My Broken Heart Mended

I created a heart design out of copper clay some time ago, after I left my bad marriage.

I was living on my own for literally the first time in my life and I'd found some good friends and created a support network for myself. I was beginning to heal and with that, I was finding a new voice in my art/jewelry making.

"My Broken Heart Mended" is a hand cut and textured copper clay heart featuring a "tear" design and sterling silver wire stitches. It has been patinaed with a hand held torch and allowed to oxidize. Here is the one i made for myself:

This one is mine.

Apparently it spoke to some people, because I've made it six more times; mostly necklaces, but once a bracelet and another time a brooch pin.

Here is a gallery of the others:



Brooke's



Krissi's



Sandi's



Michele's

For a Valentine's Giveaway

Available on ArtFire

Do you read me?

I haven't really had time to write a good blog post this week, but we'll see who's reading any way. I have been working more hours at home on my ArtFire shop than I have been during the day at my day job...and I still have so many things to post! Leave a comment on this post for a chance to win something and save me from having to list that one more thing in my shop. Thanks for reading!

Combining Colors; the Basics for Craft Design

A big thank you to Kari Ackeret for suggesting this topic. :-)

Oh so many colors! How do you decide which color will pair nicely with some other color? Let's start with color basics before we move on to combining the colors.

The primary colors – Red, Blue & Yellow

The secondary colors – Violet (Red + Blue), Green (Blue + Yellow) & Orange (Yellow + Red)

The tertiary colors – Red-orange, Orange-yellow, Yellow-green, Green-blue, Blue-Violet & Violet-red

For information sake will keep it to primary and secondary for now, but the rules apply for tertiary as well...

Color mixing basics -

Primary colors easily pair with each other, 'nuff said.

Complimentary colors (these sit next to each other on the color wheel and combine easily); Red with orange or violet; Blue with violet or green; Yellow with green or orange.

Contrasting colors (these sit opposite each other on the color wheel and are a bit more challenging to combine; Red and green (think Christmas); Yellow with violet (think pansy flowers); Blue with orange (think Denver Broncos).

Tones (warm and cool) -

Complimentary Cool Tones

Complimentary Warm Tones

Cool tones; Violet, Blue & Green; these will pair easily with silver, pewter and steel (complimentary), but will pop paired with “warm” metals like gold, brass and copper (contrasting).

Warm tones; Red, Orange & Yellow; these pair easily with gold, copper and brass (complimentary), but will really pop when paired with “cool” metals like silver, pewter or steel (contrasting).

Tints and Shades -

Tints and shades are the degree of a color (i.e.. Light Red, Red, Dark Red). Tints are a color made lighter by adding white; Shades are a color made darker by adding black. It's an easy way to combine colors, as they are all the same color just different degrees of it.

This actually takes me back to my painting class in High School; My teacher required us to do a color blend chart for all of the primary colors using black and white in various amounts (ie. ½ white + ½ red = pink). The Chart actually had white and the bottom, red (or blue, or yellow) in the middle and black on top. It didn't go too deeply into each color gradation, but was kept pretty simple; 100% white, ¾ white + ¼ red, ½ white + ½ red, ¼ white + ¾ red, 100% red, ¾ red + ¼ black, ½ red + ½ black, ¼ red + ¾ black, 100% black...but I digress

Neutrals -

You can combine neutral colors (i.e.. White, black, grey, brown, etc.) with most other colors and with themselves to lovely effect.

Now that you have the basics, take a little time to lay out your crafty project, or paint some swatches next to each other and just see if you like the way the colors look together. If you do, well, get crafting!

More fun with Enameling

I'm finally feeling comfortable enough with my enameling to add it to designs using my favorite metal, natural brass. The designs have been fun to play with and I like playing with colors and textures.

Here is what I've been doing, in order of completion:

Peirced and Layered

Lovely Layers

Stamped and Embossed

A little bit of everything

Textures and layered colors

I think they are really turning out nicely; what do you think?

Starting your crafty business, Part 2 - Okay, I've decided how I want to sell it, how do I price it?

Okay! You've made the big decision to sell your handmade awesomeness and now you are ready to price it...umm...yeah...but how?

It's a pretty big deal, getting the prices right. You want to be able to make a profit otherwise you might as well go back to giving it away. You want to be competitive with other artisans and crafters, too.

Do not sell your stuff cheaply! It, and you, are worth more than that. Undervaluing your items hurts you in the long run, but it also hurts the handmade marketplace. That being said, there is also a limit of what your regional market will bear. Yes, you have to take your customer type into consideration when pricing your items, but that doesn't mean selling an item for less, sometimes it means revamping your line to fit your customer base (i.e. making less expensive pieces for the church bazaar vs. the high end ones you make for the gallery).

