The World's Smallest Metalsmithing Studio

A while back I mentioned on facebook that I have been working on cleaning/organizing my studio space, and I promised a picture when it was all done. Now I should point out that I use the term "studio" very loosely because my work space is actually... a coat closet, with the linen closet around the corner for additional storage.  Now this isn't the best photo because this closet is in a hallway, but I thought it might be helpful to other metalsmiths working in small spaces and apartments to see how I set it up.

So you can see that I have a very small bench in there. It's actually a portable bench that sits on a folding stand. There's a narrow space alongside the bench so I got one of those inexpensive rolling shelves to hold additional tools next to my bench. I have a hanging shoe organizer on the door to hold various frequently used tools and supplies, and drawer bins on the shelf above to hold materials. The closet bar comes in handy for keeping saw frames and safety glasses readily at hand. You can also see where I used my little mini-vise as a jury-rig clamp to hold the front of my poor little bench together. I should probably fix that so I can use my vise for its intended purpose again! Probably still looks a bit messy to some but for me this is really clean! I should probably add that I don't do any soldering or enameling in the closet. I do that on the stovetop where I have a little additional ventilation rigged up. I also avoid toxic chemicals in my work to reduce hazards associated with working in my living space.  All in all it's not so bad. My old apartment had a butler's pantry. Now THAT was a studio space, but a coat closet is better than nothing!

New Items in Shop

I Just listed a couple of my new "macro-filigree" earrings in my etsy shop.  More earrings and pendants too coming soon!

New Filigree Work

Here's the second filigree piece I have finished- only about two years from the first filigree piece I made. I had just started experimenting with filigree when I had to stop soldering for a while to re-worked my process to make it healthier and safer. Now I've got it all figured out and I'm finally back to working on filigree again. It's lots of fun and a great way to make a light, economical design with a lot of impact.

Enameling Tip: Glass Etching Cream

Glass etching cream is a great thing to have around if you are working with enamel. You can use it to get a nice matte finish over the surface of your enamel, or you can use it just like you would on any glass object to make an etched design by painting it on or applying it through a stencil. But where it really comes in handy is if you get a little stray enamel on the metal where you don't want it. As you may have discovered, getting even one grain of enamel where you don't want it can make a nasty black spot on your nice shiny silver. To get rid of it, just apply a layer of etching cream over the spot and let it sit for a while, then rinse off the cream and scrub, and reapply as needed. It will usually take a few applications to get rid of the spot. Keep in mind the glass etching cream is nasty stuff. Wearing gloves is strongly advised and avoid breathing the fumes. I would recommend using cotton swabs to apply the cream so you don't have to worry about cleaning a brush. Make sure you scrub your piece really well with soap when you're done with the etching cream.

An Electrolytic Etching Tip

Anybody who has done any kind of etching always eventually encounters the problem of what to do with all the spent solution. In electrolytic etching this is somewhat less of a problem because the solution isn't toxic or corrosive, but you still can't just pour it down the drain. I've recently discovered a simple trick that allows me to indefinitely re-use my saltwater solution. When I'm done with my etching, I simply filter the solution through a coffee filter. The filter catches most of the sludgy copper compound from the water and I'm left with nearly clear salt water, ready to use again and again. I've found that I just need to add more salt to the water now and then to freshen it up, because some of the salt bonds with the copper and comes out in the filtering process. Happy etching everyone!
***EDIT*** Since writing this post I have discovered that while you can re-use your solution for a long long time, it will eventually wear out. Once you start noticing your etching isn't as crisp as before, it's taking a lot longer or you're getting funky textures, replace the solution. Adding more salt will help extend the life but it will eventually be saturated with copper and won't take any more salt. What can I say, I'm learning as I go!

Etching Resist Pen

After a lot of searching and some trial and error, I finally found a good resist pen for electrolytic copper etching. I had been using a sharpie paint pen for etching when I was using ferric chloride, but for some reason it doesn't stand up to the electrolytic etching process long enough to get a good etch. So today I was in the craft store and I saw they had fine point DecoColor paint markers. I picked one up to give it a try and it worked great! It draws easily, dries fast and stands up well to the etching process. When you are done etching you can just scrub it off with a scrub pad, so you don't even have to use a solvent. One caveat is that it is the "stinky" kind of paint marker. The label says it contains xylene, so don't sniff it and keep it away from the kids. Some good ventilation couldn't hurt either. I should add that good old fashioned stop-out varnish applied with a nib pen is still the best etching resist I've found, but for some things you just need a marker. Happy etching!

