Jumping on the bandwagon

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Work Room chat:
Man.... I've just bought the domain name for Atelier Wendy Sue, if you still haven't known by now. I'm trying to work on the site, kinda revamping everything of some sort and put them all together in a big picture but I'm still quite a noob in these tecchie stuffs..... o_O....I'm still learning.... still learning. I reckon it will probably take me a couple more months to get things running smoothly, the way I wanted them to.... *sigh*....
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Made this wired pendant necklace just recently. And guess what? I've also jumped into the tutorial writing bandwagon. Heheh.... I'm in the midst of writing a tutorial on how to construct this necklace. I just need to proof read it and clean up a bit here and there before putting them up for sale. So, interested parties may learn how to make this necklace. XD

They aren't made using any special technique although two types of jewellery making techniques are involved here; wirework and bead stringing. As far as wirework is concerned, it's just using the simple twisting technique.

I would say even beginner should be able to follow this tutorial although some of the very basics in jewellery making is a prerequisite.

Well, I'll try to get them up soon! ;)

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Argentium silver

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Work Room chat:
Here's a jewellery artist who shares his experience with working with argentium silver and particularly this post where he did an allergy test (we all know how some people are allergy to some metal!) with argentium silver and the result seems to be just as positive as well.
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I think some of you might have heard about argemtium sterling silver somewhere by now. I've also made a mention of this form of metal in one of my previous post. I believe not many is very clear about this form of silver? It is after all, a relatively new metal, discovered only in 1996. Yes, that is some 13 years ago but for compared to the other forms of metal available in the marrket, it is still considered at its infancy.

Argentium Sterling Silver is a modern sterling silver alloy which modifies the traditional alloy (92.5% silver + 7.5% copper) by replacing some of the copper with the metalloid germanium. As it still retains the same 92.5% silver content, it is still sterling silver. The difference lies in the replacement of the 7.5% copper with germanium.


Germanium



Germanium is a crystalline semi-metallic element which is found naturally in small amounts in silver, copper and zinc ores, as well as in the mineral, germanite. The germanium forms an invisible film on the surface of silver alloy. This film prevents oxygen from reaching any tarnishable metals, such as copper, employed to harden the pure silver.

Because the germanium is a metalloid rather that a true metal, it is able to float.
So it is constantly diffusing to the surface where is reacts with oxygen to form
a thin layer of germanium oxide. Tarnish is caused by the formation of cuprous
oxide, and the germanium Oxide prevents the cuprous oxide from forming.

There are many advantages of this new metal but I'm only going to focus on this metal from the perpective of silver and jewellery making

One of the biggest advantages of argentium silver is the firescale elimination. The absence of firescale eliminates tedious and time-consuming steps required for cleaning the silver.

When heating sterling silver (92.5% fine silver and 7.5% copper) in a flame, the copper in the silver is subject to a fast oxidation called firescale.

Which is why, if you've come across instructions to make head pins by torching the end of the silver wires, you might have heard about flux and pickle before. These can be either chemicals or non-chemical substances used to reduce or clean the firescale.

Fine silver on the other hand doesn't get firescale because it doesn't have copper in it which is why you might have heard that fine silver does not have to be pickled and many prefer making head pins from fine silver.

All these problem is eliminated with argentium silver due to germanium as the alloy. Argentium silver also has a lower melting point which also makes it easier to ball up the end.

Another advantage that I believe many will be very happy about is the tarnish resistant quality of argentium silver. Caring and cleaning argentium Sterling Silver is very easy and needs far less care than traditional silver. An occasional (some suggested once a year!) rinse and wipe with a soft cotton cloth is all that's needed to keep it gleaming. It never needs polishing.

It has also been suggested not to polish it. If you feel you must, be sure to use a cloth that has not been contaminated by polishing other metals. Using a contaminated cloth could deposit tarnish-able material on the surface and destroy the main advantage of argentium silver.

Here, I can't help but to make a mention of this.

You know how some artist like to oxidise sterling silver to give it that antique look?

Well, after my explanation of srgentium silver above, you can imagine how baffled I was when I heard that some artist trying to oxidise argemtium silver wires!

Yes, indeed tarnish and oxidization is not exactly the same but not only will it be
more difficult to do so, it is also a question of practicality?