You have to remember, this is now a business. Even if you are just a hobbyist, you are going to need to keep records of your supplies and what you paid for them. You are going to need to know how long it takes you to make a piece (including design time). You need to decide what your time it worth. Imagine you did this as a job; what is your boss paying you per hour to create your awesomeness? Most artisans rate their time in the $18-$20 range. I think you're worth it, you should too. Trust me, you wouldn't do this job for minimum wage. You also need to add some overhead for packaging and other materials that can't make it into the rest of the price, because all of that stuff really goes into making your sale.

There are several formulas for pricing items to keep you competitive and profitable; the one I use is pretty simple. First I figure the base price, that is the price it cost me to make it. I add parts plus time (labor) plus overhead (I use a flat 20% on the parts + labor to get my overhead). To get my base. (P + L + O = B)

My parts on this piece were $5, my labor was 15 minutes at $20, so $5, my overhead then was 20% of $10, so $2. Adding these all together, my base price for this item is $12. This is what it costs me to make this item. If I were to sell the item at this price, I would have no profit whatsoever.

On top of my base price, I have 3 price points; wholesale, direct and retail. The markup I use for wholesale is 2.5 times parts plus labor and over head. (P*2.5 + L + O = W); for direct it’s 3 and for retail it’s 6.

So, an item that costs me $12 to make would be priced at $19.50 for wholesale, $22 for direct and $37 for retail.

You will have to decide what you think is the right pricing for your craft business, but remember, there is no benefit to you or anyone for underpricing (and undervaluing) your work.

 

Finished Bits; Enameled Pendants Become Pretty Jewelry

Here are pics of the finished pieces that I started at the VOX Mini Maker Fair. I'm really enjoying playing with layering the enameled pieces.

What do you think?

Demo Days!

I've been invited to demo torch fired enameling at the Mini Maker's Fair at VOX coming up on Saturday, July 13, 2013 from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm. Come spend an evening with people who want to share their art with you. It'll be fun.

Learn how I turn plain beads into these beauties!

A Good Night's Work.

This is what I did last night.

And this.

Upcoming Show Schedule - Updated

Just a quick update up upcoming shows where Juli's Jewels will be vending.

Placerville Craft Faire, Downtown Placerville

Sunday, August 11th from 8:00 am to 3:00 pm.

Elk Grove Craft & Antique Show, 8820 Elk Gove Blvd, Elk Grove

Saturday, September 21st from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

2nd Annual Craft Fair, Arden Church of the Nazarene. 3337 Arden Way, Sacramento

Saturday, October 12th from 9:00 am to 3:00 pm

I'm still waiting to hear about the Nevada City Craft Fair, which will be held in December. I won't know about it until October though. 

If for no other reason, come out to one of these events just to see my new banner. 

Stay-cation...all I ever wanted...

Stay-cation...didn't have to get away.

I have been enjoying a nice little staycation for the last six days. Who knew it could be so nice just being home! This time off from the dayjob has given me time to relax, sure, but also time to explore. 

I spent some time working on some enameling techniques that I'd only just done once before, the stamping technique to apply a design to the enamel. I now have a much better handle on the best way to do it and what types of designs work best. 

I learned that torch-firing crackle base and trying to use regular enamels (not liquid) will only result in miserable failure. It was pretty for a minute though.

I didn't just spend the whole time inside though, I got out too. I took a nice almost six-hour hike around the Foresthill Divide Loop Trail. It was about 11 miles. It wasn't super hot and there were breezes...and I only almost got squished by a cyclist once.

Now I'm off to do a little putting. 

Tomorrow it's back to the dayjob, but for today, I'm going to enjoy my last bit of staycation.

I hope your summer is great too.

Look at this beautiful redwood tree!

Boy, I love enameling!

Here's a quick peek at the progression in my enameling; 4 new techniques,

This one is layered and has motion. Had to figure out how to keep the enameled pieces from rubbing against each other.

This one used a rubber stamp to apply the enamel for the stars.

This is sgraffito; after enameling a base, sift another layer and then scratch in a pattern.

This one uses piercing and stenciling.

I'm certainly having a good time experimenting with what you can and can't do with enamels.

Pretties for Pennies

If you follow me on Facebook you've probably seen pictures posted of "the really big project"' which is my enamel testing project. I have been using pennies (yes, it's legal. I checked everything out first.) to test fire all of the enamel colors to see how they react with the copper and the torch flame. The pennies all have to be from 1981 or earlier (1982 pennies have very little actual copper in them!), and I've needed approximately 170 of them. Let me tell you, it's surprisingly hard to come by those old pennies! So, what i did was offer all my coworkers and friends "pretties for pennies". If they donated pennies to my project I made them a necklace in return; whatever their favorite color enameled on a copper washer and finished with a simple cord. Like this...

