demo: Starfish Bowl

Dividing a circle into five equal parts shouldn't present a large problem.  I will frequently attach the paper pattern to the metal. A spray adhesive will work fine for this. The lines will become the folds that create the piece. I'm working 24 gauge copper.  That's a 6 inch disk.  Close up the folds.  This will get us started.  Note the related forms fron one of the pics. Note only the folds will be hammered. The valleys do not get hammered.  

I got a new hammer!

In so many ways my new hammer is just another hammer. Yup a wooden handle with a metal head, two faces to keep polished. It's a Peddington, made in Germany. It's a #375 46 to be exact. I only mention this because some of my friends are hammer elitists. I confess to being somewhat of a tool collector, snob myself so I fit right in. What impressed me greatly was that the local jewelry supply store had my hammer, right on the dusty shelf hidden amongst a bunch of stuff I'd never look twice at. I'll never want a case opening pliers, a crystal press or a mechanical watch cleaning machine. There seemed to be a spotlight on that hammer coming from an invisible source. Maybe I imagined it. Maybe it was just the flicker from the fluorescent lights. I picked it up said, " Mine." Well the store didn't have the saw blades I came in for, were out of the drill bits I needed, no longer stocked silver solder, and didn't carry Batterns flux. None of that seemed to matter, much. Did you know liver of sulphur is a controlled item, requires hazardous shipping? I held my new hammer proudly, as I accepted the news that I wasn't going to find any of this product either. No problem. They didn't have any of the things I needed, just a hammer that I wanted. Needs and wants get confusing anyway. I get amused sometimes by stores offering employment as mystery shoppers, for me shopping for tools in the local shops is mystery shopping. Sure I know what I need to shop for but it will be a mystery what I get back to the bench with! Back at the bench it was time to celebrate. Much like the time I went shopping for a new crucible and came home with a new rolling mill. The above are the result of the celebration. " Five small copper bowls"

Paten, with Patina

It's curious to note that the root word for patina is paten, Latin for plate. Today I bring you a paten with patina. Visitors to my work often ask if the color on the larger pieces is a patina. It's not a word we use everyday, and it's not a concept our technologically advanced society often pauses long enough to appreciate. Perhaps the poets do a better job of explaining it than metal smiths do. The face of a sailor could be said to have a patina. The surface of an antique piece of wooden furniture might possess a patina. The brass railing, beside a marble staircase, leading up the steps to a public building, has developed a patina. Thousands of hands have rubbed some surfaces smooth, satin, polished and left other areas untouched, weathered. Just as the repeated dusting's, cleanings and touching have given the surface of a wooden table character over time, given it a glow, or luster. The face of the sailor shows the effects of his environment over the years. A patina has much to tell us about the passing of time and the evidences of that time passing. It's not something that's applied. Patina is all about developing character.

A sneek preview

Here's a sneak preview for you. These candle sticks are coming along nicely. They bring together two of the areas of my work, for the first time. The wire work or braiding and fold forming.
The pieces are just stacked together for this pic. Since this pic the ferrules have been shaped to fit, the candle holding pipe has received a drip cup of 12 gauge (thick stuff), and the fabricating
(silver soldering) is done. They are in the pickle now. Final cleaning, prep for a patina and the threaded rod, custom washers and nuts that holds each together are all that remain to be done.
A patina hasn't been chosen as of yet. I'm leaning towards a Roycroft approach. Plan is to do a demo of this piece, complete with process shots. Brad

