Embossing Copper Foil (Sheet)

On a whim, Thursday, I decided to try my hand at embossing. I had a roll of lovely copper foil (it's about 36 ga - medium weight, you can cut with scissors, but can't tear it with your hands. The edges are sharp - and you'll get something much worse than a papercut from them. :) I cut a couple of stencils from patterns I'd found on the web and then modified in Photoshop (I changed all the areas I wanted embossed to one solid color).

Folks, I love embossing. It's not as easy as it looks, and it gives me an entirely new appreciation for the little birthday card my great aunt sent me many years ago, on my 8th birthday. I wish I still had it. Back then, I was clueless, and my mother should probably have taken the card and saved it - now, when I think about it, I'm positive it was a turn-of-the-century "leftover" she had stashed somewhere. Aunt Faye saved everything.

The card was about 4" X 4" and had a pretty embossed dusty rose foil overlay. The edges of the foil had been scalloped and the center of the embossed piece had yet another overlay of what I now know was probably Scherenschnitte. Beneath the embossed foil was another piece of Scherenschnitte, with just the edges peaking out around the dusty rose foil. The card was beautiful, and I kept it out in my room for years. I remember, even at 8, how intrigued I was with the look and feel of embossed metal. The texture is fascinating to me.

Sadly, the card got lost, or destroyed over the years, but as strange as it may sound, that birthday card from Aunt Faye is one of my strongest, most complete childhood memories; perhaps because I spent so much time looking at the card. I wish I still had it.

Embossing is hard on the hands. It's difficult to do it "gently" once the metal becomes work-hardened, and regardless how thin and flexible the metal is when you start, you can bet your next paycheck that by the time you get the design scribed and the small parts (do those first) emobssed, you'll find it stiffening up. Work with it a bit more and you'll wonder what happened to that wonderfully flexible piece of copper foil you started with. I'm going to experiment with annealing it as I go along. I'm not certain whether the copper foil I have is pure copper - there is a site, though where you can buy copper at very good prices. It's called Storm Copper and their price on rolled copper foil is excellent. They also ship free to the lower 48. That's also a plus.

I'll post more after I've experimented with annealing. I'm going to order a couple of rolls from Storm Copper in different weights - their copper is pure, and I'll attempt to anneal the copper while embossing and let you know what happens. :)

More Portrait Miniature Info

A recent visitor to my blog was kind enough to leave another url for portrait miniature research. Click here: Archibald Miniatures.

The Blue Plate Special

This pin is for sale in my friend's shop. If you click on it, it'll take you to her online shop where you can buy it. I love this pin - it's completely quirky and marvelous. It makes me smile. :)

Portrait Miniatures

I've always been fascinated by portrait miniatures, mostly because they represent people who actually lived at one time. They were the photography of their time and they can provide us with a wealth of information about the people who sat for the portraits. I don't know much about them, but I found a wonderful website put together by a man who DOES know about them. It's obvious he's passionate about them and I want to share his site with others. Click here: Portrait Miniatures and learn all about them.

Just one of those things that hit me as I was reading my latest issue of Antique Week. :) They provided the link and I'm passing it along.

One of My Favorite Musicians

I can't believe I left this out. Holy Moly, folks! I need to give a shout out to my all-time favorite classical guitarist, Ricardo Cobo. Okay, so maybe I'm a little biased, but when someone has been as good a friend as he's been AND he's a world-class guitarist, well, he deserves mention. So here he is, folks. Buy his music, attend his concerts and in general support his musical genius.

When you hit his site, click on "enter site." You'll need Flash for his site to work, but he's to looping music. If you love new and exciting classical guitar, you'll love this guy. He's a fine human being, too.

Okay Ric, I've embarrassed you enough.

The Karma of Altruism

The Karma of Altruism. Think about it. Translated it means: You get what you give. What you put out to the universe, to others, to your partner, to anyone, is returned to you in spades. It may not always return in the way you want it to, or think it should, but it will come back to do one of two things: bite you in the ass or make your life joyful.

Erin and I were discussing this topic today. She related a situation where she'd asked to have something she left at someone's home mailed to her. Now, most of us would simply say "sure," pack it up and pop it in the mail as long as it's not something too heavy, like a mack truck. Her request was met with an affirmative as long as she mailed the packaging and postage to the person who needed to send her this incredibly small, lightweight object. It's the Karma of Scorekeeping. The Karma of Tit-for-Tat and I hate it.

I'm always saddened when I encounter someone who keeps score. You know the type: "No, I'm not going to do that because I did it last time. Or no, I'm not going to help out because it doesn't benefit me in any way. I feel badly for the people who engage in this behavior because the person they're hurting the most is themselves.

I've always been a believer in altruism. Maybe it's because I genuinely like people for the most part. I don't mind helping out when I can. I don't need to get anything out of it. The problem with altruism is that the scorekeeping school of thought starts at home, with parents, when we are very young. If we have siblings, and most of us do have them, we were raised with a chore list. Mary does the dishes this week and next week she doesn't have to do them because it's Jimmy's turn. Carol takes the trash out this week because last week it was Michael's turn. Everyone is taught to take turns. While that's polite and a very necessary social skill for children to learn, it also helps enable them to start keeping score. As adults they play the "tit-for-tat" game. I'm not doing this because I did it last week. I'm not doing that because I did it yesterday. I'm not going to help out because I don't derive any direct and immediate benefit from it. Paying kids for chores encourages THAT little piece of selfish thinking.

Have you ever noticed that some of the most miserable people you know are those who don't understand The Karma of Altruism? They don't understand that the payoff for doing for others simply because you can is the fabulous feeling that you've done a good thing. They don't understand that the good things you do for others will come back and enrich your life in more ways than you'll be able to count. They don't want to or can't understand that karma isn't about scorekeeping. It's about how you choose to live. It's about the energy you put out attracting the energy you receive. If all you put out is negativity or pessimism, it's what you'll get back - but probably in a different form. You'll wind up lonely, disillusioned with life, you'll blame others for your situation, you'll blame everyone but yourself for the negative feelings you have.

There are people on this planet who simply will never get it. I'm glad I do get it. It's a way of life.

Silver Class #3

Today was my third silver smithing class. So far, we've cut templates from copper and now I'm attempting to make a bezel "without daylight showing" between the join. Yeah, well, it appears I subscribe to the Martha Stewart School of Bezel-Making. Mine is, after much sawing and filing, quite light and airy. Ahh well, it just means I have homework to do. In my online travels, I visited my much loved Lapidary Journal and found this: The Mystic Bezel.

Then there's this: Making a Bezel from Art Jewelry Magazine.

And finally, from the Harvard of online Jewelry-making sites, Ganoksin: Bezel Settings.

My friend, Erin, and I went to Tidewater Lapidary, which is our new favorite local shop, after class. Wow - wouldja look at all the commas in that sentence! Okay - no grammar ninjas allowed - I know many of my sentences here are poorly constructed, punctuated and just plain clumsy. At least I can spell!

While this probably sounds beginner-ish and so un-cool to anyone with experience as a real silver worker, we were in novice heaven and each bought a wonderfully practical ring clamp! Isn't that the most exciting thing you've heard all day? (snort!) I finally sprung for a new saw frame. Was hoping I could abscond with one from the other half's tool box (which remarkably resembles the basement in both size and form!), but all he had were "man-land" saws.

Man-land is a subject for another post.

Faboo is a subject for another post, too. So is Pance.

Glass Addict

For those of you who are glass addicts I'm going to post a few links to some of my favorite glass sites. We'll start with this one: Just Glass. They're fabulous - you can find just about anything there. They function as a mini-mall, kind of like Ruby Lane, but just for glass. There seem to be some knowledgeable folks there, too.

My favorites are Mt. Washington Glass - Vintage Steuben Glass - Sandwich Glass

I also have a love affair going with vintage tangerine viking stretch glass: and as soon as I get my collection photographed I'll post it. I have prettier pieces than the vase depicted at the link above. :)

Why do I love glass so much? Well, the vintage and antique glass is in a class by itself - at least the really good, and well-colored pieces are. They're unique (okay - with the exception of Fenton - I'm completely unimpressed by Fenton because it's SOOO mass-produced.) and many good examples can be found at your local thrift store if you know what you're looking for. I found two beautiful amethyst crackle Pilgrim glass pitchers at a local thrift store about 4 months ago for $18 the pair. And as much as I don't like much of what Fenton makes, I DO like some of the Silvercrest pattern. I found a matched pair of Silvercrest vases at a local thrift store - absolutely perfect and truly lovely. Those were a bit more expensive than the Pilgrim Glass - the Silver Crest was $18 EACH vase, but still worth it and a bargain at the price.

Okay, I'm rambling and need to get to bed, so off I go. More tomorrow. :)

Nobody Expects The Spanish Inquisition

The other half says I should make a few Monty Python references here. I doubt you'll find much here regarding the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, but I can tell you from experience that nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition! I started a new job three weeks ago. Apparently, I'm the Spanish Inquisition. I was brought on board so covertly that no one knew I was starting until the day I started, when we were all sitting around a conference room table, with me at one end and my boss at the other end. It was 8:15 a.m. and three of my co-workers had no idea my job even existed (because it had only been created a week prior) until they were on their way up in the elevator. It seems that the two people who work directly with me were told of my existence between the 3rd and 6th floors. Confusion reigned and they thought they were to go find me for the meeting. So they set about scouring the 8th floor for someone named "Maureen." Imagine their surprise when they found me sitting in the comfy chair in the conference room. Snort! It seems my job is so secret that even I'm not sure what it is yet. I kind of, sort of know what I'm supposed to be doing, but for the most part it all seems to live in the Oort cloud that hovers above my boss's head.

Wow! How d'ya like that? I managed to mention The Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, Monty Python, the Oort Cloud and the Spanish Inquisition all in the same post. I'm either very clever, or really good at bullshit or perhaps a bit of both. :)

Precious Metal Clay, Collectible Glass, Antiques and Sleep

I would love to have some folks post links to some really beautiful and unique PMC (precious metal clay) pieces. Feel free to post here and add photos of what you've made. I'd love to see them. I'm a novice at PMC; have only taken one class so far, but am already an addict. I'm also taking a silver smithing class, and so far I like PMC better, probably because of the immediate gratification involved. Still, I want to take the silver smithing because it will provide me with basic skills I need for my wire wrapping. I've been playing in sterling wire for three years now. I'm not great at it, but with all the research and instruction I'm getting with this silver smithing class, I'm learning many new skills and techniques. I'll be posting a lot of what I learn here on this blog. I have a class tomorrow and then I'm heading over to the Norfolk Winter Antiques show at the Scope.

Oh yeah, I may turn this into a vintage glass forum, as well. I collect it and absolutely LOVE glass. I'm not sure which I know more about at this point, vintage jewelry or vintage and collectible glass.

More later - gonna sleep now. (watch my ad-words - how much you wanna bet the google crawlers pick up the word 'sleep' and dump in ads which take you to sleep aids?)