Not too bad for $.5 or $.10, right?

I'm still on the lookout for those pennies. I will have my project finished in about $.50. :-)

Here's a quick look at what I'm doing with them. 

Meet the Design Board!

Sometimes I get stuck when I am trying to design a new piece of jewelry and I need a little help figuring out the layout of the piece.

I have some fun leaf charms that I have been wanting to use in a necklace design for a while now and I decided that I wanted to use them as links instead of dangles. I punched a hole into the leaf ends and then I started laying them out in different ways on my design board until I found the pattern that made me the most happy.

My next post will be about what design I picked and how I finished the piece.



Design 1 - Simple, symmetric

Design 2 - Symmetric with dangle



Design 3- Simple assymetric

Design 4 - Assymetric with single dangle



Design 5 - Assymetric with double dangle

Design 6 - Not so simple assymetric.

Trying New Things!

In an effort to do a better job of blogging, I’m going to try some new things. I am going to do book and DVD reviews and I think I’ll even try my hand at the occasional interview! My new goal is one blog post per week…wish me luck.

Okay, so this week I am going to review a DVD I just purchased recently – Exploring Resin Jewelry Making with Susan Lenart Kazmer which I purchased from Objects and Elements for $29.99.

As many of you already know, I have been using resin in my work for a couple of years now, but only in the most basic way (i.e. put a picture and/or a small item in some type of bezel or bottle cap and then pour in the resin…) occasionally being very brave and layering in a few watch bits or a dimensional, but not to much of that.

Recently, I have seen resin in open backed bezels and also doing resined paper over wire framework to make charms and pendants. I have really wanted to try some of these things but felt intimidated. Those of you who know me know that normally I would just jump in with both feet and sink or swim, but resin is very messy and can go really wrong if you aren’t a little bit careful.

So I’ve been pining away for months…until just this last month when I happened across the DVD while looking at open backed bezels (longingly) at the Objects and Elements shop. Definitely a woohoo moment! The description of the DVD from the website was, “Susan Lenart Kazmer has done it again! This great video explores ways to incorporate resin into your work. She shows it all from how to use the resin right through molding and casting. It's like taking her class with a rewind button.” I bought it right then and there (along with a texture hammer and some enameled rings and cones) and waited. Three days later it was on my doorstep. The fun part was it arrived on a day when I was heading up to hang out with my friend and fellow artist/crafter, Krissi (a.k.a. Skelekitty), so I took it along for a viewing (she has been thinking about playing with Ice Resin). There was a lot that I already knew covered in the DVD, which I expected, but there was a bunch of common sense stuff that just had me whacking myself in the forehead. Simple things like putting your domed bezel on a piece of duct tape to keep it steady (Insert forehead slap here!). I would have jerry-rigged some elaborate setup (and still probably would have tipped over my dome…), and measuring but not mixing your resin until you are ready to use it (brilliant!), double sided tape for your images (because if you glue them down you have to wait the extra time for the glue to dry & if you don’t use anything your image will float up), and using transparencies with resin.

All I can say is this DVD, Exploring Resin Jewelry Making with Susan Lenart Zazmer, is a must for anyone who wants to do resin really well. With her common sense approach, you will wonder why you didn’t think of these simple yet awesome techniques yourself.

Custom Work

Original Vintage Necklace

I admit it, I like to do custom work...alot! I like making jewelry very specifically for people per their requests because it is often a different kind of challenge. I have an album on my facebook fan page devoted to custom pieces (you can find it here). They are all varied in type and style. I love it when someone feels confident in my ability to create what they are looking for.

A few months back, my pal Krissi (check her out at Krissi's Art Sudio) asked me to recreate a vintage necklace that she loved with one in the same style but with different colors. The original is in a dark/antique brass with dark red beads, the recreation in sterling silver and black. THE HUNT WAS ON!



My custom piece

 First, black beads. The original red beads were smooth, round and transparent. You can't have true black and transparent. So how do you get them to be shiny? Get a faceted bead! I could also find nothing like the original "fringed" bead cap, so I went with the same shape, only with kind of filigree style instead. I stayed true to the style, but added a little flair with this choice of bead cap. Ironically, the hardest part was finding a chain I liked, that would fit the style without making it to heavy...I think I forgot to mention, this style of necklace can be a little hefty with so many glass beads.

I think I did a pretty fair job of staying within the style of the original while giving it a little bit of an updated flair.

What do you think?

Hot Diggity Blog!

