Aspiring Metalsmiths Project Blogroll for July

 Its a lazy monday for me and pretty much the only day I really take off from working on jewelry.  But I dont completely take the day off, on mondays I like to do little jewelry experiments.  Today I thought I would try to use the kiln to melt solder on copper.  Copper oxidizes so quickly and larger pieces can be hard to solder because the piece will oxidize before the solder flows.  I though if I could get the kiln up to the solder melting point and put in the copper, the solder would flow before it oxidized. 

Here are the fluxed pieces before putting them in the kiln:

And here's the metal after taking it out of the kiln.  The temp had gone down a bit when the door opened, so that might explain why the solder didn't flow, but it still oxidized like crazy!!  This will take ages to pickle and I think the experiment totally failed.  

While the kiln was hot, I let it get to 1450 and put in some copper disks covered with enamel. 

This was the result.  I think maybe they should have stayed in a bit longer, but I was worried they'd overheat so I didn't want to risk it. 

Then to experiment some more, I torch fired (from below) one of the disks and the enamel melted a bit more and the finish became more even. 

So that was what I've been working on today.  Just some fun stuff to give my mind a break.  Actually since the photos took so long to load, I went back into the studio and did some real work for another hour or so and made some copper flowers.   So overall its been a pretty productive day. 

Check out the awesome artists below and see what they are working on.

• Esmeralda http://jewelry-by-silverblueberry.blogspot.com/
• Happy Tortoise Designs http://www.happytortoisedesigns.blogspot.com/
• Crow Steals Fire http://crowstealsfire.blogspot.com/
• Contemporary Jewelry by Beatriz Fortes http://cjbf.blogspot.com/
• steph http://stephstargell.com
• Jessica @ Abella Blue http://www.abellablue.com/blog
• Pennee- All Wired Up Jewelry Designs http://www.allwiredupjewelrydesigns.blogspot.com/
• Sylvia Anderson http://www.sylviaanderson.blogspot.com/
• Stacy http://www.formandfunktionaccessories.blogspot.com/
• Mary Anne Karren http://silverpearlmetalworks.wordpress.com/
• Brightstar109 www.brightstar109.blogspot.com
• Amy Nicole Artisan Jewelry Http://Rubymtnbeads.blogspot.com
• Resurrection Silver http://www.resurrectionsilver.blogspot.com
• Kwant Essentials http://kwantessentials.blogspot.com/2011/07/show-and-tell-from-start-to-finish.html
• Kit and Caboodle Shop http://thisartistsjourney.blogspot.com
• Lilian http://www.girllovesglitter.blogspot.com/
• Autumn Bradley Jewelry Design http://www.autumnbradley.blogspot.com