Delicate gold pendant

Gold is just delicious, isn’t it? The warmth of the metal, especially in contrast to something cooler, such as silver or diamonds is just so sumptuous. Lately, I have had the opportunity to work a bit more with gold, as a number of my customers have brought me gold to be reforged.


This time it was a very simple and, to be honest, rather ugly pendant in a lovely, slender snake chain. It was rectangular with 5 little bowls in it, each holding one diamond. The pendant was made of 14k gold and had diamonds – that was the good part. The shape was uninspired, to be friendly. This is when I should show you a before picture and doh… I didn’t make one. Then at least I should show you process pictures and again… I didn’t make them.

So, to be quick about this, before showing you the end result, this is what I did: I pulled out the diamonds and cast the gold into a stick. I rolled and drew it down to 1,5 mm wire and then I created “the usual” Karin-curly-pendant, this time with balls holding 3 of the diamonds and a facet cut drop of clear quartz.

The result I absolutely loved!

A blacksmith came by

Recently, my gallery has gained a new acquaintance. His name is Kasper, and he does iron age blacksmithing! Now, obviously, without a furnace, he couldn’t work within his trait, but he circled my grandfathers old ambos with a lot of love and asked how silver reacted to being forged. Now, I don’t do MUCH forging – I flatten out wires to achieve that elegant whiplash effect that I always aim for, but apart from that… not so much. At some point I have tried to stretch a piece of silver to become thinner – and failed, wondering how on earth that is done. I can now report that I know!

 

So, Kasper was given a piece of silver – roughly 6x30 mm and 2 mm thick to play around with.

Kasper has never worked with silver and never so small, so to him it was a real challenge. He had to use far smaller hammers and pliers than usual and get a lot closer. Then again – since the metal isn’t hot when being forged, it’s a lot safer.

And so of he set, creating his specialty: the woman’s knife. It’s a very beautiful tool that every woman who was worth anything, was carrying. He learned a lot about silver and I learned a lot about forging – and also what some of those weird tools that came along with grandfathers anvil was for.

And here we are: a tiny, 3 cm long silver iron age knife, oxidized to get that original, dark look.

Here you see how tiny it is compared with the originals, which are approximately 12 cm long.

I think it’s VERY beautiful, and have suggested that he starts producing more of those knifes – both the real-size in iron and the small silvery one for pendants and sell them on Etsy and Amio. I think he will, eventually, so keep a lookout for Danish iron age knives

Jewelry gallery –now with homepage!

My gallery has been in office for a month and it has been paramount to me to give it a virtual home too. With the help of my good friend Michael, I have been building and building and now it’s done: http://www.gallericastens.dk/ . Take a look at it and especially the amazing artists who have their work exhibited here too!


And haven’t I been working at my bench at all while the homepage came into being? Of cause – I have to ;-) Amongst others I decided to do a light version of an older design – the fairy flower, made of oxidized silver with gold leaf, a peridot and a light amethyst.

Here is the new version made of bright polished silver, a wire of 14k gold, a peridot (again) and a pearl. Both are beautiful I think – can’t decide which one is my favourite…

Feeling secure

So, I’m all set up in my brand new gallery, which I took over from a goldsmith – with all security measures in place. Tonight I got it tested – not by a burglar, but by accident and myself, which was a very ensuring experience! I had forgotten my mobile in the gallery and after having visited a friend swung by to pick it up. My gallery has roll-down bars in front of all windows, cameras, sensors, you name it, and all hooked up to an alarm central, which I pay for (dearly) every month.

I thought I could just disconnect the alarm, roll up the bars, run in and fetch the phone and out again. Not so – of cause. The second the alarm went off, the company called me to find out if I were the source or if they should get out full force. I called them off and thanked them - and was mightily impressed. THAT was a very fast reaction indeed! So now I pay my monthly fees happily, very sure that my and my commissionaires’ jewelry is very safe indeed…

So, I carry on creating increasingly valuable jewelry with a calm heart. Here are some of the latest beauties from Gallery Castens:

Envy my anvil!

