Art studio on the cheap.....vol.2 Torching on a budget

my ghetto metal smithing set up. ceramic tile, paver, worn out tweezers and home made earth-friendly pickle all on my kitchen range.

Today, in Art Studio on the Cheap we're talking about a cheap torch setup.

Yesterday, one of my jewelry peeps posted a funny update on Facebook about her fear of soldering. I commented with a reference to Stephanie Lee's Homesteader's metal class and semiprecious salvage book of whom/which I am a big fan. I facetiously called what I do not even homesteader's metalsmithing, more like ghetto metalsmithing...so I thought I would show you my ghetto metalsmithing set up. This is a great set up for those just beginning or with limited space who want to whet their appetite before investing into a larger setup.

When I was in college, I took two basic metals classes. The professor I took for both, who was a former Buddhist monk (just an interesting side note there) advised us once, when we were complaining about wanting to continue our metals studies but without being jewelry majors, we wouldn't have access to the studio if we weren't enrolled in a class. He told us a very simple setup could be obtained in one's own kitchen.

Okay: here is the disclaimer to this post. Please don't take what I am saying as gospel, because I'm not an expert. Please wear safety goggles when torching and remove basically anything that might catch fire in the immediate area. Tie back long hair and pull back long sleeves and wear normal clothing that won't get caught or in the way. This isn't the time to be wearing flippy-floppies and loose fitting shifts. Save that for the beach. Please be safe, you're using fire and heating metal to a red hot state. This is nothing to fool with people. Use this tutorial at your own risk and safety.

When you torch, you need several things:

1) your torch. I use both a simple propane unit obtained at any hardware store with disposable propane tanks or a butane micro torch (kitchen model).

2) A kitchen range with an exhaust hood. This is essential for propane because the flame produces carbon monoxide, which is toxic and can kill you and you need lots of venting. I usually also open the window too if I'm involved in a lot of torching that day. If I'm just doing a couple of headpins or annealing a small piece, I just turn on the range exhaust on high.

Alternatively, you could do this outside or in an open garage or carport. Save it for a day when it's not too windy. Wind isn't good for torching. Remember, fresh air is good when working with gases.

3) You will need a fire safe surface as well as a fire resistent surface. There are lots of commercial firing surfaces. I bought a paver at Home Depot for 43 cents (the torching I do doesn't require much heat, I mostly just anneal metal and make headpins) and I grabbed a piece of tile left over from when the kitchen was tiled as the fire resistent surface. DO NOT use ceramic tile for torching. It will take a bit of warmth but will EXPLODE if you torch on it. The tile will act as your work surface and the paver or torch brick will act as your torching surface. This is a cool setup because you can move it when your done and make dinner. :)

4)Pick a spot on your kitchen range and/or surface to light your torch and make that the spot where you will always light and turn off your torch. You are in a living space that probably has cabinets and other flammable objects nearby. Form an early habit of always lighting the torch in the same spot, away from cabinets and flammable things. Remember this is a hot flame, people, you need to respect it.

5)ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS clean your torching area BEFORE and AFTER you torch. I mean like you would lick it like a lollipop clean. This is easy for me because I keep an immaculate kitchen, but if you fried fish last night and haven't cleaned your range, you could be headed to a full on 5-alarm fire. When you're torching, you're often using flux which contain nasty chemicals that you probably don't want to eat. Keep it that way. CLEAN BEFORE AND AFTER.

6) A bowl of water to quench your metal pieces.

Like I mentioned above, this is ghetto metalsmithing. If you've never worked with a torch before, you should take a class someplace local first. Don't do this if you've never used a torch before. But if you've taken a class or two, and don't have a setup at home, this is a very good way to start, especially if you have limited financial resources.

I also make a home made metal pickle. This is a great recipe for kitchen metal torching, because there are no nasty chemicals to mix up. I use a recipe of 1 Tablespoon natural (pickling) salt to 1 Cup distilled white vinegar heated up in a microwave safe container. That is in the picture above but it needs to be changed. It shouldn't be blue. That is a result of putting a verdigris patinated copper piece in the pickle after the fact. When I'm ready to torch, I put the pickle in the microwave for about 3 minutes to heat it up, do my torching (making sure to quench my pieces) and throw them in the pickle. Make sure you rinse them with water after you remove them from the pickle or else you will get a green verdigris finish (on copper) hence the blue pickle above. :) My pickle is blue because I threw the ones I forgot to rinse back in.....

So, I hope this helps those out there who want to make some headpins or anneal a piece without fear that you need to invest in a $1000 torch area. This serves me very well doing simple annealing of copper, brass and sterling and making sterling and copper headpins. All for about $25 or less if you can scavenge some things around the house!

A project for this week...

I've been finishing a stack of beads that I made earlier this week and am beginning to upload them to the shop. One of the projects on my to do list has been to find the right background set up that is neutral enough to accommodate several different styles and is also portable. In the past, I've used ceramic tiles, a rusty old white chair, and a worn out table. I never dug the way the photos looked on the tile, and the rusty chair and worn out table weren't portable in that they stayed outside all the time so if there was rain, it made it difficult to shoot photos.