If one is going for the antique look, use traditional sterling silver. Why bother with argentium which is highly tarnish resistant if you are going to oxidise it therafter? The utmost reason people are using argentium is due to its highly tarnish resistant quality. It's just logic, really, if you ask me. Even more so when it costs a bit more than traditional sterling silver.

I can't tell you for sure exactly how much they cost especially we all know how the price of silver fluctuates and differ from one supplier to another but my reckon is that they probably cost around 25% more than traditional sterling silver.

A very exciting metal, isn't it?

Wondering where to get them?






Peter Johns of Middlesex University invented Argentium in 1996. The University owns the patent and licenses its production worldwide and Middlesex University if you know, is in the UK. So, you are guessing that it should be easily available in the UK, right?

Well, unfortunately, it isn't. I've been searching around in the UK for the wires already when I came to learn about argentium silver. As to my knowlege, so far, you can only get supplies of the wires from America. Even the list of suppliers listed on Argentium Silver official site are all America based suppliers. So, yes, looks like you might need to pay a little extra for shipping if you want to get your hands on these wires.

I tried writing to them once last month enquiring whereabouts in the UK can I find these wires since I am in the UK now and also considering where argentium silver came from, to which they reply.......


What the...... -_-



Seriously, man.......

When I told Sa Kor about this, she told me that the 'next couple of months' should be read as 'slow-slow wait'. Well, that's direct translation from Hokkien actually. LOL...

Hhhhmmmppphhh..... -_-

According to Sa Kor, she's not surprised because in her view, the English are still quite slow to respond to new inventions as compared to their American counterparts. Even Uncle Ghee concurred with this, saying that even when it comes to marketing, the Americans are still faster.

So it seems that the gems are all in the States. Oh, well......

A note of caution though. I've heard some confusion with regards to argentium silver and white silver. This is something I overheard that some are saying white silver is the same as argentium silver and something something about proving it to be argentium silver and such.

Erm, I have no idea what white silver is but all I can tell you is that argentium silver is argentium silver. There's no need to prove that it is because it has to be if it is sold as such. It will be sold as argentium if it is. Period.

Just a little something I overheard anyway.

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The hook

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Work Room chat:
Ihe instruction from this site is a variation of the hook and eye clasp where beads are also included in the clasp. Pretty cool!
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Having learnt about the eye, now, let's try the hook. :)

You know how annoying it is sometimes when you've completed a piece of project only to realize that you've run out of clasp and now your completed project becomes incomplete and can't be completed until you attach a clasp to it because that is all you need to do to complete it?

That is such a major -___- because it's always such a thrill to see a piece of jewellery forming to a finished piece with the addition of a clasp.

The hook, therefore, can be your emergency clasp or it could also save you money from not needing to buy clasp anymore should you just decide to make your own.







So, this is how you'll go about doing it.

Cut about 3 inches long of wire.





Using the round nose plier, measure approximately 1¼ inch from the end of the wire....





and make a turn so that the two wire ends crosses to form an 'X'



Well, you've did this part before with 'the eye', so I'm not going to repeat it here. But should you need a reminder of how it is done, you can just visit the previous tutorial on 'the eye'.





This is how it will look like with one side of the wire longer than the other.





Next, measure approximately ¾ inch from the rounded loop edge.





And make a 90 degress bend with your chain nose plier.





Now, with your round nose plier, make a loop. I think this needs no further explanation as well as I believe if you've been following The Work Room, you should be very well versed with the art of looping already. ;)





This is what you'll get.





You'll notice that the other straight wire is somewhat off tangent from the rest. Well, fret not. This will be remedied easily in the next step.

Just push the wire inwards towards the loop and grip the two together at the loop with the round nose plier.





What you are going to do next is also another repetitive technique which has been talked over and over again throughout this blog already. The wrap. :)





Yes, join the two wires together with a wrapped loop.

Cut off the excess wire and this is what you'll get.





Now that you have the base, we are going to shape the hook.

Grip onto the rounded loop end right at the base of the round nose plier.




Turn it slightly upwards.





Not too much though. Just enough to get a small bend at the tip.





Again, with the round nose plier, grip right below the bend. Make sure that the bent is facing upwards from where you are gripping.





Now, make a big turn downwards.





Depending on how big of a curve you want the hook to be, grip accordingly with your round nose plier.