My grandfather was a blacksmith. I remember seeing him in his workshop, shaping red glowing iron on his anvil. Ding, ding, ding, dingdididing it said, as he hammered away. The “dingdididing” was the “cool off” blow he did on the anvil itself after 3 strokes on the item to be shaped. It had a very peculiar, forceful, yet almost meditative rhythm to it.

15 years ago my grandfather died and my parents couldn’t bear to part with this strong symbol of him, so they stored the anvil in their moist garage where it waited for better times while getting more and more rusty. Then a few months ago I realized, that I could really use and anvil and started searching for one online – until it struck me: Grandfathers anvil! Wonder if it’s still in my parents’ garage? It was. However, obviously iron and moisture aren’t the best of friends, and so it looked like this:

A closer look confirmed the ridiculous weight of it: 103,5 kilos!

I needed the anvil for my work, and so of cause needed a good surface to work on, so I had to start grinding. I’m okay with the rust – it tells a story, is the patina of this old tool, but I needed to create a workable surface. Hence I decided to grind away the rust entirely from the tip of the horn and a corner of the horizontal working area, lightly polish the rest of said working area and leave the rest of the anvil as I found it. It took two hours, a fairly sore back and humming nerve ends in my hands to just achieve that goal. I shudder to think of how much time it would have consumed to clean out the entire anvil!

And then it moved in – 103,5 kilos worth of anvil plus roughly half the weight for the old stub it rests on. It has most of its dents, caused by my Grandfathers blows, still visible and it’s shiny and new in some parts – ready to receive my own blows and dents and so mix his and my passion for shaping metal.

Thank you Grandfather. I will cherish your tool and use it to the best of my abilities!

Chaos before dawn

They say it’s got to be bad before it gets good. I believe that. Currently my studio-shop is in an utter state of chaos and it’s hard to keep faith that it will get well in the end.

However I do have faith and we are nearing said end. Glazed cabinets are almost done, I’m gilding the frames for them, which takes roughly 2 hours per piece and is a pain in the tush. All the glas shelves for the windows will arrive today or tomorrow and then I'll have to tackle my grandfathers anvil, which is extremely rusty-red at the moment. So… we’re getting there and I think apart from a few small things I'll be in place  by the end of this week. But boy there are many details that must fall into place! Don’t do this at home kids – or at least: have a good buffer of time, money and understanding and helpful friends.

Luckily I do and I consider myself blessed for it. By the 18th of June I will have to be done, because then I’m having an opening reception for anyone who wants to join, so the deadline is ticking…

Looking over the shoulders of the tattooing artists

I admit it: I watch LA Ink. I’m fascinated by this show! I don’t have a tattoo, and even though I want one and will also have it made at some point, I could never go to the extremes that these people do. But that is also why I’m so fascinated by them. They take it to the max, and then some. These people make a living by their own creativity and are a fantastic combination of artists and craftsmen/women.

 

When I saw their sketching technique I was immediately intrigued: First they draw a very loose sketch with many lines, correcting themselves over and over with a colored pencil. And then they put tissue paper over it and make the “real” sketch, which of cause comes out way neater. But actually I like the combination. The moment where you see both versions lined up – the rough, very alive and growing sketch and the finished drawing that picks up all the best lines and details and crystallizes them into the best possible version.

I want that too! I said to myself, and took it as an excuse to visit my favorite paper/pen/architecture-model-material shop and went wild buying different green pens (yup, you guessed it – green is my favorite color ;-) plus a fresh black one.

The next day, I had got a custom order for a ring featuring an amazing deeply green tourmaline, set in gold and a few white sapphires. What a perfect opportunity to test my new technique! So, here we are: the many versions of the ring she wanted:

We settled on the two with the crosses. That is, she gave me free hands to decide the last details as I went along, since sometimes the pieces develop differently when you actually create it. Now I just need to order the gold to get started – I can’t wait :-)

Inspiration or theft?

