COPPRclay Bracelet

This is what I've been sweating and cursing over the last few days- carving some charms to add to it has been on my mind but those can always be added later. I'm just hoping that I managed to get the seams joined well enough, working so thin was a little tricky but I wanted it to look light and airy. The links are all uniform due to my Makin's extruder and wrapping the snake around an oval and circular form to get the shapes.
Now I have plenty of open links that haven't been sealed shut, lots of possibilities- maybe a necklace or another bracelet?


One thing I've learned from using the extruder to make the snakes is that the clay should be fresh and not reconstituted- otherwise it will look rough and fall apart more easily.

Another Experiment

Another experiment w/ unexpected results- these are Bronzclay pieces coated in a thinned layer of gesso, allowed to dry and then painted with metallic Lumiere paint that can be used on fabric. The colors are a little too bright for me, I grabbed these paints since I couldn't locate my Prismacolor colored pencils.
Once I find my colored pencils, I'll try this experiment again.

Patina Experimentations

Didn't mean to be absent for so long- life and active baby keep me pretty busy :)
Sooo, I'm not sure if these would considered success stories since it didn't patina the way I wanted- prolly need to look into a different ammonia since this one only patinaed certain spots on the metals. Maybe just straight ammonia would be better- no froufrou lemon scents, etc..what can I say- my options were limited at the store, lol.
The cheesecloth bracelet was my first try and it stayed in the 'fuming tent' overnight and this is what it looked like- one caveat: I forgot to use distilled water when I dunked it in the saltwater solution. Could this make a big difference?
On my second try I remembered to used distilled water and added more kosher salt to the mix. These stayed in the container for about 5 days- after the second day I didn't notice any extra patina growing, but left them in there just to see if any more color would deposit. Something odd about this batch is that the area of patina had/has a slightly shinier look than the rest of the metal- almost like plastic. Is this due to the longer duration or maybe the additives in the ammonia? Another thing I noticed is that this process seemed to darken the copper clay slightly. I plan on ordering some sanding and polishing accessories so I can clean the metal better- this could also have affected my results. It was a fun experiment and I mean to try again when I have better ammonia and cleaning tools.

Patina Experimentation

I'm going to try and patina my cheesecloth bracelet!
This is the only ammonia I can find in the stores, places like Target don't carry it. Maybe grocery stores are most likely to carry products like this? Not even sure that this is the correct ammonia to patina metal. We'll find out in the morning!
Here is what I've done so far:
Found an empty plastic container w/ lid and poked two holes in top to string bracelet up so it doesn't touch ammonia in bottom of container. I used twine as my hanger, hope it doesn't matter what the material is.
Folded a paper towel and placed it in the bottom of the container, then poured ammonia to saturate. Left this outside since I'm sure it will be stinky.
Next, I tied my loop and hung my bracelet.
After mixing the salt water solution, I dunked my suspended bracelet- I didn't want to touch it w/ my hands and get oil on it.
Since my bracelet is already attached to the lid via the string, all I had to do was put on the lid and set the container someplace it won't get knocked over outside.

I'll try and post pics of the results in the morning, if I have time. My friend, Sheryll, is getting married down in Big Sur tomorrow, I hope the weather is gorgeous for her big day!

Suddenly Seeking

Originally uploaded by Anahata Katkin

Vickie Hallmark tagged me, who was tagged by Catherine Witherell to share "What are you about right now?". Feel free to join in! Just remember to link back to this post so everyone will be able to see what others are writing.

I'm suddenly seeking:

Patience for: teething baby, loud neighbors, smoothing joints and final sandings

Practicing: kindness, listening better, empathy, hollow forms, links and organizing

Looking for: the perfect dress, comfy shoes that go w/ everything, the willpower to lose the baby weight, the time/money to take a class/buy pieces from Celie Fago, Diana Fayt, Andrea Guarino, Mary and Lou Ann, Robert Dancik, Susan Lenart Kazmer, Angela Gerhard

scented drawer papers, this room, some delicious korean food, pots de creme,

a girls' night out at Fifi's

follow thru

Improving at: prioritizing, organizing, not procrastinating, de-cluttering

crashing waves, blue, clear skies, soaring birds, chubby little hands, the sound of my son's laughter, hugs, family, crisp sheets, feathers, fog, Hwy 1, lavendar: the color and scent, her artwork, travel, Italy, gelato, stone houses, poppies, gondolas, mosaics, Etsy, her blog, lucid dreaming, ideas journal, enameling, peonies

Always seeking: beauty

Copprclay Pieces Fired

These were fired in the acid-washed coal based carbon rather than coconut- I keep forgetting to switch it.
*Please ignore the loose pieces of charcoal since these haven't been cleaned yet*
The patina is what was present after fishing them from the firing chamber. You can see the smallest has a tear on the bottom where my seam was weak- turns out it's not that big a deal to refire it since I need to add a jump ring so it will hang correctly. Let's hope it's not difficult to fix.

So Happy Together

These pendants are hollow and I had thought about just leaving them looking like pebbles. Then I decided to try and make them similar to my Bound Bead style from my glass work. The far left is my first as you can see by my not so awesome stringing. If everything goes as planned they'll be fired tomorrow morning.

Finished Bracelet and Beadcaps

I'm fired up about finishing my cheesecloth bracelet and interested *again* about making beadcaps. These beads have been laying around not making themselves useful and were talked into posing w/ beadcaps- made for each other, no?

The bigger bead is hollow, so it's nice and light. Fumed ivory always looks so nice and organic.

Please pardon my non-model-worthy hands, just wanted to show the bracelet ;)You can tell a slight difference in color btwn the copper clay body and COPPRclay clasp, but I plan on enameling the body of the bracelet- making it a moot point. Have a good night, all!

Current WIP

Here is my pile of current works in progress. I've probably used 150-60 grams so far of Copprclay and some of them still need to be textured, smoothed, etc. before they're ready to be fired.

I had to remake a clasp for my cheesecloth bracelet since the one I refired due to breakage ended up spreading apart and when I tried to move it closer together, it broke again :(

Let's hope the copprclay one is a little bit stronger. Next on my agenda is a hinged bracelet of some sort, perhaps w/ empty chambers to add some resin..

Still haven't managed to master tear away texture- it seems a bit tricky, but I'm determined to get it down.

Tubes- More Than Hinges

I thought I'd show you the back of an earring and how I used a tube as an attachment- maybe it's nothing new to some of you, but I was pretty chuffed to figure it out, lol.

With the tube attached- made w/ my extruder- all I had to do was use a headpin and add a pearl, wire wrap and voila! a pair of earrings.

This happened purely due to the reason that I didn't want to have to add a hole and then use a jumpring, etc. and I wanted to leave the front of the oval unmarred- imagine if you wanted to put writing or a certain design that would be ruined by a hole, maybe this would be useful.

Earrings Exchange

A group of fellow lampwork artists decided to have an online earrings exchange and here are the ones I sent in: