Metalsmith Tip #2--Oxidizing With Hardboiled Egg

My bi-weekly tips are very basic, very elementary. Today's is no exception. I first learned to oxidize with an ordinary boiled egg in a plastic bag and I still use this method for small pieces. I am always surprised to learn that some artisans who seem quite accomplished, do not know about or use this easy, chemical-free method to oxidize silver or copper and give it an antique look.

A Warm Hardboiled Egg Squished in a Plastic Ziplock Bag

All you need is a small pot with water, a chicken egg, a small plastic ziplock bag and a piece of metal.
1.  Boil the egg until it's hard boiled.
2.  Crack the egg and shell it while it is hot.
3.  Place it in the plastic bag and mash it up with your fingers.
4.  Place the metal piece in the ziplock bag and seal it.

Some pieces oxidize quickly and others take a little longer. When you're done, there is no harmful chemical waste to throw out--just a squished hardboiled egg!

Fine Silver Rings Oxidized in Hardboiled Egg

Lightly Oxidized Fine Silver Ring

The ring in the above picture was lightly oxidized for about 20 minutes--peridot and all. It is now ready for a polish pad to remove most of the oxidation.

The Final Finish on Textured Rings

Now the textured rings have a chemical free, antique look. Safer for you and safer for--yes--the environment! No messy cleanup. Just throw the bag and the leftover boiled egg in the trash. Good luck. This works great on copper also. How can you use this process?

Metalsmith Tip of the Week--Filling Gaps in Bezel Seam

I promised to post a metalsmith tip regularly but I didn't say what "regular" meant. For now, I'll schedule it for Thursday bi-weekly. That will provide structure for me and maybe it will be helpful for you. I am open to suggestions in the comment section!

Today, I want to tell you about my very own discovery for finding those pesky spots at the base of a bezel you are soldering--you know--the ones where the solder didn't flow or the bezel didn't touch the silver sheet properly. When I began soldering bezels, finding those spots was really hard for me--even tho' I had a lot of them on each bezel. At least it was really hard until I picked up a keychain that had an LED flashlight on the end and used it to light up the interior of the bezel. The blue LED light made the gaps easy to see.

First, clean the bezel by placing it in the warm  pickle.  Then rinse and let dry.  Check the bezel seam with the LED searching for any gaps in the solder.

Gap in Bezel Solder Identified With Led 

Mark the ends of the gap in the solder with a Sharpie.

Gap ID'd With LED and Marked With Sharpie

With the gap in the soldered seam identified, you can strategically place flux and snippets of solder for a quick and efficient cleanup of the bezel seam.

Here's a closeup of my handy, dandy LED flashlight keychain. You can see it's well used and most of that use was not on a keychain. Mine has a blue light and I like to think it's better than a white light!

Keychain LED Light For Checking Bezel Seam

I hope this helps!

Etching Revisited

Once in awhile our jewelry fabrication class at Civic Arts revisits etching. I always enjoy it, get all excited about doing more, purchase the material, try it once--or twice, and then put it away for several months. This time I picked up where I left off the last time and this time I added bimetal which I learned to make during Metals Week. The silver on the bottom of this piece is thicker than the copper piece. They were soldered together with medium silver solder and run through the rolling mill.

Copper Soldered Silver To Make Bi-Metal

After flattening  the bimetal piece with a mallet, I applied a design that was printed on PressNPeel paper. The design was a photograph of an ancient Mimbres Valley Indian Pottery shard from New Mexico. I can't wait to place it in etchant and see what happens!

Silver and Copper Bimetal With Print of Mimbres Pottery on PNP Iron-On

Once the design was printed on the Press N Peel paper, I cut out a geometrical design and placed it, printed side down, on a prepared piece of copper. To prepare the copper, I cleaned it with soap and water, scrubbed it with  steel wool, and cleaned it further with rubbing alcohol. Then, I placed the PNP design on the prepared piece and heated it with an iron. To make the design adhere better, I pushed it (burnished it) with a wood tongue depressor.  

Now it was ready to take a dip in the etchant. Dip is an understatement--it was more like a six hour soak. I have decided that it would have been a shorter time, a neater time, and a much better outcome if I had used thinner copper. It took way too long to etch any part of the design. Plain copper seems to etch much quicker than the homemade bi-metal.

Tomorrow I'm going to try polishing some of the silver edges and dip the piece in Liver of Sulfer. I first used Silver Black on it and am not excited about the results. I also think that it would have been a crisper etching if I had just used copper, so maybe I'll try that again. I think trying something new just to see what happens is fun and exciting! What do you think?

How To Make Finishing Wax For Patinas

I plan to post a regular  piece about a "tip" I've learned for working with metal. This is the first in a series and today, I want to share directions for making finishing wax for any oxidized or patinated metal. I have always used Renaissance Wax which I purchase in small, expensive amounts from a woodworking shop. It isn't readily available in some parts of the USA. So today's tip will show you how to make finishing wax from materials that are easily available.

