Thursday, December 03, 2020

Blue Flax

Enamel on 3 3/16" copper round. I'm very happy with how this one turned out. The colors come from Ferro Sunshine Enamel mixed with Thompson A-3 holding agent; the background is Thompson Titanium white. I lowered the temperature of the kiln just a little bit to 1420F and fired the round for 1 1/2 minutes.

Friday, November 20, 2020

Enamel goose

Canada Goose.

Enamel on copper. The goose was first fashioned with copper wire fused to the first layer of enamel then enamel placed into the cavity formed by the wire. The technique is called Cloisonné.

Monday, October 19, 2020

Someday it will snow

I'm really looking forward for some snow. Right now all we have are forest fires. I made this talisman to help put out the fires and bring on the snow. It's a 3" enamel on copper snowman at night. It's not perfect but it's very close to what I had in mind. The copper still bowed even though I put 3 layers of counter enamel on.

Thursday, October 15, 2020

The colors! Look at the colors!

My first attempt at the 3" round didn't go very well so I decided to practice with the smaller oval pieces before attempting the 3" round again. I think they turned out well.

Monday, October 12, 2020

Never forget

Matthew Shepard died 22 years ago today from injuries he suffered five days earlier in a brutal hate crime in Laramie Wyoming. I will NEVER forget !



 

Sunday, October 11, 2020

Let's try an experiment

I made this 3" enameled copper round for practice and to play with the colors.
This is what my lab/studio looks like right now.

Thursday, October 08, 2020

We have owls

I made these enamel owls on 3" copper rounds. The one on the left is the first owl I made; I was trying to let the copper be part of the owls color. The one on the right is my second attempt at an owl.

I'm thinking I might be trying to take on too much as a novice. Maybe I should try some simpler subjects.

Sunday, October 04, 2020

More bison

I made this enamel bison on a 3" copper round. This was my second attempt. I used powdered enamel fired at 1455 Fahrenheit. There are some small issues with it but I'm very pleased with the outcome.

Thursday, August 27, 2020

Lincoln's busted

I downloaded a 3D model of a bust of Abraham Lincoln from Thingiverse.com and printed it on my 3D printer. It took 4 hours to print. It turned out really well.

I tried using the lost wax method to make a brass casting of the bust but it didn't go well. Oh well, live and learn.

Sunday, May 31, 2020

The Deathly Hallow

I tried carving in wax today. I can't draw a round circle even when using a compass.


I made a mold from Amazing Mold Putty then cast the pendent in pewter.

Things didn't go perfectly but I was having fun so perfection wasn't a concern.

Sign of The Deathly Hallows from the Harry Potter series book 7.

Thursday, May 21, 2020

Rings from wire

My first attempt at making a ring. It's a start. I got to play with a butane torch, a ring mandrel, a pickle pot, and a leather mallet! The ring on the left is brass and the one on the right is copper. I have some silver wire too but I put it someplace where it wouldn't get lost - I just don't remember where that was. Next week I'm going to try sand casting a really big ring!

Monday, April 20, 2020

Is that gold?

Is that gold?
No it's just brass from melted shell casings.

Is that silver?
No it's just a copper/nickel alloy from some old silverware.

Saturday, April 18, 2020

I made some art


Buffalo bison formed from polymer clay then baked to harden.


A second buffalo bison formed from Monster clay, dried, molded, then cast in pewter.