She has been home on Spring Break the last two weeks, and the Koil Winder and Koil Kutter have really gotten a workout!  I have been extremely pleased with both, and love John Fetvedt’s mandrel set.

The Koil Winder is a manual winder that you can mounter permanently (I have it screwed into my Kobalt workbench), or you can use it with a clamp if you want to be able to take it with you.  It opens and closes through a wide range of widths to hold mandrels to make jump rings in a huge range of sizes.  It is very easy to use.  The smaller mandrels from John do not have a hole drilled to hold the wire, so you make a right hand turn with pliers in the end of the wire and insert it into the slot in the winder.

end of wire bent to insert into slot in winderbent end inserted into winder

The larger mandrels have a hole, and you insert your bent end into that to hold the wire while you wind it around the mandrel.  Once you have your wire secured, you hold it with one hand and wind the crank with the other.  I have mine mounted so that I hold with the left hand and crank with the right.  If you are doing very many, you will need something to protect your hands from the wire or you’ll get blisters or worse.  I use a neat product called Tuff Brake from Warg Enamels (http://www.wargetc.com).  It doesn’t show on their product list, but they do keep it in stock and it is WONDERFUL stuff!  It is thin but tough, flexible, and protects both you and what you are working with.  It is one of my “must keep in stock” items.  Lasts a long time too, so well worth the purchase.

using Tuff Brake to guide and feed the wire into the winder

You want to keep your wire laid on nice and evenly.  If it gets gaps, wind it back, straighten, and start again.  The gaps will cause problems when you start cutting your coil, so fix them as they happen!  Once you get about 3 - 3 1/2 inches wound, then remove the coil.  If you are using a small mandrel, you can just slip the coil off the end.  If you are using a larger mandrel where you fed the wire into a hole, take pliers to pull the wire out of the hole, then pull the coil off.

using pliers to remove the wire from the mandrel hole

Once you have it off, snip off any wires sticking out at either end.  Then put a piece of masking tape on the top of the coil, running the whole length of the coil.  Use whatever form of saw lubricant you prefer to run across the length of the masking tape.

masking tape applied to coil and lubricated

Now set the coil into the cutting Koil Kutter coil holder with the masking tape face up.

coil set in coil holder

Now take the craft stick that is included and gently push the coil to the left, into the stop that is part of the underneath side of the cutting guide.  Note:  when you are using the holder, it is easier to set the left screw by the stop to the desired height, and leave it alone.  Just remove and replace the right screw.  If you have trouble screwing it in do NOT force it - gently back it out and try again.   When it is aligned properly it will screw in easily. Next screw the top of the holder down.  It is important to screw it down just until it is straight - do NOT let it bend on either end!  You are not screwing it tightly, just lightly enough to hold the coil steady.  If the top guide is bent you will have trouble cutting your coil!

here you can see the stop under the guide

using the craft stick to gently nudge the coil into the stop

Now you are ready to cut.  When you order your Koil Kutter, either let Dave know what model of rotary tool you will be using (he makes them for Dremel, Flexshaft and Proxxon), or you can order a Proxxon rotary tool from Dave.  The Koil Kutter is an arbor designed specifically for each rotary tool that fits on the tool, and holds the included blade (you can order extras from Dave also) at the correct position so that only the top of the jump ring is cut.  It is not hard to get it attached, but it is finicky, and once you have it on you probably want to leave it there.  I recommend purchasing a rotary tool you can dedicate just to jump rings, so that you don’t drive yourself crazy putting the arbor on and aligning it and taking it off and repeating!

arbor and blade mounted on my Dremel 400

Note: you will, of course, be wearing safety glasses for the next bit!  I recommend ones that wrap around, as I find tiny bits of metal attacking my face.  I go for more coverage rather than less.

Make sure the speed on your rotary tool is set to the highest level possible!  If you have it set low, it will not cut well!

The genius of this too (or part of it anyway), is the way this nifty arbor sits nicely on the coil holder, fitting the blade right into the slit in the top guide.  You gently fit it onto the holder with the blade in the slit, turn your rotary tool on, GENTLY slide it from right to left NOT pressing down, just letting it glide!  When you get to the left end it will hit the stop.  At that point turn it off THEN lift the rotary tool off the coil holder and guide.  Do NOT lift it while the blade is spinning!  Set the rotary tool to one side, and remove the top guide off the coil holder.

jump rings nicely cut, and mostly held together by the tape

If you secure the tape down the sides, it generally holds most or all of the jump rings in place.  If you try it without the tape, as you cut jump rings go flying about the studio.  Then you get to do the “jeweler’s bend” and go hunt for them.  Not fun.  I have tried it with tape on the bottom instead of the top, and it seems to work better with the tape on the top.  Your mileage may vary.

