They were fun to make...
First and most importantly, I chose metal that had already been worked with and aged. Each of these pieces had been worked with and then discarded. I loved the texture and images already embedded in the metal.
Then I heated the copper to make it malleable. I chose leaves and ran the metal and the leaves through the rolling mill.
(A rolling mill is the tool I covet the most from our shop at school. Yes, I want a torch, but I WANT a rolling mill in a really bad way. The cheapest good one I've found was around $500. It's gonna be a while before I have one...)
Next, I soaked the pieces in liver of sulphur to age and darken the leaf impressions.
After the liver of sulphur bath, I sanded the surface to lighten the raised metal.
Then I drilled holes on the sides. After speaking to an artist on Etsy I used clear finger-nail polish to coat the backs of the bracelets. Copper has a tendency to turn skin green when worn repeatedly, but the clear nail polish will prevent the copper from touching skin.
Finally, I took them home and beaded them, which was a blast! I wanted a heavy, rich appearance so I mixed chain in with vibrant glass beads and luscious stones.
I created the green bracelet specifically for me, but the red and blue one are both for sale!
Also, for more shots of these bracelets look over here: http://godsartistinresidence.blogspot.com/2010/06/friday-is-my-fun-day-leafy-bronze.html
2 comments:
This is really nice! I love copper. I am following you! I know how exciting it is when people come and read your blog. Nothing is great about talking to a giant empty space wondering who is out there!! LOL
Hi do my mom leave her cc after she bought a beautiful blue necklace from you at the farmers market last week. Thanks. Debra
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