The first ingredient is beeswax. I found some two ounce cakes of it at our local hardware store.

Cut the beeswax into small chunks (or shred it) and fill a baby food jar with beeswax. This 2 oz. cake will probably fill the jar.

The second ingredient is Turpentine. Just regular old turpentine, again--from the hardware store.

Pour the turpentine over the beeswax to the top of the jar , put the lid on and set it aside.

After a few days, the wax and turpentine will emulsify and you will have a great finishing wax. The jar in this picture holds 4 ounces of beeswax because, obviously, I used what I had and it wasn't a baby food jar! Use a soft cloth to wax the copper bracelet and use another soft cloth to polish it. This recipe was given to us by two instructors at Metals Week so I am confident it will serve you well!

Back To Reality

After the car was unpacked, clothes washed, Etsy orders filled, civic arts classes attended, part time job schedule resolved, I began to ruminate on the experiences of Metals Week.

The Canopied Amphitheater

This picture of the amphitheater outside our classroom reminds me of the unusually peaceful and magical setting of Idyllwild.Yes, I did like to take pictures of the canopies.

Fred Zweig, Harold O'Connor and Teaching Assistant Jamie Kunkle With Yellow Pad. Thank you, Jamie!

The participants were serious about learning and they brought high levels of skill and talent with them. Many of them were "lifers" at Idyllwild and most were experienced metalsmiths. With no more than twelve participants in each class, some of the best artists/instructors, and Teaching Assistants available in each classroom, our learning was maximized.

Three Dimensional Piece and Reticulated Silver

 OK, I promised over a week ago that I would show you some of my work, so here goes. These are absolutely learning exercises for me. The three dimensional piece in upper-left corner was the most difficult and also provided a great learning experience for me. Yes, I know I needed to clean the solder off better but I learned to carve and fold the silver, solder it to a backing, and frame it. I know what I need to do differently and have already begun another.  The other pieces above are reticulated silver, oxidized with Liver of Sulfur. I'm still working on this also.

That's all the self-disclosure I can handle in this post, so I'll show you more--next time!

Culminating Event At Metals Week

No week-long session would be complete without a closing celebration and Idyllwild Metals Week had much to celebrate. Although many participants left to get a jump on the July 4th traffic, the final display of accomplishments for each of the classes was a huge success. Each class displayed samples of student work on tent boards for all to see. I think each of us wished that we could have also participated in other classes and we have ideas for next year. The following pictures show some of the sample student work from this last week. Others are available at http://idyllwildarts2011.shutterfly.com/

Student Work From Fred Zweig's Hinges Class

Student Work From Joanna Gollberg's Rings Class

Student Work From Sandra Noble-Goss's Married Metals and Etching Class

Student Work From Pauline Warg's Setting Small Gems Class

Student Work From Harold O'Connor's Surface Embellishment Class

These samples of work are indicators of the fine work that was accomplished in each of the classes. My apologies to Charity Hall whose students created awesome pins and pendants with sugar enameling. I wasn't able to get close enough to her display table to take pictures as it was very popular.

Do check out the shutterfly pictures of each Metals Week class and also the other art classes that were in session (http://idyllwildarts2011.shutterfly.com). Seldom do so many talented people gather to spend a week with outstanding artist/teachers where they can breathe, talk and submerge themselves in an artistic environment. It was an inspiring week and I am excited about applying what I learned at Idyllwild Metals Week.

Social Time At Idyllwild Metals Week

Wednesday, June 30th was the "peak" of the week and an auction/potluck dinner was scheduled. It came at a point where a little social time was needed after working intensely for four days. Participants and instructors donated tools, class gift certificates and creations for a silent auction which gave us access to some useful and unique items not usually available.  Fred Zweig donated one of his special forging hammers. Harold O'Connor donated his Instructional DVD set, and there were many others. Proceeds from the auction went to Idyllwild Metals Week to support the program. 

Students living in the residence halls purchased items for the potluck as there were no cooking facilities. Teaching Assistants participated also as well as Staff. Some food was ordered delivered, some was prepared by those living in cabins and liquid refreshment was available. Surprisingly, it came together nicely and the food was tasty. Can there ever be too many dips?

We gathered under one of the airy, apparently nylon canopies on campus. It was the first time I had sat under one of them and looked up. When I did, I found a wonderful hypnotizing pattern of lines around a round hole in the top.

The CanopyAt Idyllwild

Harold O'Connor Must Have Liked It Too!

It was a relaxed time to interact with classmates and instructors.

Marjorie and Jill-- Extraordinary Metalsmiths

Metalsmiths Leslie, Marcia and Lola

It was a successful evening of talk, laughter, food and drink!