Sweet hearts and metal hearts!

 April 8th….today is our anniversary.  Can you guess  how many years we’ve been married??   Fourteen years and 4 kids later, here we are!  I came downstairs this morning to find several notes like this around the house:

I know I’m a lucky girl.  I think I’ll just have to keep him. 🙂

I recently finished a project from a great book on metal work.  “Wrap, Stitch, Fold and Rivet” by the multi-media artist, Mary Hettmansperger.  Deryn Mentock has been hosting a challenge   in which she has been following along with this book, project by project.  Many jewelry artists have participated, and although some are already up to projects #15 or so, I wanted to join in on the fun too {better late than never}.

This was a great push for me to get out of my comfort zone and try something new.  I had all of the materials I needed from a great new metal/wireworking shop, fundametals.  Check out Jeanette’s shop the next time you need sheet metal, design stamps, tools or wire!

The first two projects I made were “Stacked Spinner” style pendants.  You can get as creative as you want with these, as there is no right or wrong.  The dangles  swing freely on the pendant and are quite fun to wear.

The techniques I used were:

Cutting and forging sheet metal, texturing, punching holes, wire wrapping, letter stamping and adding patina.  I used copper and brass sheet metal with sterling silver and Greek ceramic components mixed in.

In the “Hope” pendant, I used Deryn’s bird nest technique that she shared in the book, “Charming Exchange”.   For this one I used copper sheet, Swarovski crystals and both sterling and stainless steel wire.

Now I’m off!  Have a great day!