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Thursday, May 15, 2008

Trina and Friends




Afew weeks ago a new online crafts company asked if they could feature some of my pieces on their site. This site is geared toward "high end" shopping and I was pleased that their buyer felt that my jewelry qualified. A very nice thing about this site is that there will only be 5-10 sellers in any one category. This will make it MUCH easier to find my jewelry. I am, of course, sticking with Etsy because I love it there but this is another web presence for me.

Anyway, I check their site progress periodically and was surprised to find my pieces available for purchase today! The whole thing looks great and I'm excited to be part of it. Check out my jewelry and the whole site here: Trina and Friends.

Thursday, May 8, 2008

Heat Patina




I've been spending some time experimenting with heat patinas and copper. After several unsuccessful attempts, I came upon a method that works for me and gets me some beautiful colors.

After shaping, sanding, hammering, and tumbling my copper, I use my butane torch. I heat the whole piece until it starts to turn and then I quench in cold water. I then put the copper back on the fire brick and heat all over again. I may do this process several times until I get the colors I want. Next, I run the copper upstairs to the freezer and leave it in for a few hours. The pieces have come out very shiny and with lovely color variations. I'm currently using no sealer, as I'm worried this will alter the patina. Let's see what happens....

My latest treasury!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=10648