November Wire Wrapper Challenge

[liveoak]

Well he did show more than one

Patty

[rockbrain]

I guess I'm just an overachiever this month. I wanted to post this so I might as well put it here. This one absolutely gave me fits, but it's the best construction of the hammered surround so far. I had to make the inner frame three times before I finally figured it out and then I really struggled to get it straight. I do like how it came out though. I think I can make others like this and it won't be nearly as much of a struggle. 

[khara]

Very cool rockbrain I really like it. Are you going to be doing some holiday shows?

[jasoninsd]

rockbrain - That one definitely fits my bill of being "masculine"...without overdoing it! Fantastic job on that one my friend!

[rockbrain]

Nov 19, 2023 19:31:33 GMT -5 khara said:

Very cool rockbrain I really like it. Are you going to be doing some holiday shows?

Thanks Khara, yes I have one coming up on Dec 2.  Tried making some ornaments today but I didn't enjoy it at all.  Think I'll stick to cabs and wrapping.

Nov 19, 2023 19:56:53 GMT -5 jasoninsd said:

rockbrain - That one definitely fits my bill of being "masculine"...without overdoing it! Fantastic job on that one my friend!

Thanks Jason, I'm going to work on this design some more.  The biggest issue is the outer frame changes size when you hammer it.  Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot.  I think the direction of the hammer stroke matters and you need to kind of smear the hammer face across the copper in the direction you want it to move.

[rockjunquie]

That came out really nice!! I think you have something going on here. You were right about the hammer strokes. It takes a little practice, but you'll get it.

I was playing around with this about 15 years ago. My grandson wears this all the time.

Chinese pietersite

[rockbrain]

Love the twisted frame on that one Tela!

[liveoak]

Over achiever is right rockbrain, that one is a keeper.

Makes me think of a Chinese gong.

To my thinking that's what is so cool about the hammered look, it can be regular, or random.

It also depends on the shape of the hammer you use.

Pretty cool !

Patty.... I hammered some copper last night - so progress.......

[liveoak]

That's a very nice piece Tela , even down to the interesting ring at top.
Your pendant just shows how different the hammered look can be.
Interestingly I'm thinking that twisted wire run through my rolling mill ..........
Hmm- lots of ideas!

Thanks for the inspiration,
Patty

[susand24224]

Nov 19, 2023 20:42:24 GMT -5 rockjunquie said:

That came out really nice!! I think you have something going on here. You were right about the hammer strokes. It takes a little practice, but you'll get it.

I was playing around with this about 15 years ago. My grandson wears this all the time.

Chinese pietersite

That's some heavy-duty hammering you have there--and I love the outcome!

[susand24224]

Nov 19, 2023 18:37:55 GMT -5 rockbrain said:

I guess I'm just an overachiever this month. I wanted to post this so I might as well put it here. This one absolutely gave me fits, but it's the best construction of the hammered surround so far. I had to make the inner frame three times before I finally figured it out and then I really struggled to get it straight. I do like how it came out though. I think I can make others like this and it won't be nearly as much of a struggle. 

My favorite so far, and that's up against your amazing batch! I particularly like the contrasts and the "negative spaces" but the overall result takes the blue ribbon. (I'm watching mine get more and more boring . . .)

[liveoak]

Here's my Black Friday Special .

I believe it's serpentine in quartz. (please correct me if I'm wrong)

It was a very early cab I made, with a rather plain stone, so I thought it was a good candidate to make a wrap that emphasized the hammered copper.

Looking at it in hindsight , I think the back is a little busy - but it holds the stone nicely & I guess I was just having fun.

Thanks for the challenge- it pushed me to break out some of my hammers & have a nice afternoon on the bench.

Patty

[rockjunquie]

I love it! I like the hammering, very nice effect. I like the back, too. Your backs are always nice. Very cool! It's a good stone for that treatment. How big is it?

[liveoak]

Thank you Tela.
It was a nice day on the bench, so I was happy.

The cabochon is 1 1/8”x 1½” long

The finished pendant is 1 ¼” x 2 ¼” long.

The border is 14 gauge , and all else is 18 gauge.

I was surprised how thin the 18 gauge got with hammering - guess I needed to release some tension .

Patty

[rockjunquie]

One of the people at my Thanksgiving get together was a school age boy. I think I caught something from him. I feel like warmed over dog mess and my head is splitting. I doubt I will be doing any hammering any time soon. Boo.

[liveoak]

The kiddies are always the disease carries - and well known for this - we avoid them like the plague !

Last year when my sister who is a second grade school teacher came to visit she showed up with some kind of low grade cold.
No big deal to her as she gets them all the time from her kids. We on the other hand got as sick as dying dogs for a week.

Hope you feel better - take some Vitamin C
My Mother always swore by a "hot toddy" (tea with lemon, honey & a good shot of rum or brandy)

Patty

[Pat]

I’m not a wire wrapper, but I really like the hammering effect, and rockbrain unique prongs. I can hardly wait to get back into metalsmithing. Soon…

[rockbrain]

Beautiful wrap Khara! I don't think it's too busy at all. So is the whole frame two wires?

[khara]

Really nice Patty liveoak ! I really like it. I don't think the back is too busy at all, I think it's kind of fun. It's very nice all around. And, I agree, the not so interesting cab is great for this. It actually makes me think it's a good idea to make more plain cabs, so to have chances to do wraps like this with more focus on the wires intentionally.

rockbrain I'd love to take credit for this one! But... wasn't me. I'll chalk it up to a tryptophan high typo! :-)

[liveoak]

Thank you khara    

I think you are right, I seem to look for interesting patterns, etc when I'm picking through slabs to cab.

This one was in the "I don't want to screw up the good stuff", while I was still learning to make cabs camp.
I think it's hard to intentionally do plain ones - but I will try, it was nice to have one to use.

Thanks about the back - I like the backs to be interesting. It's that hidden detail that I think the wearer gets to look at.

It's funny to me, how few people, even when they are selling a wrap, show the back. It just seems odd to me.

It is actually 2 wires rockbrain.
That longer one looked lonely so I added a second.

But I'm certain you saw that on second look.

Thanks for looking,

Patty