Well, that's it! :)



Do note that whatever measurements I've stated here are as a guide only. As you get a hang of it, feel free to modify the measurements as you see fit.

The Eye here.

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Glass Fusion III: Firing

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Work Room chat:
Here's an interesting video I found on eHow by Cheryl Syminink of C-Glass Studio on the entire process of making a fused dichroic glass pendant. The video comes in 17 parts and yes, it is the WHOLE process, right from cutting the glass to fusing and finally turning it into a pendant. Go check it out!
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You should realize by now that you do not necessarily need a proper kiln to fuse glass because you have the microwave kiln. Even so, it nevertheless made me curious about the choice of one over the other which I then posed Uncle Ghee with this question.

Well, to him, the reason why he would choose a proper kiln over the microwave one is due to thw timing issue. Everything is programmed with a proper kiln so that you just throw evverything in, set the time and temperature and you can go and work on other stuffs. When you come back to it, everything's done just nice.

Unlike the microwave one where he is never too sure about the time and actually need to check on it all the time and even risk over firing it. What happens when you over fire the glass? Well, the glass won't get burnt. LOL.... :P

But.....this is what can happen.




What is amiss here? Why, the shape of course!

You'll notice here that the glas piece is groundnut shaped rather than squarish or rectangularish as it was initially intended to be.

But even then, it still looked fine to me. If I hadn't been told that it was actually over fired, I would have thought that it was the intended design. Like Uncle Ghee said, it still looks nice.

So, if you think about it, the red piece of glass that I did earlier on was actually kinda over fired too?


Isn't it? o_O


Anyway, that aside, there is actually a difference firing between the two. Well, not a very significant difference anyway but this was what pointed out by Uncle Ghee.

Now, take a look at these two.






One was fired using the proper kiln and another using the microwave kiln. Can you tell which is which? The answer should be pretty obvious.

The one on the left is fired using a kiln and the one on the right, the microwave one.

So, you see, the one on the left has a more.... erm, how should I say it, straight edges? Whereas the one on the right has a more rounded edge.

I'm not sure if the shape and size will also affect the outcome since if you observed the two pieces above, you might come the realize that the one on the left is more rectangular in shape whereas the one on the right more squarish?

Anyway, that's just what I've been told la.

Ouh, and do you see that small piece of shiny blue foil like paper in the piece on the left?








Well, that piece was a dichroic glass piece. I've mentioned before what dichroic glass is and as compared to the ordinary glass, there is no doubt that dichroic glass is prettier but then, it also comes at a higher cost. I was told that it costs up to 5 times the price of normal glass! @_@

And now, a side view of that piece of fused glass.







This piece is actually made up of three pieces of glass, with the dichroic piece being at the top, followed by a transluscent blue and opaque blue as its base. A closer inspection will also shows that despite the three layers of glass, the final fuse works out to be only about the thickness of 2 layers of glass or approximately 6mm!

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Remember this?

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Work Room chat:
I'm thinking of getting some dichroic glass to try out actually because Uncle Ghee's available pool of fusing glass is boring me already. Ahaks! :P But then and again.... there's the cost issue to consider. Bummer! :/
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The unfired piece of glass during my second attempt at glass fusion?

Well, as I have thought it, Uncle Ghee fired it during the weekday. So when I was over at the studio last Sunday, I picked up the fired piece.


Tadah!

Also, because I wasn't too careful about the gap, there's these visible lines you see at the edges. Hhhhmmmmppphhhh.......


See the two layers of glass fused together?



Well, it didn't quite turn out very rectangularish since the edges all are kinda rounded in some ways but I think it still turn out alright. Much better than the red one! Hahah! XD

The colour also turn out a bit dark, doesn't it? Oh, well.... but at least I think I'm getting a hang of it already although there's still some tricks around it that I would need to learn. Hopefully a bit better next time, ya! ;)

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Patchings Art Centre

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Work Room chat:
Heard that Patchings is having some Art Festival some time during this month, or next, I'm not sure and apparently, Sa Kor said we'll be popping over. So, more on Patchings Art Centre then! ;)
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Patchings Art Centre is this really cool arts centre where you have some independent artist renting a gallery there to display their work and such. There's not many of them but they do have quite a variety of artists there.

There's also art shops ....





and a nice little cafe where you can enjoy your meal outdoors (provided that the weather's good, of course!)





....... while enjoying the view.