Tutorial - Wet Packing Enamel

So far all the enameling tutorials I've posted have been based on sifting techniques. Sifting is great if you want an even layer of enamel over an entire surface, but sometimes you need a more controlled application of enamel. This is when you would use wet packing. Wet packing is used for several advanced enameling techniques, including cloisonne and champleve. It's a very simple technique, but it takes a bit of practice to get the hang of it. Before you begin, check out my Intro to Enameling tutorial for basic information about enameling.

Here's what you need:

1. Enamel powders
   
2. Water
3. Small metal spatula/pick
4. Plastic palette or spoons (optional)
5. Kiln or torch for firing
6. Firing supports, trivets, wire screens, etc
   
7. Copper or Fine Silver
8. Nitric acid and Baking Soda (if using copper)
   

Getting Started:

• Prepare your metal for enameling. Here I am using a metal clay setting I made.
  
• Wet your enamel powders. Many people use a plastic palette or plastic spoons to hold their wet enamels. I use the lids of my enamel jars. When the enamel dries out it just falls back into the container. Scoop a little enamel into whatever container you are using and add water drop by drop until you get the consistency you want. It takes a little experimentation to figure out how much water to add. I like to make mine a little wetter as I find that the water helps to carry the enamel into the corners and edges of the opening I'm filling. If you want a more controlled application keep the enamel a little drier.

Packing the Enamel:

• Take your spatula or pick and scoop up a tiny blob of enamel. Place it on your piece in the center of the area you are enameling and use your tool to push the enamel into the area or shape you want. Keep adding enamel until you have covered the desired area and built up a thin, even layer. If you are filling an opening in a metal clay or etched piece, don't try to fill it up to the top all at once. It will take two or three layers.
• Very carefully check your piece for stray grains of enamel. You will be able to see a single stray grain of enamel on your piece!

Firing the Enamel:

• Dry your piece thoroughly by gently heating it with the torch or placing it on top of the kiln.
  
• Fire in the kiln or with the torch until the enamel is smooth and glossy.
• Continue to add coats and fire until you have achieved the thickness of enamel you need.
  

Between Firings:

• Fine silver will stay clean when firing. Go right on to your next coat if needed.
  
• Copper will oxidize in any areas not covered with enamel. This oxidation needs to be cleaned off before your next firing or it can pop off and get into your next coat of enamel. Sparex Pickle can do funky things to enamel, so you will need to clean it in a 5% nitric acid bath instead. Make sure you neutralize with baking soda and clean your piece really well to get rid of all the acid before you continue. (I've never tried it myself, but some of the alternative pickles like vinegar or citric acid would probably also work and not harm the enamel. If you try it let me know!)

That's it! Like I said, it's a very simple technique, but it forms the basis of nearly every advanced enameling technique. Good luck and happy enameling!

Safer Studio - Borax Flux

I've been using commercial paste flux for years because it was what I learned to use in college. While the flux I had been using wasn't particularly dangerous, It seemed to aggravate my lungs, and I was concerned about long-term exposure so I decided to look for a safer substitute. I have been using Firescoff flux occasionally for a while, but it is fairly expensive so I like to save it for soldering operations that tend to cause the most firescale, like soldering pin findings onto the back of a brooch.
I read that plain borax has been used as a flux historically, so I decided to give it a try. I started by mixing borax powder (the laundry kind) with water to make a paste, but the grains were too big, making a gritty mixture that was hard to apply to the metal. After some experimentation, I figured out that the trick is to use a mortar and pestle to grind up the borax and water to make a finer, more "paintable" paste.
You can also use denatured alcohol instead of water, which has the advantage of burning off quickly when the torch is applied, instead of boiling off like water does. Denatured alcohol is kind of nasty stuff though, so I decided to try water first.
So how does it work? Well, not as well as good old trusty handy flux, but well enough. It doesn't stick to the metal the way paste flux does, so it helps to get the metal nice and clean first so the borax and water mixture doesn't bead up on the metal surface. The borax also kind of puffs up when heated, before it melts down to a clear coating. It takes a little getting used to. I think I will keep working with it for a little while and see how it goes.

Safer Studio - Citric Acid Pickle

As my next step in making my studio a healthier place, I replaced my Sparex pickle solution with citric acid. I have to say I'm extremely pleased with how well it works. This is one of those things I can't believe I didn't know about before. I got a great big five pound jar of citric acid powder for about twenty bucks. I've heard that you can get it at the grocery store because people use it for canning fruits, but I couldn't find any here so I ordered it from Amazon.

To use citric acid for pickle, you just mix one part powder to ten parts water and keep it warm in a little crock pot. I've also read that you can use it cold if you mix a stronger solution (1:3) but I haven't tried it. The hot solution works really well. It seems to work almost as well as Sparex- well enough that it won't really slow me down at all. I can already tell that the fumes from the citric acid pickle aren't as irritating to my lungs.

