Black and Gold

Egg shaped Faux Bone, black alcohol ink and gold leaf (imitation), not quite finished yet.  Needs a bit more work on the coloration.  The usual tube bail on the reverse.

I seethe blog has a new follower.  Welcome!

Sorry, little bit of a hurry to get this posted.  Maybe have a meatier blog entry next week.

Faux Bone Leaves

Pictured, leaf forms made from 1/16" Faux Bone with half-drilled Swarovski crystal pearls.  Colored with Ranger Adirondack alcohol inks.  I used five different ink colors, plus tiny, random dabs of gold mixative.  Applied with the generally used standard dauber for this brand of ink.  According to conventional wisdom, one should not reuse the dauber.  I found this to not be true, at least in applying
ink on these and several leaves which are in the process of completion.  The same application of ink is used on the reverse side.  One leaf is made as a pendant, the other as a brooch.

Next post, more Faux Bone, new project.

Segmented Faux Bone Pendant and a Bail

This pendant presented a host of problems.  There were some trial and error pieces before the above came about.

I put two pieces of Faux Bone together with double-sided tape and sanded the top side and bottom to remove the shiny surface,  (the top is 1/16" and the bottom is 1/8"). I turned the bottom side up and using a circle template, and a 5 mm lead pencil, I drew the outer circle and then the inner one, making a washer shape. Then I roughly divided the washer into uneven thirds.  I wanted the end result to have three segments of unequal size in length.

To keep from smearing the drawing during sawing, I sprayed it with PYM II.

I sawed out the outer circle, filed away the saw marks, keeping the sides straight up and down, and then separated the two pieces.

I drilled an access hole for the saw blade into the inner circle and sawed this out.  Then I sawed out the segments.  I wanted a gap between each segment, so these had to have a bit sawn off one end.  Then removed the saw marks and sanded the top of the segments. I roughly reassembled the segments and colored them with different colored alcohol inks.  The inner edges were colored gold using a gold leaf pen.  I also colored the inside of the bottom disc and drilled a hole in the center with a No.67 drill bit for the 20 gauge wire which will form the post for the half-drilled Swarovski pearl.

The bail.  Previously, I had to figure out how to make a bail for the pendant.  After fiddling around with this and that,  here is what I came up with:

A short, bent piece of 1/8" outside diameter copper tube held by two 20 gauge wire staples, ends riveted on the other side.

Now to assemble the pendant.  Each segment piece was attached, one at time, with 20 gauge wire rivets, done on at a time.  To hold a segment in place while drilling and riveting, I used the Speetog plier/clamp.  These can be hard to find, but anyone can make a serviceable plier by purchasing a mini vise-grip or similar plier and padding the jaws with strips of leather held on with super glue.

Once the segments were attached, the pearl was placed on its post with one small drop of super glue.  Oops!  I'm not supposed to say "g__e." I'm supposed to say something like "Industrial Strength Adhesive."

Then, lastly the outer edge was colored as the inner edges were.

Something a little different coming next weekend.  Still more Faux Bone and Alcohol inks and half-drilled Swarovski pearls.  Stay tuned.

Faux Bone Pendant

A Faux Bone pendant.  The purple field looked pretty good a first, but I decided that it needed some help.  I put a half-drilled  Swarovski cabochon pearl in the field and that improved the appearance.  I also added a few brush strokes of pearl.  Whether that was a good idea, I don't know.  Maybe yes, maybe no.

Lighting conditions certainly not the same.

I don't know why, but I sort of like the half-drilled pearls.  Of course, these are not real pearls.  They only have the appearance of a pearl.  And, they come in a variety of colors.  Hard to find, though.

 I use this method to fasten the pearl.  First, I ball the end of a short piece of 20 gauge copper wire. I don't bother to pickle or remove any fire scale.  It's all going to be hidden anyway, except on the backside of the piece and that will be taken care of later.

Next, I insert the wire into a riveting block, that funny looking hexagonal steel block with different sized holes and slots, and hammer down the balled end, flattening it into a nail head rivet.

After removing the rivet from the block, I file the head to make it thinner, and it brightens up the end.

Then, drill a hole in the Faux Bone where the pearl will go, and chamfer the outside part of the hole with the point of a triangular scraper.  This because under the rivet head there will most likely be a tapered portion, left over from the original ball. Chamfering make a tapered opening and the rivet will sit flat against the back.

I file the other end of the rivet to remove any bur and actually file a bit of a sharp point so the wire will easily go through the hole, place the piece on the bench block and tap the rivet head flat on the back.

Having previously tested the hole depth in the pearl (1/8"),  I clip the wire to that length, file the end a bit, and put one tiny drop of Zap-a-Gap adhesive on the wire and quickly pop the pearl on wire, and let dry.  Although this adhesive sets up very quickly, I let it dry for 24 hours before continuing to work on the piece.  

Next week's blog entry will detail the process of making a bail for the stringing and a different sort of pendant, my magnificent (ha ha) segmented pendant!  I just know you can't bear to wait for it.  Chuckle, chuckle.