Your rings will have tiny burs where they were cut, and will need to be finished to remove them at some point.  I generally tumble mine using Rio Super Sunsheen liquid burnishing compound (http://www.riogrande.com/MemberArea/SearchPage.aspx?page=GRID&free_text=tumbling&first_answer=61), and do this after my daughter has finished her piece and any clasps have been made and added.  Then everything has the same finish, and I’m only tumbling once!

The mandrel set from John Fetvedt (http://www.bijoux-de-terre.com/) is really nice, and comes with a stand to hold the mandrels, and a “map” that shows where each mandrel is and what size it is.  When you are doing precision chain maille, you have to use very specific mandrels to create exactly the correct size of jump ring to make the pattern work.  I love the “map”, and keep it right with my mandrel set on my bench.

mandrel set and

The only other cutting mechanism for jump rings I have tried was a hand made one I picked up at a swap meet, and you used a saw to cut them.  It was MUCH slower and I was never quite happy with the jump rings.  User error, probably, but with the Koil Kutter I can keep up with my daughter’s demand for jump rings quickly and easily with very few “bad” jump rings.  Any “bad” ones go in the scrap pile to melt and use again.

This year was a total bomb.  No signs outside, no signs on the street, next to nothing in the local media, nothing on the internet…  A number of people I know in Florence had no idea the event was even going on.

Less than half the artists from last year - 16 this year - all on one floor with plenty of room left over, so it looked rather lost.  Less than half the people at the opening, and unlike last year they weren’t buying.  I saw customers who bought my high end pieces last year leaving with nothing - just partied and left. 

We opened Thursday night this year - last year it was Friday night.  We had open hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday this year.  Last year it was just Friday night and Saturday.  They had a total of 10 buyers for the entire show all day Friday… 10!!!  If we had 10 people come through on Sunday I would be amazed. 

Florence is a good sized city, with over 133,000 people.  This fall I did a one day show in Great Falls, SC (see earlier blog post), which has less than 5,000 people.  I sold more in one day in Great Falls than I did in four days in Florence.  Now that is just sad!

No one did well, and there were some folks who sold nothing in all four days.  In all a quite dismal experience.  The upside is that I did have a number of people who are interested in my classes that I teach, so hopefully that will turn out well.

Since I often get asked to show pictures of the shows I do, here are photos of the various booths that were there.  Sorry I have misplaced my program and can’t identify all the artists….

Here is a picture of it:

Pepe disc cutter

It comes with a very nice little wooden stand which holds all the pieces quite well.  I haven’t figured out what the little cut out in the front is for…..

top view with metal ready to be cut

Here I have a piece of brass inserted (what to do with scrap - cut discs!).  You unscrew the middle screw a bit, insert your metal, line it up, then tighten the screw which does a great job of holding the metal securely.

angled view with metal inserted

Here you can see the cutter inserted into its slot, ready to be hammered.  I use a brass hammer.

cut disc

And here is the finished disc, with the cutter sitting on top of it.  Took me a few times to realize that what you are supposed to do is hammer it, then lift the base.  The cutter and the disc stay on the table.  I had been trying to remove the cutter from the top first…. sigh…. never said I was the brightest light on the block!

cutter hammerd through the metal

Sorry - this is out of order.  Anyway, here it is when it has been hammered through - you can see it is now sitting on my work bench (Kobalt - from Lowes - love it!).  So NOW is when you lift it up, and wind up with the picture above.

brass"coin" earrings

Here is a pair of earrings made using brass discs cut with the Pepe.  I then drilled a hole in each, used a matting stamp and chasing hammer to give an all-over texture, then used a liner and chasing hammer to decorate the edges.  Nice if I do say so myself!

another pair from discs

This is another pair of brass earrings cut with the Pepe.  They are larger discs than the pair above, and I used decorative stamps all over the surface, then domed them in a dapping block with dapping punches.

I highly recommend this disc cutter.  It was not terribly expensive, it is quite easy and fast to use, and the discs are cut very, very cleanly with lovely edges.  I couldn’t be happier with my wonderful present!

We had to move the workshop to my house, as the pipes at my studio/gallery burst.  The joys of cold weather!  There were only three of us for the workshop, but that worked out really well as it gave John plenty of time to help the two of us who were new to chain maille, and plenty of time for him to help Mary Elizabeth speed along.  The workshop ran from 10 - 4, and John was wonderfully organized with pre-made packets for a huge range of projects that let you learn that style of chain.  Each packet contained color coded jump rings the correct size for the project, and came with an instruction sheet, also color coded.  It was very clear and easy to read.  Following it accurately was another story entirely for myself and the other “newbie”.  I completed 5 samples, the other participant completed three, I believe…….. and Mary Elizabeth completed 10 including one so difficult John did not have a pre-made packet for it!

Mary Elizabeth had a blast!  My husband had given us funny looks, thinking this was an incredibly odd Christmas present - then he got home just as we finished, and saw her radiant face - and finally “got” the worth of the present!

If you are interested in chains, or chain maille, John’s website is wonderfully helpful:  http://www.bijoux-de-terre.com/ He has great pictures, tips, etc.  John sells chain making supplies, and other supplies and tools for jewelry makers of all sorts.  I highly recommend him if you are interested in learning some very nice chains to add to your repertoire.

Here are some photos of us working:

John Fetvedt demonstrating for Mary Elizabeth

Mary Elizabeth working on a sample

Student using one of John's sample packages

I’m really pleased with how this turned out!  I love the way repousse’ and chasing allow me to form the metal, and plan to do a lot more pieces using these techniques.

Front of the brooch in correct orientation

I apologize for the pictures - the color of the stone did not turn out very well.  It is a lovely green onyx, and that doesn’t show at all!

Side view of the brooch - the color is better in this one.

another side view.... you can see the depth

I use a medium pitch from Northwest Pitchworks:  http://www.northwestpitchworks.com/ This pitch has no petroleum, coal tar or ashpaltum in it, and is less toxic and more “user friendly” than many pitches.  You still need to have good ventilation, and use safety glasses and take all normal safety precautions.

I have my pitch in an 8″ pitch bowl, with the base of the bowl filled with plaster of paris to about 2″ under the bowl rim, and the pitch on top of that.  I also have a purchased base for the pitch bowl, that allows the bowl to rotate freely so you can move it to whatever angle you want, to best manipulate your tools.

I start a piece by creating a drawing of what I want to do if I am creating something specific, as in this commission.  I cut a piece of metal enough bigger than my desired area to allow for the creation of “tabs” at the corners, to fold into the pitch.  Then I clean the metal.  I coat the back of the drawing with a layer of rubber cement, and coat one side of my clean metal with a layer of rubber cement.  Once the rubber cement is dry (a few minutes) I firmly press the paper onto the metal, and rub it to adhere it.  After it is adhered, I take an x-acto knife and trace my lines through the paper onto the metal.  It is best to do this onto the back side of your piece, but there are times when the design is better if I do this on the front.  The x-acto DOES cut through into the metal, so you will have to deal with these cuts!  Once I’m finished cutting I remove all the paper, and the design is visible via the cuts.

Now I fold down the corners of the metal away from the side I want to start working on - usually the back.  Then I heat the pitch bowl.  This can be done with a torch and a fairly soft, bushy flame, or with an industrial heat gun.  I prefer a heat gun.  You heat it by moving the heat over the pitch constantly, so that all the area in the middle, and towards the outside, heats fairly evenly.  You do NOT want to heat any area so much that it begins to bubble or smoke!  It is VERY important to use good ventilation here, and to use safety glasses!

Once the pitch has heated and softened I place the metal onto the middle of the pitch bowl, with the tabs down into the pitch.  I keep a flat tub of clean water nearby, and an old hammer, and old needle nose and other pliers for moving the metal on the pitch.  Use the hammer to gently press the metal firmly into the pitch, making sure that the tabs go fully into the pitch.  You may want to dip the flat end of the hammer into the water, and use it to pull pitch onto the edges of the metal, to help hold the metal.  I dip in water each time before putting the hammer in the pitch - it helps keep the pitch from adhering to the hammer surface.

Next take dampened paper towels, and use them to dab the metal and pitch to cool it to the firmness you need to work on your design.  The firmer the pitch is, the less give it has.  The softer it is, the more give. Different parts of the design may need different degrees of firmness.