Of course citric acid is still acid, so a certain amount of care is still in order. Remember to "do what you aughta, add acid to wata," and neutralize with baking soda. Don't drink it or put it in your eyes or anything like that.

Overall I'm very happy with the results, and I would definitely recommend citric acid to anybody looking for a safer alternative to commercial pickle chemicals.

Safer Studio: Ventilation

Now that we have a baby in the house I've decided to make some changes in the way I do things in the studio to keep everybody safe and healthy. I already posted about my new electrolytic copper etching method, which allowed me to still make etched pieces during my pregnancy. Now that the baby is here, I'm continuing to revamp my studio.
One of the main things I had to do before I could solder or enamel was to arrange some better ventilation for my studio. My studio is in a pantry, so it's a very small space, but It was already outfitted with a window and a vent fan in the ceiling. What I still needed was some ventilation at the bench level so I wouldn't be breathing in soldering and kiln fumes before they were removed from the space.
My uncle rigged up a nice little ventilation fan for me by building a box around a bathroom vent fan, and hooking it up to a switch and power cord so I can plug it into a regular outlet and switch it on and off. I set it right next to my soldering station so it will remove the fumes as close to the source as possible. I was very fortunate in that a previous tenant had a washer and dryer in the room, so there was a dryer exhaust hole already in the wall. I just got some dryer vent hose stuff to attach the fan to the opening.
I should probably add that I should have done all this a long time ago. It shouldn't take a baby to make me finally care about my health and safety!
Coming soon: safer flux and pickle alternatives!

More Tab Settings

Here's my latest tab-set solder-free pendant. This one is a little simpler than the previous one. I didn't realize until I finished it that the shapes are basically a pelvis and a uterus (I wonder where my subconscious is?) But I still like it. I also like the subtle grainy texture on the silver back plate, which I got by lightly hammering the silver through a piece of sandpaper. This one will be up in my Etsy shop in a day or so.

New Old Work

A while ago I posted about a great filigree how-to book called Silver Threads. I didn't have much time to experiment with filigree before I temporarily gave up soldering, but I did manage to make one successful piece. This necklace has been hanging out in a shop where I used to have some of my jewelry for sale, but since the shop closed I have it back and up in my Etsy shop. Once I'm back to enameling and soldering, I will be doing more pieces like this.

Making Jewelry Without Soldering

Since I temporarily gave up soldering and enameling, I've been a little stuck on how to make interesting jewelry using only cold working methods. After a brief and unsuccessful foray into wirewrapping, I had the idea to try out some tab settings using etched copper pieces in the place of stones. Here's my first successful piece made in this style. It took a little refining to get this design to look "finished" the shaping of the prongs and the curvature of the backplate really helped to give it a little dimension. The setting is cut from a single piece of silver sheet, so there is no soldering involved, and I used my new electrolytic copper etching setup to etch the copper.
This one's available in my shop right now, and I'm planning on making more pieces in this series soon!

PS: More copper beads coming this week thanks to the magic of electrolytic etching!

Liver of Sulfur Gel

Like many jewelers, I have had an old, rusty can of liver of sulfur (or "the stink" as we call it at my house) sitting around for years. After taking a little hiatus from jewelry making, I was disappointed to find that my mostly full can of liver of sulfur had gone bad on me. (Interestingly enough, when liver of sulfur goes bad it stops stinking) So I replaced my old can of dry liver of sulfur with a jar of the new gel variety, and I am very happy with it! It is much easier to use, and gives very consistent results. With the dry stuff, you had to dig around to find a chunk that was the right size, then wait for it to dissolve, and you could never be quite sure how strong the solution was going to turn out. With the gel variety, I just dip the end of a little scoop into the jar and stir it into a small container of hot water. It's easy to make just as much as you need. Plus, the gel liver of sulfur is supposed to be more stable than the dry stuff and has an extended shelf life. Of course, it's still really stinky, and you still have to be careful not to breathe in the fumes, etc, but It's a big improvement!

