Monday, April 27, 2015

Fiber Boot Camp - More silkiness from me!

Written by Patti Vanderbloemen for the Love My Art Jewelry Blog

I am still trudging along with this boot camp and spent lots of time on Pinterest and such, looking for inspiration.  I found tons of necklaces using silk, with a slider-style bail.  I have never made one of these bails before, so thought I thought I would try my hand at making one.  This technique involved setting a tube rivet.  While I have set commercially made rivets and/or tube rivets in the past, this time I tried cutting my own rivets from copper tubing and using tools I have on hand. 

I could not believe it worked!  I used a variety of dapping tools and the ball-peen end of my goldsmith hammer, as well as my embossing hammer to set the rivet.  I felt I was on a roll and if I did not repeat the process soon, I would forget how I did it, so I made a bunch.  The picture below is of the bails prior to adding a patina.



Still working with my stash of silk from Marsha (source), I selected a lovely lampwork focal from Susan Kennedy (source) and was so happy that the silk matched perfectly!




I am still playing around with PMC and recently made a batch of beads made from copper tubing to which I fired on some textured strips of silver clay.  Most of these beads had tiny little discs soldered to the top, but I left the tops off of a few of them for this very reason.


These copper tube beads are held in place by knotting this silk.


I knotted the silk to the simple copper clasp - which I soldered closed for strength.  Oh, the drape of the necklace is divine!  




I made a second, similar styled necklace, this time featuring a gorgeous lampwork flower bead by Donna Millard (source).



The two strands of silk blend so beautifully with the colors of Donna's lampwork.


This necklace is a bit longer than the first one (I STILL hate photographing necklaces).


In all honesty, I am not loving the two copper tube beads in this necklace and will probably be re-working this design.  The silk in this second necklace is a bit thinner than the silk in the first necklace - it's looking a bit chunky to me....but, you get the idea.



This fiber boot camp has been such a learning experience for me and taught me to "never say never". I NEVER thought I would be able to incorporate these silks amongst all of my heavy-metal jewelry...next thing you know, I will be working with seed beads...(NO...that I cannot do)!


This blog post was written by Patti Vanderbloemen for Love My Art Jewelry Blog.
If you are reading this on another site, it has been copied and used without permission of the author or blog owner.  Please do not copy and use this information without permission (many blogs are having issues with this kind of stealing).



4 comments:

Monique (A Half-Baked Notion) said...

Oh my, fibre and metal really DO belong together, don't they? These are lovely examples you have created Patti :)

stacilouise said...

i love how you are finding more ways add fiber to your metal. this is such a wonderful way to do that. and adding your beads is the perfect accent. thank you so much for sharing them

Carol Dekle said...

I love how you made those bails Patti! They are so pretty, with the textures you created. They set off the texture in the silks and pendants beautifully! Also, your photography is perfect!

I read your post on your personal blog. I can't believe you haven't received your kiln yet! Is there a tracking number?? I hope you get a response soon!

Anonymous said...

Patti, these are so beautiful! I love the bales and I really love the copper tube beads. They are so perfect for fibers! Gorgeousness!

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