just now getting back to what passes for normal around here. As some might know, my wife, Vickie, is an accomplished "Process Painter"- someone focused more on the creative process than the outcome.
For some time we have toyed with the idea of bringing this idea to our stone jewelry, meaning that while we hoped to showcase and enhance the beauty of the stone, our focus would be more on the creative process involved.
We finished our first piece yesterday and here it is.

The stone is a piece of Brazilian crazy lace jasper and it is secured by copper wire to a copper back plate covered with a piece of snake skin Vickie found in her "stash". Pretty well all of this is hand made. The stone was finished by hand as was the copper plate. All connectors and eyelets were hand made from copper. The cord is leather and it is about 4.5 cm. high.
We felt it looked somewhat like a bird so we called it Rufous after the State Bird of Brazil which has a similar colouring.
Our objective is to create jewelry that, while being beautiful, is also interesting and we hope to have a few dozen pieces in the store by the spring.
I have to confess that we had a ball working out the logistics and it doesn't hurt that Vickie appears to have one of  everything!
So let us know how we did and if you get the chance, stop by to see it in person as I can honestly say that the photo doesn't really do it justice.

Jewelry Production Back in High Gear

Well, the weather is definitely changing. Have had the wood stove going for about a week but although we had a bit of sleet a few days ago, so far no snow.
These are the perfect climactic conditions to make jewelry... indoors... in a cozy studio.
Vickie has agreed to take me on as an unpaid apprentice and I have learned a bit about the basics of wire work. Let me make one thing clear- I am not allowed to do anything creative! I am what's affectionately known as a "grunt" or "gofer" depending on the situation. So for the last few days I have been cutting copper wire into lengths to be used to make clasps, and then I have learned how to make the two clasps. Here is the result of my labours:

I have also become proficient at cutting the "jump rings" shown in the upper right corner. All of this is so that my "sensei" can do her thing.
She also had a few things to make first (since I am not allowed to control anything that is on fire) so here she is making some copper pins using a blow torch.

 Vickie and I both prefer  interesting stones such as agate over classic gems and we both feel that any setting should add interest to the stone and not overpower it so in this case, since we started with a fairly large piece, a little bit of copper was only going to make it better.  Vickie started to work her wire magic.

And here's the result.

The rock, by the way, is local and appears to be a vein of stilbite that has subsequently replaced by agate, framed in basalt. Never seen anything like it and probably won't again.
She felt that Greek leather would be the perfect "chain" for it and now we are just waiting for the new owner to tell us how long she wants it.

In the days to come, I'll be posting pics of what comes next so keep checking 'cause you will see some really interesting stuff.

Jewelry Production Ramping Up!

Even though the weather is still beautiful (ignore that big storm heading right at us), the tourist season is dying down and we have more time to work on some of the beautiful raw materials in the rock lab.
Today, I got the last full load of raw stones out of my Lot-O-Tumbler and it didn't disappoint.

There is a lot of amazing stuff here. Some of the small pieces will be put in cages or have caps attached like this:

Some of the larger pieces will get special treatment. Who wouldn't want to wear a pendant made from this?

And Vickie has already started on some exceptional stones. Here is a piece of crazy lace agate from Gulliver's Cove finished with a copper prong setting.

Here is another that shows what can happen when you marry a beautiful stone with Vickie's amazing wire work.

The piece above is entirely hand made from copper wire and a great piece of golden plume agate and even more spectacular in person. By next spring, it is our goal to have 50-75 pieces in all price ranges in the shop and available on line so keep checking the blog to see what we come up with.
Also, over the winter, we will be revamping the shop a little and I'll post pics. We have already improved the lighting so stay tuned.

