Etching Copper And Brass

This was an experiment I tried not long ago. The idea being to make sheets of copper or brass with decorative designs etched into the metal.

I decided to try rubber stamps, ink and heat gun set embossing powder and stamp directly on the metal. Using the ink and melted powder as a resist. I knew it would have to be a positive negative stamp. Meaning there could be no shaded areas at all in the design. Then I used Ferric Chloride to etch the metal. I bought the Ferric Chloride at Radio Shack. Apparently there is some use for that chemical for working on computers. This is not like using some dangerous etching solution like Nitric Acid which has to be used on sterling silver to do the same thing.

It took about 30 minutes to get the etch as deep as I wanted it to be. Then I wanted to know how far I could stretch the etched sheets before the design started to distort. So I decided to die form the etched sheets. This one into a shield shape reflecting the medieval theme of the rubber stamps. This was not intended to be a serious piece, it was just a test.

I can see lots of possibilities for miniature use but I will have to have the rubber stamps made so the designs are in scale.

Ladies English Riding Boots

Please click on photos to enlarge them.

My last post inspired me to make these English riding boots yesterday. Actually, I already had it in mind and had ordered the leather quite awhile ago.

The leather is very smooth and very thin. Still I had to use a razor blade scraper I bought at a leather shop to make it even thinner. The first thing that had to be made was the polymer clay shoe forms so the leather could be stretched and formed over them. There is a right and left form but a separate one for the calf of the boot.

I am really pretty happy with the results. They are not stiff they are as soft as leather gloves are.

Getting There Little By Little

I have gotten the rest of my order from Bill Helmer (IGMA Fellow). It is three beautiful Elephant Ivory bowls. The source is legal and obtained from old pieces. The bad news is it cannot be shipped to other countries from the USA. However his Wooly Mammoth Ivory pieces can be. Mammoth Ivory is much harder to get he tells me and I like it as much if not more.

The big bowl I hope to use for a fruit arrangement. I thought the tiny bowls would be good accessory pieces on dark furniture. Those little bowls are close to being egg shell thin.

Finally I found a teapot on Ebay that would be nice with the china I bought twenty years ago. So in celebration, I cast eight place settings of the Chrysnbon flatware in 14 Karat gold. Which is a better match then silver for my china anyway. Those are two of the Chrysnbon 14K gold teaspoons in the photo.

Obadiah Fisher's Miniature Silver Work

I don't think anything is as beautiful as polished metal. ;-) I suppose that had some part in the reason I became a metalsmith. Also nothing looks so nasty as badly tarnished silver. So now you may ask why am I showing you these pieces. Hopefully, you will look beyond the state they are in, to see what I think was the finest work in miniature silver that has ever been done.

Obadiah was a friend. It has been many years since I have spoken to him. I can't find anything on the Internet about any recent work made by him. If anyone knows what happened to him I hope you will let me know. I hope you enjoy seeing his work.

Mail Today From Colin Bird

Please forgive the temporary set up for this photo. I wanted the furniture to show up in the picture.

I have made and collected lots of things for a bedroom and a kitchen. Now I am working on making and collecting things for the living room.

This lovely high back Windsor chair arrived today from Colin Bird. I am so pleased to have it. To say it exceeded my expectations is an understatement. Colin's skills are everything they were reported to be. He is a true master! I certainly will be ordering from him again soon.

I made the brass lamp, Frank Whittemore made the blue glass shades and hurricanes for it. The glass is a much prettier color than it appears in this shot. It is a royal deep blue. The little violets on the stool were stitched on 60 count silk gauze.

Making More Copperware

Oooh...Someone has been using the knife and strainer I made to make lemonade!

These are some copper pans I made plus a rack. I am not sure I want to use the rack in my dollhouse, this is just a temporary set up. It will depend on how I design the kitchen. I have also been making some bigger covered pots and doing some Chasing and Repoussé on them. Long ago I saw some "real" size Italian kitchen copperware that had a lot of this kind of work on it. So I have a fish poaching pan that I have been working on that has a fish in relief on either side and sort of a tiered lid with a design on each of the three tiers graduating down in concentric ovals.

It is sort of funny that most of us want to see some age on our furniture, house, roof tops and so on but everyone wants their copper gleaming with a brilliant polish.

The Winner Is...

Congratulations Linda of Une Petite Folie!!! "Buttons" is a very lucky dog to be going to such a fine home.

I decided over a week ago I didn't want to do the drawing myself. I asked my neighbors (Mr. & Mrs. Evans) if they would do the honors. Mr. Evans stirred and stirred the little pieces of paper in the bowl this morning before he pulled one out.

Thank you all for participating. I appreciate all of your visits, kind words and contributions to my blog.