The cynics claim that everything has already been made at least once. There are no truly new designs and so all of us somehow copy each other. I’m not sure that is the case, but fact is, that we of cause are influenced by many things in our surroundings and work from there. Quite often we see something and go “hmmm… great idea, but if I were to make this I would have….” Now, if you venture into that version of designing –are you a thief or do you actually create something new?

These are the thoughts I have battled as I worked on my newest pair of earrings. I saw this gorgeous pair by the very talented jewelry designer Hikarujewels (I don’t know her real name, but that is the name of her shop at Etsy)

See how gracefully the chains somehow make the wings move? I loved the idea, but wanted to make it even more fairytalish with curls (of cause) and more stones. So I created these:

As you can see, those two pairs are quite close.  Sure the wings have a different design, chains are placed a tad differently and there are way more stones, but still –basically my earrings are the same as Hikarus. So am I a copy cat or do I just humbly honor Hikaru by elaboration on her design?

A stubborn heart

Valentines is just around the corner and I’m creating jewelry with hearts – of cause. I have made a number of dainty little beauties which are neat, but I got the urge to create something bigger and a tad different. I love jewelry with details on the back or other little secrets that only the bearer knows of. And so I set out to create a locket-style necklace –or rather a kind of silver folder, which means HINGE. It’s been a few years since I made a locket and it’s difficult – you easily end up soldering everything together. However, I had chosen a simplified way of hinging the thing and arrogantly thought that it would be a walk in the park. Little did I know, that I was to embark on hours and hours of frustration where everything that could go wrong did go wrong.

But first I created the bezel for the garnet cap, sawed out the front heart and the back and the pieces of tubing I needed for the hinge. I was planning on letting the hinge double as a bezel, creating a fairly simple design.

And then onto soldering………………………….. it all together :-(

Looks neat, right? What you don’t see is that all parts are very much sticking together, not letting anything move whatsoever! I swore loudly and trampled around the workshop before sitting down and unsoldering it. I hate unsoldering. It’s messy, much more cleanup-time and just not very satisfying. It all stuck because I didn’t use any kind of block. I could also have used another cool technique which one of my fellow Etsyans advised me of using hard solder to JUST forming a ball, then carefully taking it apart and soldering it with medium solder, not allowing the hard one to melt too, but to allow it to keep everything in place.

So, what now? Well, I soldered the middle part of the hinge back onto the back part (cleanup) and though that I could just use this part as a guide when placing the tubes of the upper part and then remove the back part when the flux had crystallized and was holding things in place. So though, so I did and here is the result:

OF CAUSE it doesn’t fit! The tubes are flush with the base they have been soldered on –which is too “high” Doh! More swearing and trampling –actually I gave up that day. Next day I braced myself and thought “I’d be damned if this piece will have me –I’ll show it who’s in charge” and came up with another solution: I found a piece of copper of the same thickness as the back plate silver sheet and slipped it under the front heart –staying far away from the hinge parts of cause. Again using the back part as a guide, I now succeeded in soldering the tubes on in the position they ought to have. See!

And the hinge works!

Now for a LOOOOONG time of cleanup and sanding –and then more sanding when it turned out that I had of cause created fire scale during the battle – and then finally for the decoration. I wanted a few words of love on the inside, for the bearer only to know, and a scrollwork decoration on the outer layer, plus a little 14 carat golden heart that I had sawed out and domed. Here you see how I again used the copper sheet to stabilize IF the hinges would in any way think of moving while I was soldering on the heart.

Final cleanup, then LOS and a finishing polish and I was ready to set the cab and string it to the burgundry leather cord. And here it is –tadaaaaaa!

It was a struggle, but I am actually quite satisfied with the outcome! Now I guess I should be creating another little folder while I remember how ;-)

Big girls love power tools!