Now I am ready to begin shaping the metal.  I use a combination of purchased repousse’ and chasing tools, homemade tools, and dapping tools to move the metal depending on what I’m trying to accomplish.  As you work the metal it will harden.  When it does that, you will need to heat the pitch, and use some of your pliers to remove the metal from the pitch.  I heat the metal with the heat gun after removing it, and the melted pitch will drip back into the pitch bowl.  The rest I remove by heating, using paper towels with mineral oil to wipe the hot pitch off the metal, and repeating until all the pitch is removed from both sides of the metal.  Then I wash the metal with soap and water, dry it, anneal it, quench and pickle and rinse - and start the process again.

In shaping the metal I will work one side a time or two, then turn the tabs the other way and work the other side, and repeat.  You want to push the metal in both directions, to help form your shapes.  As you work, be gentle with your tabs - if you turn them too many times, or too firmly, they may snap off!

Below are some photos of my current piece in process.  I’ll post again when I get it finished, with the rest of the process.

Note the industrial heat gun…. I do this on a large ceramic tile, since there will invariably be drips of pitch….

back

I needed the wings to rotate, so I soldered a post into the underside of the wing; drilled a hole in the heart, and ran the post through, then twisted it to hold the post and allow it to rotate.  I used my flexshaft to sand the edges smooth on the back so they won’t catch on clothing.  I had planned to make the back twist a bit more decorative, but realized I needed to use a thicker wire for strength, which didn’t leave much space for a decorative element.  I was worried about the post holding up to the opening and shutting.

My biggest worry was properly positioning the posts, so that the wings sat on the heart properly and hung properly… NOT being a precise sort of engineering person this was giving me bad dreams <grin>!  I got them very close on the first try, took a deep breath, reheated the solder, and moved the posts to where I thought they should be.  Thankfully, it worked without damaging the posts or the heart!  That made me really nervous….

Here is the page of sketches he brought in:

sketches

We discussed what size he wanted (about 1″), and costs.  Since I was going to be learning as I went, I gave him a very low price - I was not comfortable charging him for my learning process.

I took the wonderful workshop, loved repousse’ as much as I thought I would, and came back and started on the wings.  This is where we ran into our first problem - which I had expected.  When you go from a two dimensional drawing to a three dimensional creation, there are going to be some changes.  When you add in the fact that my customer is a very precise artist, and I am a rather loose one….. grin….. I knew we would have some adjusting to do along the way!

When I got the first incarnation of the wings done, he liked them very much, but the tip of the heart showed under the wings.  He decided to have a small stone set there, which would have looked lovely.  I say would have, because I don’t engrave, and he took the heart I had made to a friend to have it engraved.  He carried the wings with him, so the engraver could see where they would lay, and where the engraving needed to be.  Unfortunately, when it came back the engraving ran down into the space below the wings where we had planned to set the stone.  So adjustment number two.

We decided to extend the wings, and he wanted the wing tips to feather if possible.  I designed the extensions, soldered a thinner bit of silver onto the underside of each wing, and then chased the design from the original wing down into the new extensions, melding the two visually.  I hand engraved some detail, and clipped the ends of the wings, then bent the “feathers” so that the two sides interlock a bit.

wings with extensions

The wings needed to be able to open up, so that you can read the engraving, so I soldered long posts onto each wing, then drilled holes in the heart for the posts to go through.

wings ready to attach to heart

You can see the extensions attached on the back here also.

Next I ran the posts through the heart, and then bent them on the back side into a decorative design that would hold them in place, but allow them to be swung open.  I soldered on a bail attachment to the heart.  We had planned to use tiny bits of magnet under the wings to hold them closed while wearing, but once he cut some small enough, they did not attract each other through the silver when I attached them to the underside of the wings.

Finished winged heart, wings open

When closed, in the wearing position, it looks like this:

Finished heart, wings closed.

I am very pleased with how it turned out, and so is my customer!  He is making a custom wooden box for the heart to go in.  I hope whoever is the recipient appreciates the time and effort he has put into this!

This is only the second piece of repousse’ I have done, and I am thrilled with it!  It is nice to have a customer who pushes my limits - I tend to be a bit too cautious, and to think I can’t do things I actually can do…. And having a customer who was so flexible and easy to work with was great!

We had seven people sign up again this year: a glass jewelry artist, three painters, a folk artist and myself.  Plus one of our members who spins and weaves was going to be demonstrating both of these skills.