Says who you can only get 'Sakura" in Japan? :P





I was there the past weekend because Shaunee was taking art lesson with one of the painter there and Sa Kor also mentioned that there were one or two handmade jewellery gallery there and thought that I might be interested to pop over and have a look.

Well, there were two that I went to. The first was a one unit gallery selling ethnic inspired handmade jewellery. That I did not manage to snap any picture.

The next one I went to was the Crewyard Gallery.






Now, this is one that I really like a lot. It's a much bigger space, probably about 3 unit gallery and carries works by various artist. I really liked the interior deco a lot!


This is the back portion. Love the huge mirror!



And this, the middle portion. Erm, well... it's a shame that I didn't manage to snap the front portion. -__- But anyway, I sure think that the middle and back portion was totally awesome!


There's still some other artsy places that Sa Kor said that she wanted to take me to but she's been so bogged down with work and chauferring the little princess around which makes time a little tight but then and again, time is what I have anyway! :P

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Glass Fusion II: First trial

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Work Room chat:
I saw a video on YouTube about this type of microwave kiln. It's a bit different from the one that I used here but it's an interesting watch nevertheless.
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Okay, and so I was left to myself to figure it out while Uncle Ghee was busy surfing on the internet checking out the showing time for Wolverine and Hanah Montana. -__-

Honestly, I was just dim wit clueless. Probably it sounds so straightforward easy that it seems almost unbelievably child's play like that it left me not knowing exactly what to do. o_O

And then I realize, there was no specific project for me to work on, which is why I'm a bit lost here. Should I blame Uncle Ghee for not being a dedicated teacher or myself for not researching beforehand? :P Hhhhhmmm.....

Well, anyway, I know I couldn't possibly come up with anything decent, I might as well come up with 'something' just so I could get over it and put 'something' into the kiln for firing and see for myself what the whole glass fusion thingy is about.

To be honest...... I don't even fancy the colours of the glasses available but thou shall not complain when it is done as a favour. :P

So, alright.... I did what I would normally do, choose my colour palette. It was kinda difficult actually given that the colours that I do like do not have pieces big enough as the base and colours which have pieces big enough to form the base are not exactly colours that I fancy. -____-

But die die also must choose and come up with something, right? And so, these are the colours I come up with.





To be honest, I don't even know how the colours are going to work together but I have to come up with 'something'.....somehow....

The smaller pieces on the right are actually all the transluscent types whereas the bigger red piece on the left is the opaque type which I'll be using it as the base.

There's a small risk I'm taking here.

This.



As you can see, both are red. So, basically I'm using red on red but the difference is that the transluscent piece is on the opaque one. As a matter of fact, all the smaller pieces that I'm planning to use on top of the opaque red are transluscent. Logic will dictate that they will probably not show but then, I'm curious to see how this match is going to turn out.

And so, the cutting begins......





The final 'design' I came up with was this.


Alright, so maybe it can't even qualify as a design. It looks like those jigsaw puzzles for toddlers you would most probably find in nursery schoold. -__-


Alright, not to forget that I'll need to glue them to secure the placement of the smaller pieces.





But then hor......





Even with the glue, the placement of the glass bits has totally changed! LOL.... Oh, well..... I was a bit restless already just so I could put something into the kiln was just being random. :P

So, the next step is firing. Into the kiln it goes.


This is the kiln that I mentioned before and have been wanting to show you guys. A real kiln, yo! LOL....so jakun, never see a kiln before. :P This is the smaller one by the way. There's still another bigger one at the opposite corner but Uncle Ghee was using it at that time, firing some pottery. This one is about knee length height, maybe? Don't know.....but it sure is quite big.



But, wait a minute. The kiln is so big but I only wanted to fire this small piece of glass. This is not going to be ermm.... kiln effective? Oh, shucks! Should have taken a picture of the inside of the kiln. Well, maybe in my next trip to the studio....

So, Uncle Ghee took this out instead.


What's this?






The first impression I got when I first saw this was how it reminds me of the cooler container that they normally use to store ice-cream cake. It sure looks like it, doesn't, it?

But no, that's not that la. It's a microwave kiln! :D Heh!

Yes, it's a kiln that you are going to use in the microwave. You are going to do the firing in this kiln in the microwave. Cool or what?

