A Tale of Two Hearts

The most recent issue of Art Jewelry Magazine contained a small teaser for the next issue, which will feature a simple wirework heart pin by Sharilyn Miller. I don't usually recreate any magazine projects, but I HAD to make this pin. And I had to make it for Christmas! As usual, I used the photo as a guide and made my own version with no further instruction.

I wanted to post these photos when I finished making the pin on the 24th, but didn't want to ruin the surprise just in case the intended recipient decided to read my blog on Christmas eve (Hi Mary!). I am sure I'll make another (or three or four) when the March issue comes out.

Posted by Jan Raven on http://wovenwire.blogspot.com.
If you are seeing this on MakingWireJewelryBlog.com, know that this content is being lifted without permission or attribution to the real author (me!). Unethical at best and possibly a violation of copyright and of U.S. law (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act). If you really want to learn how to make wire jewelry, please go to JewelryLessons.com and support actual artists!

My First Rivets

The title for this post sounds like the title for a children's book, which I think is appropriate since my first project made me jump up and down with child-like glee. I couldn't bear to wait for my new tools to arrive, so I rummaged around to see what I could do with what I had. Basically, I have a lot of wire and a lot of construction materials.

I found a scrap of thin wood, drew a somewhat random pattern, and cut out the rough shape using a coping saw. I dragged out my new and unused Dremel with a flexshaft attachment, added a sanding drum, and had a blast refining the wood shape. I wanted to try putting some flush rivets of copper in the wood base, but decided I better just start with an ordinary rivet with mushroom heads.

My woodworking dowels have an interesting spiral groove (for holding glue). I resisted the urge to lay in some wire (too obvious for now), and decided to rivet this to my wood base after flattening the bottom on sandpaper first. I had issues attaching the dowel to the base. I wanted to use 14 gauge copper wire (that is all I have) with a balled head on top of the bare wood, but I could not get the copper to ball up. I switched to Argentium wire (balls up just fine), then decided the color contrast with copper would be nice, meaning making copper "washers," and why use plain copper when heat-treated copper yields such nice red-pick colors? So my washers are randomly shaped pieces of heat-treated 28 gauge copper sheet. They kind of look like leather.



My drill bit died, so I couldn't drill holes in the copper, but I managed to make holes by using an awl to deform the sheet, file down the bulge, push out again with the awl, file again. This worked extremely well! I love creative problem-solving!! The part of the project that made me jump up and down was the tube rivet at the top. This was just the coolest thing ever! I think these will start showing up in my work.

I have been "absorbing" information about riveting for several months now, but I have to thank three sources for finally pushing me to actually try it: craftcast.com, Robert Dancik, and Janice Fowler. Craftcast.com hosted the live online workshop with Robert Dancik that I wrote about yesterday, and last week I bought a very nice tutorial on tube rivets from metalsmith, Janice Fowler. All great sources!!

Online workshop with Robert Dancik

Last night I "attended" a live online workshop with jewelry artist Robert Dancik on making cold connections (wire rivets, tube rivets, making tabs, countersinking rivets). It was inspiring, informative, and a blast to attend (even though my browser froze twice and I had to force quit and restart). I have tried to teach myself these techniques before, but never quite "got it." Robert's oversize models were brilliant, and cleared up the questions I didn't even know I had! His teaching style is very laid-back, which I enjoyed immensely. You kind of had to have a laid-back attitude about the whole event, since the computer and phone connections were acting up for various people all evening. There were people attending from all over the world, which I still find absolutely fascinating. The class was hosted by Alison at craftcast.com, and she did a great job trying to keep everyone together and dealing with issues of connection as they were "voiced" in the chat room. I feel lucky to have attended, since I didn't even find out about this workshop until Sunday! I just happened to catch a post about it on the Daily Art Muse (my favorite blog!). I am now full of ideas, and only lack some of the tools needed to bring those ideas to life. Today I will order some tools (bench pin, jeweler's saw and blades, super small drill bits), and in the meantime will just practice the techniques. Hopefully, I will have some new work to post in a few days!!

Winter Dance Out

Last Saturday, December 13th, was largely devoted to dancing with friends. Several of the local winter dance groups got together to tour in Northfield, MN, with a wonderful final stop at The Contented Cow, an English-style pub, where they had very, very good pasties! The teams on this tours were Shortsword (the rapper sword team I dance with), Great Northern Border, Crosby Lake Clatterers (Lancashire clog), Guyz With Tiez (longsword), and the host team, Wild Rose (longsword). Somehow, I managed to get photos only of Great Northern, Crosby Lake, and the Guyz. If someone sends me photos of Wild Rose and Shortsword, I'll post them later. We'll all be touring again in about a month when Shortsword hosts a pub crawl in downtown St. Paul.

Tutorial for Viking Knitting

After the crazy show schedule of November (three four-day shows in a row is exhausting), I thought that my life would slow down. Silly me! After I returned home from Chicago, I had to readjust to being home, which meant grocery shopping, cleaning the house (both abandoned in early October), and retrieving my pets from their gracious hosts (Thank you Darcy, Paul, and Audrey!). Then came Thanksgiving cooking! Strange to think that was only last week! Since last Friday I have spent about 70 hours working on the computer, updating the website, writing a tutorial, taking photos, uploading photos, editing photos in Photoshop, continuing to work on the tutorial, updating the website again, taking and editing more photos, and preparing a portfolio for a professional art consultation. It really does feel like the past week has lasted an entire month.


The tutorial on which I have been working so hard is on the Viking knit technique. I have been wanting to put this together since last August, but well, if you've read this far you know why it hasn't been done. I finally got it done, however, and I must say that I think I succeeded in making it the most detailed and comprehensive tutorial on the technique in existence. The document has nearly 80 photos of every (EVERY) step, including how to get started, various stitch patterns, dealing with mistakes, how to maintain an even distribution of stitches, two ways to finish chains, and a short project (hoop earrings) that can be worked up quickly. It is the next best thing to actually taking a class from me. You can find the tutorial (for $10) at either JewelryLessons.com or on my website. Way cheaper than a class! If you have been intrigued by Viking knitting, I invite you to check it out. If you have taken a class already, but didn't have much success with the technique, this tutorial may help you succeed. I have been working extensively with the Viking knit technique for nearly seven years, and feel my years of experience and experimentation make me qualified to present this tutorial. Check out my website and see if you don't agree!

Posted by Jan Raven on http://wovenwire.blogspot.com. If you are seeing this on MakingWireJewelryBlog.com, know that this content is being lifted without permission or attribution to the real author (me!). Unethical at best and possibly a violation of copyright and of U.S. law (the Digital Millennium Copyright Act). If you really want to learn how to make wire jewelry, please go to JewelryLessons.com and support actual artists!