Three cherry pies

Imagine a simpler time when people actually had open windows. When that kitchen window had a ledge on it and it was a dandy place to let the pie cool. It's a charming picture, one I want you to take a closer look at. My understanding of that picture begins with a huge snow blower. My father lived a block down the street, in our small Midwestern town. We kept the huge monster walk behind snow blower there. I suspect it was there so that dad would get his driveway blown first. That monster snow blower could blow snow over the street to the other side of the street.
It was kinda fun. But almost impossible to turn around.. So rather than fight the machine it was easier for me to blow out dad's house by just going around his block twice, then cross the street to my block and go around my block twice also.. The neighbors loved it. Julia lived across the street from me. Julia would wave me over to her side walk as I did my block. So sure I'd cross the street and once again go around that block twice. I'd get done with the blowing and the phone would have been ringing or would ring. People would want to pay me for my efforts. Well there was a problem with that. I knew that most of my neighbors were on fixed incomes. I hadn't done this to get paid. Julia had a problem with accepting my gift. So, about this time of the year Julia would call she'd just say come over and get your pie. Now, Julia's pies had an economic impact on many a church bizarre. They were works of art. Julia also spread the word around. He works for pie, cookies or sometimes cake. He Loves tomatoes. When I first met Julia she often had three pies in the kitchen window. Art her husband installed air conditioning, gone were the pies in the window. Julia adapted. I still remember those pies in the window but I can look at that picture from both sides, now. From the kitchen side those pies are Julia's way of paying others for their labors, from her excess apples, cherries or rhubarb and her talents. From the outside of the window, they are products offered in payment or seeking a customer...Those MBA's out there would call that a cottage industry. What could be more American than Apple Pie. These tough times have much to teach us. Could the answers to them be three pies in the window...I didn't tell Julia, because I think she knew anyway, but sometimes I work for grins and giggles. That's another blog.. make something Brad

We're making this too hard.

I think we can all picture the young man walking down the dirt path, dog at his side, cane pole over his shoulder and a stringer of fish in his other hand. I can imagine that there are worms in the tobacco can in his pocket. I know he has a pocket folding knife, 'cause whittlin' time and fishing time kinda go together. I'm pretty sure there's a peanut butter and jelly sandwich somewhere in the picture. Those were simpler times. The boy grew up, the dirt path became a paved highway. They even filled in the skinny dipping hole(I'm saving that for another blog) The boy stills goes fishing, only now he pulls his Bass Tracker behind his Hummer. His cane pole has been replaced with a pole and reel that would cost many people a weeks wages. We'll never see his stringer of fish. Now he practices catch and release.. His tackle box has replaced the can of worms. Fish must prefer plastic and feathers these days.. So when my grand kids asked me to take them fishing I stood in wonder. Which concept did they have in mind? Did I need to refi the house or we going to have fish for supper courtesy of simpler times?
I asked an older craft-er just how he created his craft business, How did he get started..His answer reminded me of those simpler times. He said.. " Make ten things you like. Take them to the market, sell some. Come home make the ones you sold again." I must have looked amused.
'cause he said "Pay attention." I waited for more to follow my scolding. It became apparent to me, as he got his pocket knife out of his pocket. That " paying attention" had been part of the original instructions... I asked a test question "Why ten items?" "I hate figurin fractions".. As he whittled a little. "See this little note book? There's a reason it says Brain on the cover. That's where I do my 'figurin'. I guess my eyes asked figuring what. "I count the number of people that go by my booth. I count the number of people that stop, and the number of sales. I note the weather and if anything big is going on. " he grinned. I was beginning to catch on. "Oh Ten items so that when you sell 3 items you have sold thirty percent." Brain held lots of other information. About the customers... Which colors sold best. "See", he said, " there's lots of people that could make the things I make, some of them better than I do...They don't know which things to make, when. You have to pay attention. " This old gentleman had just given me the basics of market research. He was every bit a master of it as Radio Shack, Wall Mart or any large grocery store. He didn't know the fancy terms.. But he did know his market. Pay attention, in deed! I noticed a cane pole over in a corner. Maybe we're making this too hard?

"Hi Welcome aboard. You'll enjoy it here. Oh, by the way we love pictures!", are words I've typed on the pages of just a few forums, dealing with jewelry and metalsmithing, over the past few years. That won't change, you will still be able to find me there. I'll still try to share the hard won wisdom from the bench and the anvil. I'll continue learning new ways to do things from other metalsmiths. I enjoy the companionship of other experienced hands and get excited over the enthusiam of the beginners. So in some ways " the more things change, the more they'll stay the same."
These pages are meant for something new for me. A topic too large to be on a forum. This place is meant to help you learn the business side of being an artist. It's goal is to be a rescource for you. We are going to type about " Hammering Out A Living "
Those of you that know me best, know that I'll tell people that I am artist, jeweler, metalsmith, craftsman, and sometimes teacher. None of those labels would matter if I hadn't been able to sell my skills and my art work. As my dad often said, "Nothing is going to get better until someone sells something." I always took "get better" to mean profit from the experience.
That'll get us started. It was my goal for today to create this blog. Enjoy Brad