The worn out table is getting really worn out. The other day, I tried to drag it into better light and one of the legs began to crumble away so I decided it was finally time to come up with a more permanent solution.

I pondered all of the different solutions: nice scrapbook paper, my stash of handmade paper, old books etc. but I really wanted something that was mine all mine, and differentiated my work from other's work out there, especially in the glut of mixed media work that is on Etsy already.

So, I decided to paint my own background.

I painted 2 base pieces for shooting pieces flat. Then I also painted several small blocks to match that I could stack and get a bit of height for laying out finished pieces or leaning pendants.





I painted to base pieces so that there was extra room to butt them together if I needed more space or alternatively, I can prop one up to make a wall behind if need be.



I'm really pleased with how the first batch of shots turned out and I'm digging the finish I put on them. I feel like the careful consideration and all the trial and error up to this point was worth it.



*Little tip, make sure you use a matte paint or else you'll still get a glare. Use decorator acrylics, or if you're using nice acrylics, mix in a bit of cheap craft store acrylic to matte it down a bit.

There are some new things in the shop today and a few more over the next couple days to come as well. Be sure subscribe to my RSS feed on Etsy to stay up to date or become my friend on Facebook.

Weekend project

I've been out of business cards since.....October?

And I really want to do a redesign and eventually I'd like to pay someone to do the whole she-bang for me complete with etsy banners, blog headers, avatars, cards, stickers....the whole shebang.

So I didn't want to print anymore but it's getting a little ridiculous so I spent Saturday afternoon coming up with something suitable for the interim.

I've recently had come into my possession sick printer....and I've been trying to use up this stack of really nice cardstock I bought when I worked for a printing company ummmm....a loonnnng time ago.


So, I decided in the mean time...I would print my own until I use that cardstock up.

I designed them in photoshop.

Simple design and a take off my old cards but with updated colors.


So here's the easy version:

To start:

1) I created one file the size of the finished business card - 2" x 3.5"

2) I laid everything out and saved the original. Then I flattened the image and saved it as a .jpg

3) Then I created a new document letter size -8.5" x 11" and used the guides to create a grid (insert basic math skills here) and copy a pasted my .jpg image onto the grid. I can fit 10 cards on a letter size sheet but I have to trim them out.

This is what that file looks like:



4)Print out and cut on a paper cutter.

Here's the photo that will go in my Etsy listings:



Interesting side note/tip about cutting:
You want to set yourself up a little system so all the cards come out square and straight and all the right size. so 10 cards centered on a sheet will leave you with a border of .75" on the left and right and 1/2" on the top and bottom. So I trim that off first and then cut the main vertical. Then you can trim the long strips of 5 cards down into individuals. I sort of make notes of where I'm cutting on the grid of the paper cutter so I can cut faster and more methodically. It's actually sort of zen...

I know that's kind of hard to picture but if you want I can try to do a tutorial on the cutting thing. What do you think?

Why estate sales rock.....

.....because seriously. The lady whose estate this was used to make jewelry & specifically at one point was very into enameling so there was an entire old tool box FULL of copper stampings!!!!!!



Man I scored the mother load! I also got a rack of old lace trim...I don't think I'll keep the rack. I don't have the space for it but whoah....all that copper would have set me back mucho dinero.



It isn't fair to horde it all to myself so I think I'll do a little giveaway in a few days to spread the love....


Aloha,
b.

Art studio on the cheap.....vol.1

one my my many glass palettes.


Well, now we should all be in the swing of 2011 and I am at it as well, cleaning and reorganizing the studio and office (and the house!). After several long car rides and an impromptu trip to the ER (herrroooo kidney stone, where did you come from???) I am in full swing and ready to meet 2011 head on.

I have a love/hate relationship with the craft store. While there are sooooo many awesome things to behold, I get aggravated by the ploys to cash in on an ordinary thing.

So, I'm going to try and post some cool projects along the way to help you get some useful tools in your studio on the cheap.

Project #1: the studio palette

Mission: This palette is a great tool for the crafty maven to have around the studio. If you're an all around crafty person, you will find multiple ways to use this. Painting, polymer clay, etc. Customize the size for your own purposes or make several for different uses.

Supplies:
glass, cut to the size you want (I use old glass from picture frames scavenged from dollar stores, garage sales, and curb side)

foam board (I get nice sheets at the dollar store!)

wide tape (duct, masking, artist, even packing tape will work in a pinch)

paint scraper & razor blades (usually available in the same pkg. at the hardware store for $1/$2


Instructions:

1) measure your glass.

2) cut your foam board approx 3/8" larger on the length and width than the size of your glass. i.e. if your glass is 9" x 12" cut your foam board 9 3/8" x 12 3/8". This will give your glass a slight cushion to prevent it from cracking if dropped or bumped.

3) Center your glass on top of the foam board and use wide tape to wrap the edges.

4) Voila! A reusable palette. Squirt paint on it and go to town! Use your paint scraper to clean the palette when it gets dirty!

Works great with glue, hot glue, paint, or as a surface/palette for polymer clay as well!