Last year we had a super turn out, and were very well received.  This year, unfortunately, was not as good.  Part was the weather - it was quite cold and damp, with rain later on in the day, and since the day activities are mostly outside this really reduced traffic.  I went by the outdoor stage which last year overflowed with people into the roads, and if there were 30 people there this year I would be amazed.  They were all huddled up into blankets, determined to hear the jazz, but freezing!  Plus both of our major state universities, Clemson and the University of South Carolina, had home games.  College football is huge around here, so probably half the area was at one game or the other instead of at the jazz festival.  Add the economy to the weather and football, and the smaller turnout was not totally unexpected.

None of the painters did very well in terms of sales, but my sales were almost where they were last year in terms of dollars.  The number of people buying was considerably less, but I sold more higher end items this year.  I had done a casting of Dizzy Gillespie with his horn on one side, and some notes from one of his original pieces of music on the other, and had earrings, necklaces and charms for sale to benefit the jazz festival.  These are still available on my Etsy shop, www.bethwicker.etsy.com

I am going to meet with Vicky McLain, one of our members who was involved with visual arts in the festival before the ASCCT was formed to discuss how we want to adjust things for next year.

The SC Jazz Festival is always the third weekend in October, in Cheraw, SC - Dizzy Gillespie’s birthplace.  Hope to see you at next year’s festival!  There is great music, great food and great art - can’t beat it!

The house hasn’t been used in at least 4 years, since my father-in-law died, and has gotten a bit run down.  So in budgeting for start up costs I included having the plumber come out to turn the water back on - just in case there were any leaks that had sprung up since the water was last on.  I could tell when the plumbers came out - finally! - that they thought this was pretty silly - all I had to do, after all, was turn the handle on the pipe to let the water flow.

And then they turned the handle - and boy did the water flow!  It poured out all under the house, like a huge rainstorm!  They got it turned right back off, and didn’t think I was so silly anymore!  Turned out that the water had not been drained after the last time my father-in-law had used it years ago, and every single pipe under the house, and some leading up into the house, had burst.  Since I don’t need a shower for a class space I was just going to cap that off, instead of paying to have them tear out a wall to fix it.  When they cut off the pipe under the house to cap it, the whole pipe from inside the house fell out on top of them.  One of those things that is funny and awful at the same time…sigh…..

So they got the plumbing all fixed Friday, and today I went over to do some cleaning.  I filled the kitchen sink with water to wash the dishes that had been sitting there all these years, and made some headway.  Then I needed to let some water out, since the sink was getting too full.  And the sink stopper split in two, with the stopper part still in the sink - and no way to get it out!  After messing with it using a fork and a knife, with no success (bent the fork prong nicely!), I started using a pitcher to get the water out.  At about that time I realized the “drip, drip, drip” I had been hearing was a leak under the sink.  Sigh.  That is going to mean I get to have the plumbers out again this week!

So I got most of the water out, and went out to dig around in my car and see what tools I might have.  Added tool kit to my list of things to get for the house…  Found an adjustable wrench (doesn’t everyone keep one in their car????) and after a bit of struggle finally was able to get it to grab onto the piece of plug that was sticking up, and pulled the #@% thing out.  Whew!

So I filled up a bucket with water and pine sol, got a rag, and started scrubbing doors, window frames, etc. - which had years of grime on them.  I started at the front of the house, and worked my way around to the back side, which faces our pond.  The house is quite close to the pond, maybe 20 feet or so, and the back yard is wooded.  The front of the house faces what used to be cow pasture.  My husband and I have planted hardwoods selected to provide food and shelter for wildlife in the pasture, and it is now a certified tree farm.  The house is near the dam, and below the dam is a forested swampy area.

So I’m cleaning the back windows, and see a feline slowly walking through the yard.  I think what a pretty cat it is - and then realize that yes, it is a cat - but not a house cat!  It is a young bobcat!  Headed very leisurely for the ducks my renters keep!  I watch until it disappears into the wooded area between the two houses, and I can see the ducks settled on the lawn by the pond through the trees.  I can tell when the bobcat gets near them as they quickly got up and waddled to the pond and paddled away from the shore.  They are about twice the size of the bobcat, so I didn’t think its hunt was going to be successful!  Shortly after that I saw the bobcat making its way back along the pond edge towards the forest and swamp.  I assume the den is there.

This is going to be such a fun place to hold classes!  How many people get to watch bobcats and great blue herons while they learn?

I’m hoping to hold my first classes in the next two weeks.  Keep your fingers crossed for me - I don’t need any more unexpected expenses!