Electrolytic Copper Etching

As part one of my mission to make my studio practice healthier for me and any future babies, I decided to give electrolytic copper etching a try. It turns out it's so easy to do I am surprised more people haven't tried it. I downloaded an article from Art Jewelry about how to do it, but you can also find lots of good information floating around the internet.
Basically, all you need to do is hook up a D battery to two pieces of copper suspended in a saltwater bath. One is the piece you are etching, the other can be any piece of scrap copper. The current draws copper from the etching piece to the scrap copper. You can use the same kinds of resists you would use for acid etching, but you don't need the etching chemicals. Neat huh?
Here's what you need:

• D battery
• D battery holder
• Alligator clips
• Heavy copper wire (14g. is good)
• Copper to be etched
• Scrap copper
• Pure salt (kosher or canning and pickling salt)
• Plastic or glass container
• Resist (pnp film, stop-out varnish, asphaltum, etc)
  

To get set up, you need to attach your alligator clips to the lead wires on your battery holder. My friend Paul helped me out (thanks Paul!) because even though I know all about silver soldering I know nothing about soldering electrical components. Then you make a saturated salt solution by dissolving as much salt as you possibly can in water.

To get your metal ready, you need to get the piece you will be etching really nice and clean by scouring it with a scrub pad or heating and pickling it, then draw your design on with whatever resist you are using. I was surprised when I first started experimenting with this technique to find that the salt water is just as hard on the resist as the ferric chloride was. Permanent marker didn't work at all, and the sharpie paint pen I used to use for beads works ok but doesn't last long enough to get a good deep etch, so I am back to using the stop-out varnish (check out my acid etching tutorial for more info on different resists) The scrap copper just needs to be cleaned off with a scrub pad or brass brush to remove any residue, then it's ready to go.

Once your metals are ready, fill a plastic or glass container with the salt solution, then attach your two pieces of copper to copper wires and hang them from the sides of the container so they are submerged in the solution. Attach the positive alligator clip to the piece you want to etch and the negative clip to the scrap copper. You will immediately see little bubbles rising from the scrap copper, and within minutes the water will start to get cloudy and reddish brown with copper (Note: Don't pour this water down the drain! collect it and talk to your local waste management people about how to dispose of it. It's not hazardous to handle but it's not good to put copper into the water supply!)

It takes about an hour or more to get a really nice deep etch. Depending on what effect you are looking for, you can get a visible etch in about a half hour. I need to do some more experimentation, but my first piece has a visible etch so I consider it a success.

Overall I am very pleased with this project. It was easy to do and safe, without the mess of ferric chloride and it cost about seven dollars for all the supplies to get started. I am planning on doing a lot more copper etching with this technique, so I should have lots of new etched copper jewelry and beads coming soon!

New Year's Excuses

Happy New Year everybody! I think the time has come to explain the bareness of my shop and the infrequency of my blog posts. Of course, I am right in the middle of my first year of teaching, and recently moved my studio to my new apartment. It would appear, however, that the fates wanted my life to be as crazy as possible right now, so my husband and I are expecting a baby! (you can read my husband's thoughts on the subject on his blog)
Now, I'm a little wary of enameling (various metal pigments) and soldering (flux, metal fumes, pickle) while pregnant. I have heard a lot of mixed information about the health risks of metalwork during pregnancy.
After doing a lot of research and talking to my doctor I have decided to err on the side of caution and temporarily give up enameling, soldering, and chemical etching. I've decided to use this as an opportunity to re-evaluate the healthfulness of my studio practices, with the goal of making a healthier and safer environment for the baby and myself. Here are a few of the things I am planning on doing:
-Replace chemical etching with electrolytic etching (more on this coming soon!)
-Replace flux and pickle with safer options.
-Install bench-level ventilation to supplement ceiling ventilation in my new studio.
I'll have posts on all my studio updates coming in the next few months. If you have any other ideas for making a studio safer and healthier, leave me a comment!
Bonus: You can see an awesome drawing of our future baby done by our friend Josh here

Finally Done!

I finally finished this necklace that I have been working on on-and-off for a few weeks. I constructed all of the links, made all the enamels and settings by hand, made all the jumprings and the clasp myself, and soldered every single ring shut. I'm really proud of it.

Shop Update- New Beads!

My new "pebble" bead design is now available in oval and 16mm round sizes in my shop. This latest batch came out of the etching bath with a little extra texture, which is why I always like to photograph each bead individually for my listings. Etching can be an unpredictable process, so no two beads ever come out exactly alike.

More New Earrings

Here's another new earring design in sterling silver flat wire. I made this pair for my mom's birthday. I like the design a lot- it reminds me of bleeding hearts. I think I will make another pair to put in my etsy shop.

Clasp Fancy

I've been using my own handmade hook clasps for quite a while now, and I love them for how simple they are and how well they work, but lately I've been thinking they look a little plain. On this last necklace that I made, I upgraded my simple clasp by adding a bit of wire wrapping around the loop and by flattening the wire just a bit at the curve. Everything is still soldered down for security, of course. I think it adds a nice little touch of decoration.