We are leaving for our annual summer vacation to Vermont.  I am looking forward to relaxing and spending time with my family.

I really haven’t had much time for creating and probably won’t be bringing much of my tools and supplies with me. Though, my sketch book and colored pencils are always my constant companion. Have a wonderful upcoming week and will catch-up when I return.

As I wait for some of my supplies to arrive before I continue with my enameling, I have put the enamels back in the drawer, (hopefully, just until tomorrow), and decided to work on some other techniques that I have been wanting to try.

I have always been a fan of shabby chic decor- furnishings that are either aged or shows signs of wear and tear. Or, taking new items and distress them to achieve the appearance of an antique. I hope to have achieved this wonderful decor style in this piece of jewelry…..

Well, I managed to find time to at least make one bangle….with every new piece made, I learn something new. I love the color, “seafoam.” It’s probably my favorite Thompson enamel color. This time around I removed the black fire scale (which is usually intentional when I fire a piece)to expose a bare copper rim. I think the bare copper looks so pretty with the seafoam. In several places throughout the bangle, the enamel is sort of lumpy, smooth, but lumpy. To avoid this in the future, I need a better way to apply my klyr-fire, so I purchased preval. This will allow me to spray a “mist” of the klyr-fire on my piece, which is a gum-like mixture which the enamel adheres to. I was using a little spray bottle, but I found it very inefficient because too much kiln fire would spray out at once, which would make my enamel lump-up when applying. The preval will allow me to spray a soft mist onto the metal which will help achieve a nice even coat of enamel, hopefully:)

I also discovered I have an unusual outlined lump over the space where I riveted the metal together. I have no idea why. I need to run this by an enameling friend to find out why this happened.  And lastly, as an afterthought, I riveted a little flower decoration onto the bangle. I love the little flower but it’s too low on the bangle, but like I said, it was an afterthought and the hole was drilled prior to the enameling process. But, I have a great idea I would like to try tomorrow. If I don’t post tomorrow, by Friday evening, I will post my results this weekend. Thanks for stopping by.

You guys were much too generous with your compliments yesterday! Here is a cuff that I worked on today.  This one has less fire scale for one thing. It has a “cleaner” look. I used a softer green this time around, just for a change. Ignore the messy wire-wrap chain-I wanted to quickly attach something to the cuff to give it a finished look for the time being…..

Until tomorrow..

Several weeks ago I was looking on craigslist and found a listing for a Paragon Kiln for sale. The woman only used it once and decided she didn’t want to learn how to fuse glass. So, for half the price of a new one, I purchased it. This is the exact model…..(Always look on craigslist for big ticket tools before purchasing new. I also purchased my Foredom Flex-Shaft from Craigslist, the woman never used it. Though, you also need to be careful of scammers).
Even though I have been having so much fun with Torched-Fire enameling, I was really interested in learning how to enamel with a kiln. With my torchrd-fire enamel experience and also doing my research and reading about kiln enameling,( the Art of Enameling), I was ready to give it a go. I was a little nervous about using a kiln, but my kiln-enameling buddies told me to just turn it on and do it.

This piece just came out of the kiln. It is so far from perfect, but it’s my first attempt and I am aware of what went wrong and will hopefully be able to correct. So, if you would like to follow-my progress, please check back.

There has been this huge pesty fly in my studio for several days…and I mean pesty! As it buzzes around my room and into my light-fixtures, it makes this very loud buzzing sound. This is annoying enough! But this fly is not shy and enjoys diving for my head and into my hair..no kidding!! I have to shake my head and flip my hair around to get him out of my hair. You may be asking yourself why doesn’t she just grab a rolled-up newspaper and give it a whack, and my problem would be taken care of? But it’s so big! Finally after several days of putting up with this fly (what is the life expectancy of a fly)! I had my husband come down and get rid of it. I returned to my studio, relieved, enjoying the silence and no buzzing sound…. until 10 minutes later brother or sister fly is buzzing around my studio. Again, this is a big juicy fly! How are these flies getting in to my home?!! I caught myself being tempted to use my ignited torch and torch it as if flew by, but that would be gross! So, it’s still down there but “despite the juicy fly” I finally completed my enameled cuffed bracelet. This took me a while to make..and I had to be really careful with the riveting, not wanting to crack the glass.

Well, I better head back down to my studio and clean up my enamels…that gosh darn fly will be there, I am going to need my husband’s help again……

While my husband took the kids to the pool, I enjoyed some free-time in my studio where it’s nice and cool (basement studio). I did a little enameling, gathered some components I made a few weeks ago and created this. Upon finishing the bracelet, I noticed it needed something…it was lacking a personality. So,  I added the chain across the front. And when I put the bracelet on, I was pleasantly surprised that the chain laid perfectly centered across the enamel cuff-link. I really like it!

I am confirming all the jewelry artisans for the fundametals design team and I hope to introduce you to everyone by the end of the week. More later.

Jeanette

I continue to experiment with torch-fire enameling when I find the time, which I did, lastnight. This time, I opened my sample packets of transparent enamels and started experimenting. I was mostly interested in capturing the beauty of the transparent glass over copper without a colored opaque as a first coat. However, if I didn’t coat my first layer with a foundation white, my copper would oxidize a deep red and the transparent glass color would be lost. There is also a clear enamel base, a flux, which I would like to try as the foundation coat..though, the earrings below and little daisy spacers were achieved by using a white foundation coat. I also love this color!! I need to look it up again and get the actual name of it if anyone is interested in knowing:)

This weekend will be another hot one, so we look forward to keeping cool by the pool. I also will be contacting everyone who expressed interest in being a “fundametalist” this weekend. I will be contacting everyone directly:)

Have a wonderful weekend!

Jeanette

Hey friends,

I am cleaning out the studio and well, I have accumulated too many Infinity Stamp Sets and I wish to make them available for purchase for anyone who may be interested.

I have a wonderful font, I just love it, it arrived two days ago, but too large for me!! It’s called Curlz font (go ahead and look it up on www.myfonts.com). These are their superior stamps, not their stock stamps. The set, both upper and lower case is available for $ 510.00, retail would be $750. You would be responsible for shipping at $10.50.

I have a PUPCAT font, it’s a unicase font, the upper and lowercase are blended together in the same font. Very cute font. I can’t remember if it’s a 3/32 or 1/8. Anyway, you can view the font on myfonts.com. Set is $260 plus shipping. Again, I have only used this set a few times! *****PUPCAT IS SOLD*****

I have an American Typewriter font by INfinity Stamps, again, this is not their stock font. Size is 1/8. I have a lower case and I also have an upper case. $510.00 for both upper and lower, and shipping at $10.50.

I think that’s it for now. First one to contact me about any of the fonts have first option to purchase.

Jeanette:)

I wanted to follow-up and thank everyone who expressed interest in becoming a fundametalist. I will be getting  in touch with each of you within the next two weeks.  I totally acknowledge that each person who posted their interest is very passionate about working with metal and wire! I have seen it in your work and read about it on your blogs!

Secondly, just a reminder that ArtBLISS’ registration opens in two days, Sunday, June 13th.

Have a great weekend, everyone!

Jeanette