Barbara S Fernald Jewelry

I’m at the Metal Clay World Conference with my best metal clay friend Holly Kellogg. Seminars start at 9 a.m. Will post some photos tomorrow night. Many many thanks to Stevie Quinn and her favorite Auntie, for being patrons of the jewelers!

I sell most of my jewelry on consignment, in stores with seasonal markets, or at craft shows or home trunk shows. Trying to find the right price tag for small items, like earrings, is always a challenge.  Often my jewelry is in a case with  jewelry made by others. How do I make my pieces stand out and find room to attach a price and an inventory number? (When I sell wholesale, this is not my problem to figure out. ) I try something new every summer. This year, at Winter’s Work, my friend Sue moved her shop into a new space on the Islesford Dock.  The display case is the same, but the walls are painted a light sea foam blue. These leaf inspired display cards work well with her color scheme, but I still can’t quite decide if I like them or they are too “cutesy.” (Yes, those are real sticks. Gotta love a chance to use the glue gun!)

…the fog cleared.  It has been a really long time since we have seen the sun on Little Cranberry Island. Today, the sun, high clouds and dry wind saved our sanity,  just in time. No studio work for this jeweler! I got out in my garden and removed 50 snails from my perennials and replanted seeds for several kinds of vegetables and herbs. Seems late for our growing season, but I have nothing to lose. It just felt good to be outside in dry air.

If you are coming to the Mount Desert Island area in August, be sure to come to Northeast Harbor for the third annual Northeast Harbor Neighborhood House Invitational Craft Show from Thursday, August 13 through Saturday August 15. I’ve added a link to the wonderful web site created by Linda Perrin. It features all of the fine craftspeople who were invited to participate in this year’s show. It looks like I am in some very good company!

http://nehni.blogspot.com

In a whole month of gray skies mixed with fog and rain, it is really hard to stay upbeat or optimistic. We hope to see the sun for more than a few minutes in the month of July. The blackberry blossoms seem to be the only thing around that thrive in this horrible weather. (Oh yeah, slugs and snails and mosquitos.)  All we need is a little sun for a bumper crop of berries this year. This weather will pass…..eventually…..right?  I’m planning on picking in August.

Another batch of Bronze clay, into the kiln. Before and After. A few of the pieces had copper inlay, but otherwise it was all bronze.

Before:

After:

It was interesting that the color changed depending on where the pieces were placed in the charcoal to be fired. The pieces with more purple/blue/green were in the first layer of activated charcoal. The pieces that are more yellow/gold were in the top layer of the charcoal. I don’t understand what causes one color or the other, but the golden color was consistent with the top layer, so it might have been exposed to a higher temperature.

I tried applying Butcher’s wax to one of the long “stone” pieces, to see what it would do. The color became a little muted and the piece kept picking up fuzz from my towel because the surface of the bead was rough.

I decided to brass brush the beads and go from there. But where had I put my brush? In looking in my usual spot, I couldn’t find it, but I pulled out a steel brush that I had never used. Worth a try. But then I HAD to find my brass brush to see if there was any difference in how the bronze looked depending on which brush was used. I located the brass brush, and here are the comparisons:

The steel brush was used on the pieces on the left, while the brass brush was used on the pieces on the right. I liked both of the finishes and was glad to see that there was a difference. I soldered posts on the square pieces at the bottom of the group and then used the buffer to get a brighter finish. I then used the Baldwin’s patina and I am really happy with how they turned out. ( The fluorescent light in my kitchen doesn’t give the photo quality I like, but it was night time and I had just finished the earrings below.)

…if things are ever going to dry out up here!

It’s starting to really get to everyone  in the Northeast. But, it is certainly good weather for staying at work in the studio. I’ve been working on silver PMC pieces for a jury session at the Center for Maine Craft in Augusta next Tuesday.  No studio photos lately, since I’m not trying anything new with copper or bronze clay this week, and I am about to fire the kiln load of PMC pieces. Here are 3 images from Islesford kids that I came across while looking for a photo to put on the blog:

A miniature construction site. (Work was finished for the day.) Whitaker Chaplin,age 5, was the job forman:

Sofie Dowling’s Haiku about horses, age 6:

A painting of the earth by Adele Palmer, age 5:

The copper beads (bottom) have oxidized quite a bit. The bronze beads on left have oxidized slightly more than the bronze beads on right. I applied Renaissance Wax to one side of the necklace, but it did not slow down the oxidation at all in this case. I don’t mind the look of oxidation on these beads. They also polished easily with a Sunshine™ cloth.

In selling jewelry with high polished copper clay components, I would let the customer know that the copper will oxidize more quickly than the silver or bronze. If they want to restore the bright copper finish, I would suggest using a polishing cloth, or include one with the sale of the piece.

After the disappointment of the Baldwin’s patina for these mixed bronze/copper clay rock beads, I used the buffer and fabulustre to bring them back to a neutral colored shine. (I do like the way these look, especially if I am planning to combine them with beach rocks and silver rock beads.)

Next I put the polished beads into a pan with activated charcoal, and put on the lid. Set kiln at full ramp to 800ºF, no hold. Took pan out of kiln at 400º and cooled to 100º before taking the beads out. They looked like this:

I photographed the beads above under a milk jug to diffuse some of the shine in the photo. The colors look sharper here than they do in actual light where the reflective surface minimizes the color. I decided to try more heat with a little more time to see if I could produce deeper, more contrasting colors. The beads went back into the charcoal, full ramp to 900º, hold for 20 minutes, then cool. This is not really what I am looking for. Colors are more muted, and once again less obvious in broad daylight than they are in the photo.

…from a great Maine site. I follow Kristen’s “Maine Maven” blog daily. I was surprised to find myself featured there on Tuesday!  Here’s the site:

http://www.mainemaven.com/2009/06/island-jewels.html

There is also a direct link in the column of favorite links on the right.