Just a quicky...I found out that Rings & Things (one of my most favorite jewelry findings suppliers) has changed their Blog Partners program. I won't go into the details of the change, but suffice it to say I get to be a blog partner know. WooHoo!

So, what happens now is I wait and cross my fingers. All of the blog partner names will go into a "hat" and ten will be drawn randomly to receive the Rings & Things goodie bags. If you are one of the lucky ones, you will get a bunch of jewelry making bits which you then take pictures of, make fabulous stuff with and then take more pictures of an ulitmately you BLOG about. According to the law I will have to fully disclose any and all compensation I receive from Rings & Things as a blog partner, but no problem there.

So anyway, I am very excited about the opportunity and I hope I get a goodie bag soon!

What I've been working on lately...

I've been trying out the new copper clay from the makers of Art Clay Silver. It doesn't require a firing vessel or carbon medium to fire. It also fires in a significantly shorter amount of time.

My pal, Krissi Sandvik (creator of Skelekitty) has created some art stamps from her original artwork. For fun, I thought I would try them out with the new copper clay. NOTE: the stamps are copywritted and used with permission. Always get permission before using copywritted stuff in your art/craft-even for personal use!

I have done a step-by-step on metal clay before so I will skip it this time and show you some simple ways to make the design POP. The yarn ball didn't impress as well as I would have liked, so I wanted to do something to bring it out a bit. I swabbed some alcohol ink on the yarn ball portion of the design let it dry thoroughly (about 30 seconds) and then buffed the pendant with a polishing cloth. The ink on the top of the piece buffed off, but the ink in the recesses remained.

From there, I added white acrylic paint over the skelekitten portion of the pendant and let dry to tacky, but not completely dry (hard to get off when totally dry), then buffed again.

The paint highlights the bones on the skelekitten. Tomorrow, when everything is completely dry and set I will spray the pendant with a light coat of acrylic sealant, to protect the colors on the pendant.

Little Box Pendant.

So today I am trying something different. I saw an article in the newest issue (Winter '10) of Belle Armoire Jewelry that intrigued me. It was "Vintage Lace Assemblages" by Sheri Replogle. So the style of the pieces that she made were totally not my style, but I liked the little box she made to create her assemblages in. She made a little box out of sheet copper and then soldered over it. Okay, so I thought I would give it a try. That is when I realized I lost my magazine...since when has not having the directions to something stopped me. So here we go...

Warning: you must have soldering skills to create this project.

What you need -

Sheet copper

Flux (and flux brush)

Pewter solder

Jump ring(s)

Ruler

Something to cut the sheet copper (I used jewelers metal shears, but you could use a saw instead)

Copper foil tape

Soldering iron (with stand and a really wet sponge)

Soldering tile (the hot metal you are working on sits on this)

Locking hemostats or tweezers or something to hold the hot metal that isn't your bare fingers (no burns please)

A bench block and chasing hammer to flatten the jump ring a little

Okay, ready? Plug in your soldering iron, so that it will be hot when you are ready for it.

Carefully take the copper sheet out of it's package (you might want to wear gloves for this, as the metal edges can be very sharp).

Take the ruler and mark out the size you want the box to be plus 1/2 an inch for box sides. Carefully cut out the overall square for the box. Cut a notch 1/4 inch from each edge on the top and bottom of the square.

Score along the 1/4 inch lines on all four sides of the square and gently (with flat nose pliers if you have them) bend up the two short sides of the square. Then, bend up the long sides and wrap the long ends around the short sides.



Take the copper foil tape and wrap it over the edges of the box, including the overlapping pieces (this will help seal it). Burnish the tape down (I used a bone folder for this, but you can even use just your finger nails).



Turn your box upside down and place it on you soldering tile. Use your flux brush and liberally brush flux all over the back of your box. The flux cleans the metal and helps the solder flow.

Now for the fun part, soldering! Holding the soldering iron in your dominant hand and the solder in the other hand, melt some solder off the roll and onto your box. Start with a tinning layer (you know how to solder, so you know what this means) all around the box on the outside, and then flip the box over and do the same on the inside. Okay, so you can flip the box back over and build up the solder to the level that you prefer now. I like mine a little on the thick side.

When you have the solder on the box to your liking, get the jump ring settled into the locking hemostats (or hold it with the tweezers, if that's what you have) and brush it with flux. Brush the box with a bit more flux where you want to place the jump ring. Hold the jump ring in place and add a bit of solder to the tip of your soldering iron and flow it over the jump ring, securing it to the back of the box.

Clean the finished box with a damp cloth.

Voila! You can put anything you want into your new little box. I will probably make a little collage in mine an then seal it with resin. I'll let you know.