Dragonstones

Dragonstones

Today is a housekeeping day.  You know, all that stuff that has to be done in the house that makes us look, feel and smell civilized. 

So, while I am waiting for the drier to finish, I will share with you.

Fossils

Florida is full of fossils.  I find bits of fossilized bone while I am digging in the garden.

I do some contract fossil restoration.  Preparing the bones for exhibition and having seen the bones of these long extinct animals, it is no wonder that there are legends and myth about Dragons.

So, I decided to make something ancient looking with my pieces of fossilized bone.

                               I polished them just enough to take off the sharp edges.

I have never done any wire wrapping and decided to give it a try and thought that copper would work good for the look I wanted. 

I had this whole "fairy tale" going on in my mind that I was this ancient craft person creating a magical amulet for some heroic champion.  Something that bound him to his dragon.  (who needs television, I already have enough going on in my head)

                          This piece has a masculine look.  So, it obviously has to go to the hero.

And of course there has to be a magical amulet for the majestic lady.  I started out with an oval piece of sheet copper about two inches long, punched a few holes into it to anchor the wire and designed as I went.  I added a little bit of sparkle with some dark amber colored crystals and finished it off with some green patina to give it that aged look.

                                                    Royal "Dagonstone"  pendant

Since I had the wire out, I hammered some out flat and wrapped it around some embossed epoxy clay disks that I had made, painted the clay with some muted colors and metallic paint wash and came up with these.

                                                Somewhat primitive in appearance 

Well, the clothes in the drier are going to get all wrinkly if I don't get back to my chores. Unfortunately, I have all kinds of new ideas going around in my head but they will have to wait.

In case anyone is interested, I do sell my artwork and also, do custom work.  Really need to get that Etsy store set-up.  

Until next time, I hope your days are wonderful.

Idea Avalanche

Idea Avalanche

Sometimes I am asked to do a project for someone that will "match" something they already have. Here is a quick little project I did for my cousin.  I can't post the picture of the piece she has without being able to give the creator credit.

The process

First thing I did was a quick sketch of the design I thought would "match" what she had and once she approved that I gathered my supplies.

I used the lined paper to save time measuring, it is much cheaper than graph paper.  These are drawn actual size and were used as the pattern to transfer to the sheet copper with carbon paper. 

Using metal shears the outline of the letters were cutout.  To cut out the centers, I punch a hole through so I could fit the tip of the blade through and carefully snipped out the inside.  Since this process stretched the copper and it was no longer flat, I used a "Ball" headed hammer and tapped the copper and made it lay flat with a slight bumpy texture.

The curly design behind the letters is made with salvaged copper wire, bent by hand.

The intention was to solder the pieces together but, my soldering gun was not working properly and I didn't have gas to use a torch.  So, used epoxy glue to attach the pieced to the back.  I wanted to get a good bond so I did this in a way that they would not have to be moved until they had cured.  When that step was complete I sprayed them with Rust-oleum Semi-gloss.

The Avalanche

Although the initial idea was not mine, the process of creating what my cousin wanted was a good stimulant. While I was doing the project I thought of all kinds of things that I could make using this same method and what other materials I could use.  

Look for the results of this avalanche in future posts and my soon to appear online store.