BAW 52/1

Well, I've done it again. I'm starting out the New Year intending to make a piece of jewelry a week and post it in a Flickr group. This time the Etsy Metal team has invented the Brooch a Week challenge. There are even some dedicated artists who are making a Brooch a Day! Now that's a challenge.

I mean to post my creations here every Monday. I was feeling a little under the weather this week, so I'm late. Oh well. Such is life.

I began with high hopes of a fabricated stick pin using elements I already had in my studio. I bought the fun ceramic eye bead years ago on Etsy, and wanted to make my own Victorian lover's eye brooch. The bezel was cut, fitted, and soldered uneventfully - but when it came to soldering the the bezel to the backing... well, you can see what happened. For many reasons that I won't go into. Let's just say it was operator error and move on, shall we?

After deciding to put it aside for another day - my eye fell on a textured piece of Creative Paper Clay that I made almost exactly a year ago in the studio of Miss Lorena Angulo. Ah! Perfection. I added some glass seed beads, embellished with oil pastels, forged a simple fibula pin, and sewed it all together with silk cord. And I love it!

Shot with my iPhone on black foam.
Not the best surface.

Tips for making a fibula pin:
1. Watch a YouTube video to refresh your memory
2. Forge the wire to thin and lengthen it (something I hadn't done in the past)
3. File the hammer marks with a bastard from the hardware store (no, not the salesman)
4. File the file marks with a needle file
5. Sand the needle file marks with sandpaper
6. Hammer the other end into a paddle shape to act as the catch
7. Bend to fit
8. Polish

This is the nicest pin stem I have ever sharpened. The others started with wire, followed by lots of filing and swearing. It's the forging first that's the secret! Finished it in about 5 minutes.

I have no idea what I'll do next week, but I'm looking forward to it. Wouldn't you love to join me?