Well, apart from being kiln effective (if you ever have such a term!), it is also more cost effective, especially for home artists. I was told that this microwave kiln cost some £400 whereas the proper kiln earlier on some whopping £2000! But I did some search on the internet and found that some sellers in the US is selling them for less than $200 I think. Don't the difference in manufacturers made the difference though..... *shrugs*

So, the earlier glass piece will be placed inside and fired in the microwave.

Another important thing is this.





This is the ceramic fibre paper where the glass piece will be placed on inside the kiln so that when the glass melt, it won't stick to the kiln.

So, into the kiln the glass piece goes.






And then, into the microwave the kiln goes.


Okay, a little trivia here. I was told that this kiln was actually invented by the Japanese for some other purpose but somehow didn't work out in the way they wanted and so, the Americans bought over the patent and sold in a year, what the Japanese sold in five. Also, at present, this seems like the biggest size available. They do have a bigger one but the problem is in finding a microwave big enough to fit it in.



And then, we set the time.





We set it at 6 minutes but the truth is, either of us were not very sure how long it is actually needed for the kiln to heat up enough to begin firind the glass. What I was told was it is done when I see the top centre hole of the kiln turn orange.

Well, after 6 minutes, it still did not turn orange and Uncle Ghee further added the time. I'm not sure exactly how long it took because I wasn't inside the kiln room all the while.

Thing is, neither Uncle Ghee is sure with the exact time himself since he uses the proper kiln with timing and heat programmed. To be honest, he has not much use for this microwave kiln, really, since he does the firing in bulk and using the bigger kiln would be much more appropriate. The bigger kiln is also much more convenient too since everything is pre-programmed.

I think he got this microwave kiln out of curiosity. LOL.......

So, the firing time at present is only a guesstimate while keeping an eye on the microwave all the time. I somehow feel that there must be a more efficient timing for this. I just gotta find out how....

Just then.....




It turn orange already! Yay!

So it's almost enough already and out from the microwave it comes.





Uncle Ghee opened it for a while and it was still orange hot inside. Unfortunately, I did not manage to capture a picture of it before Uncle Ghee closed it again and told me to wait for a bit. I saw it was still burning hot inside, you know like how those boiling lava looks like inside volcano? Just imagine how hot it must have been inside.





Anyway, when the kiln cool down a little. We opened it up to check on the piece of glass.











I didn't know what to expect but I sure wasn't expecting to see this!
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What the...... o_O


How did it end up looking so dark and "plum"?!

And then Uncle Ghee told me not to worry as that is how red looks like when it's hot. The colour will return as it cools down.

So we left it there for a bit. But either way, I still do not have a good feeling about it.

After some time, Uncle Ghee came out from the kiln room telling me that the contrast in my piece wasn't enough. So, I went into the kiln room and found my piece looking like.....
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This!








Okay, that's just plain ugly...... -____-

Sa Kor didn't think it was ugly though when I showed it to her but I think she's just being forgiving because I hated it.

Forgive me please given it was a clueless first piece. But at least I kind of have a picture of what it's all about already.

I was just hanging around in the studio after that and Uncle Ghee asked me, "Aren't you going to play some more?"

Well,... I was a bit reluctant because I felt like I needed some research before I can actually come up with a decent piece but nevertheless went ahead anyway.

I asked a few questions which Uncle Ghee replied with a, "You can try."

So, try I did.

And again..... I chose my colour palette and this time with less ambitious use of colour.


A more complimenting pallette of colours, perhaps?

Roughly..... came up with this.






I was wondering if I could create a rectangular frame pendant.

But.......

Before I could actually fire it in the kiln to see how it would turn out, Uncle Ghee told me to pack up already because we've got a movie to catch. What the........ -__-

So, sorry peeps, can't show you the finished piece because I had to left it there and I think if Uncle Ghee is free during the weekdays, he might fire it for me which I will also only find out when I go into the studio again in the weekends. Will show you guys the finished piece then.

Meanwhile, I'll just go back and do more research.

The day ended with me watching Hanah Montana with my little cousin sis (I had to watch it because I need to take Shaunee to watch it while Uncle Ghee and his wife went to watch Wolverine because Shaunee wasn't old enough for Wolverine! But then... Hanah Montana turns out to be not such a bad watch after all.... light entertainment peeps, light entertainment.... :P) and finally, Mexican dinner at Chiquito. :D

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