The Bag Fairy Pays a Visit

One of the most popular items in our shop has been the unique bags that Vickie makes. It started when she made one for herself and then friends wanted one and then...
These bags take time to make and time is in short supply for Vickie right now what with her designing, knitware, getting used to her rolling mill, painting sock blanks and looking after her recalcitrant husband. The other problem is that the components she uses- premium designer material, special mesh etc. are in very short supply. But this week she took the time to make a few more for the shop and here they are:

The price is still the same- $45 and, as you can see, they are works of art. So if you are looking for that special gift for that special person (ie. YOU!), stop by the shop and pick one up before they are all gone because it may be a very long time before I can get the "Bag Lady" to haul out her sewing machine!
If you are not from this area and would like one of these bags, we can ship it to you and you can pay via paypal. Just send me an email or comment on this post. I will try to post some pics of other items we have that you might want to purchase on line.
Today, we start in earnest to make jewelry from our beautiful stone. I will be working as Vickie's no-pay apprentice so if the blog suddenly goes dead it will be because I have suddenly gone dead.
Cheers and it's been nice knowing ya!

We Have a Rolling Mill!

Apparently, I have been living my life in blissful ignorance, unaware of the huge void that existed. That has been rectified, however, as we now have a rolling mill!

"What the heck is a rolling mill", I hear you ask.
Well, basically a rolling mill is something you can roll metal through.

"And, more importantly, why do YOU  feel the need for one?!", I also hear you ask.

As many of you know, we make jewelry from the beautiful jasper and agate we find locally. Actually, I misspeak. Vickie makes the jewelry in her magical studio next to the shop using copper, silver and other metals to create settings for the stones.
For some time, she has been telling me she could really use a rolling mill. Now rolling mills come in all sizes from hand turned bench models to those huge machines used in factories. But even the smallest examples are not cheap! Try looking for one on EBay and you will see that you are looking at several hundred dollars, possibly even thousands for a more automated version.
Recently, we were visiting John and Nancy Hood in Yarmouth. John does beautiful lapidary and creates stunning settings and all our really high end pieces come from him. He and Vickie are similar in several ways- they never throw anything away and they have at least one of everything in their "lairs". So when I mentioned that I was in the market for a rolling mill, it didn't take me by total surprise when John said he might be able to help. A few minutes later he was back with "The Beast" and a deal was made.
 At that point I had a rolling mill that couldn't roll. It had no handle and the cogs were not being held in place. Fortunately, I have a friend who does welding and he attached the handle from a hand auger and secured the cogs. There was, however an important piece missing. On the top, there are two screws that you use to raise or lower the heavy rollers. Naturally, you want them to be positioned so that the space between the rollers is consistent and so ideally, you want to move them both the same amount for each pass. To do this requires a little effort so each screw has a slot in the top for a 5/16 inch Allen Wrench. Do you have any idea how much these wrenches cost? The best deal I could find was going to cost me around $20 but then a very rare thing happened.
Do you ever go to Canadian Tire or any store and see that they have an unbelievable price on something that you either don't need or just bought? Sometimes the price is so good that you wish you needed one just so you could buy it. Well, on the CT web site they showed that a set of Allen wrenches, including the one I needed, was reduced from $17.95 to $4.95 and better yet, there were two in Digby! So for $10 plus tax (paid entirely with my $ millions of accrued Canadian Tire money) we were in business. I give you "The Beast"!

As you can see, I have bolted it to the bench ( a bit of overkill in light of how much this thing weighs- I estimate about 50 pounds at least. The two "ears" sticking up are the Allen Wrenches and as you can also see, Vickie's studio is, as it always is- a mess!
So now to answer the question of why it is needed. Actually, you can do a lot with this thing including:
1. Flattening metal wire.
2. Making metal sheets thinner.
3. Creating a pattern or texture in metal by passing it through with anything patterned, even a piece of
    cloth.
4. Flattening a metal coin, thus making it worthless and I think, breaking some law. I'm a bit of an
    anarchist.
5. Acquiring a hernia carrying it from the car to the studio.

This thing is definitely going to change my life!
In the upcoming months, I will be posting pics of some of the pieces that my jewelress is going to create so stay tuned!