Copper Cuffs

It has taken a while to get back my blog but I am here now. As promised here is a photo of the copper cuffs I was working on when I last blogged...

They turned out quite well. And even though the hammering alone took 2 sessions over 2 days I still say hand hammering is still better than using a machine to do the hammering for me. It is just a matter of pacing so as not to completely wear our the muscles ;) These cuffs took longer than usual because they are much larger than I usually make. They were a custom order and measure 2" wide by 11" long. Usually the largest cuffs I make are 1" wide by 7" long.

After hammering, the stage that was shown in my last blog post, I sanded the cuffs by hand and hammered them into their cuff form. The last step before photographing and shipping was to polish them to a high shine.

In the time it has taken me to get this post together I have made quite a few new pieces along with working on listings for my Etsy site. The new design for my animal line is the ferret. They turned out beautifully.

This is one of the ferrets in copper. In about 2 weeks time I made 9 of these total in copper, nickel, red brass, and yellow brass.

The other custom piece I had was a copper version of an engineers guild ring. It is to be a special present.

I like how it turned out and am quite happy I was able to figure out how to make the design from a photograph.

Hand Power or Machine Power?

As I sat beating a piece of copper into submission my arms began to tire. The hammer seemed to increase in weight with each strike. And then I thought 'there is probably a machine that can put all these little diviets into the metal without wearing so much on the muscles.' I continued striking the blank for an extra wide copper cuff with the ball-peen hammer and continued thinking...

I have seen a machine used to shape and smooth a fender for a bike on one of the chopper shows which would make this task quicker and easier. But being a machine each strike would be the same depth with the same amount of pressure. The resulting texture would not be as rich as hand hammering, as the strength and angle of each strike varies. It also wouldn't have the same energy. The time and physical energy put to hand hammering adds an unseen energy and feel to the metal as it is worked that shows through in the final piece. I have also found a greater sense of accomplishment working in older methods with my stubborn refusal to turn every part of my work over to complex machines. I admit I love my flex shaft for polishing and I would get far less pieces completed if I polished everything by hand from start to finish, but there is just something enriching and fulfilling about using a hand held hammer over a machine or hand saw over a laser cutter and I think that shows through in my work when the pieces are finished. So although I will acquiesce to using some mechanized processes I don't think I will ever give up the fun, frustration, and weariness that comes from working by my own physical power.

The 2 extra large (2" x 11") copper cuffs I am currently working on complete with hammer I am using, resting on my pounding block.

Not much to say today so here are some pictures of pretty things :)
The 'stone' in this ring is Blue Paua Shell. The ring is sterling silver with a half round band for comfort.

Anam Ogham Necklace
Anam is Irish Gaelic for Soul. This one was hand cut in copper. That is one of my gargoyle friends peeking out in the background.

Encircled Moon Phase Necklace.
So often in moon phase jewelry the new moon is left out. I feel the new moon is an important phase as well so made sure to include it when working up this design. It is also hand cut in copper. This is also the first of the smaller size for this design at 1" rather than 2".

Hammered Ring with a Twist
This design was actually one of my happy accidents. I was making sterling braided rings out of 16 gauge wire and mis-measured when cutting the stock wire into 3 equal parts for braiding. I ended up with one piece that was much shorter than the other two. So having 2 pieces of 4 inch wire I thought what would happen if I twisted them together, made a ring, and hammered it out. Well this was the result. I am very pleased with it and have continued making them on purpose.

Well I guess I had more to say than I thought!

Abstract Play

I decided to play around with abstract designs the other day. Instead of melting down the odds and ends pieces of metal that have been collecting on my work bench for casting I chose some of the interesting shapes and set to playing. After a little bit of refining to their shapes I set to hammering and forming bails. The results were some beautiful new copper pendants. They are already listed in my etsy.com shop.

Latest Finished Pieces

I finished up 2 custom orders this week.

Buan (permanent)

This piece was created for a woman who wanted a special gift for the love of her life. We considered several different words and found the perfect word to describe their relationship was "Buan" which is Gaelic for permanent, (effort) sustained, unfailing, lasting, durable, long. She was looking for a word that would express that they could last through whatever was thrown their way.

The second custom piece was a 2 word necklace.

Cridhe Treubh

Cridhe Treubn means Heart Kin in Scottish Gaelic. These were the first Ogham pendants that I cut with 2 words. Thankfully I was able to make them without the piece getting too long. If it had been any longer I would have had to adjust the layout of the piece putting the words next to each other rather than both on the center line which is traditional for Ogham writing.

I also took a break from piercing and polished up a few rings that were just begging me to finish them. A few hammered copper bands and a sterling braided band.