It’s just been my birthday and my family and boyfriend took pity in me and together bought me a Foredom flex shaft instead of my Dremel. “What’s wrong with your Dremel?” you may ask, eyeing your own version. Well, mine had a minimum speed of 10.000, which meant that it was WAY too fast to remove any metal with for instance a setting burr or any drill. It just went dull :-( AND I missed a foot pedal –so much more convenient!

Due to it’s fast action, it was also almost impossible to control and even when concentrating real hard, I could never write something nicely with it –it just slipped away. It was decent, but I wasn’t satisfied. This pendant for instance:

It can be argued that it’s a coarse style – I know it’s not prettier because I was unable with my current tool, which is just so not satisfying. So I caved in and decided to buy another machine (girls can’t have too many power tools ;-) After discussing the topic on my favorite forum with my fellow metal smith Etsyians (thank you CG), I decided to go for a Foredom –the Volvo of flex shafts.

Last Friday, the day arrived, when we went to my favorite dealer “Ravstedhus” in Southern Jutland (paradise to ppl like me) and shopped:

1 Foredom SR Flex shaft

1 Hand piece with interchangeable cuffs

1 Tube cutter

1 Besel block for round bezels

Plus a few materials, now I was there.

Happy happy me!

And here is the box of goodies this morning, ready to be installed in my workshop:

Pretty soon I had exchanged the Dremel with the Foredom

And did a testrun:

Compare to the talisman, if you please –it’s a huge difference for a first try!

And so I immediately set out to cut some amber, which I haven’t done for ages. Am planning on a quite weird ring themed “octopus”. Let’s see how it turns out, but I tell you: Working with the Foredom is bliss! Wish I had done that ages ago…

Don’t work too long -or shit happens!

This is the sad story of what happens if you get stubborn and work too long and until too late. There is a happy end though!

I had set out to create an open ring with 3 branches, carrying a flower, a large bezel set stone and a butterfly. It’s winter, so I’m dreaming about the warm summer days and hence chose a large citrine, a juicy green peridot and some warm gold to set off the silver.

Here the bezel is about done, the ring shank is roughly there, I have cut the flower from a piece of 1 mm sheet and I’ve happily laid out the stones that I was considering to use: A large, dark citrine, lucious peridots and perhaps a few yellow sapphires for good measure:

At this stage I wasn't entirely setteled on the finished design and kept myself open to changing the design I had in mind as I went. This is how I usually work and the result is usually quite good. Then I domed the flower, shaped the bezel conically and soldered it together.

After attaching the butterfly and filing off all surfaces of the ring shank, I soldered in the 5 little golden balls and set the peridot in the flower. Then I started setting the lovely citrine. And then disaster struck! I hadn’t filed the walls of the bezel thin enough, had to apply too much pressure to fit it over the stone – and BROKE it! I was almost crying! This stone was so special and I had saved it up for an equally special design :-(

Okay… after a few deep breaths and looking at the clock – I had now spent 13 hours in the workshop (yes, creating other stuff too) and it was 10 in the evening, I decided for a plan B: I cut off the upper brim of the bezel, freeing the damaged stone and filed it flush. Then I found a new stone, slightly smaller. I happened to have a light amethyst that would fit, so I cut new shoulders for it in the now smaller bezel. This time I didn’t want to make the same mistake and filed the sides very thin to make sure that the setting would be easy. Alas, I filed away too much, which became evident when I pushed the bezel over the stone – a crack formed along the edge, leaving the stone to rattle around. Now I was seriously almost crying!

But I just refused to let all this work being in vain, so I took a few pictures to remember the design:

And then I cut off the entire branch holding that unfortunate bezel. I smoothed the cut out to invisibility and repositioned the butterfly.

It’s a completely different ring, but after the initial disappointment, I started to value it for its own beauty. It’s simpler and the butterfly gets to play a more distinct role. When you wear the ring, the butterfly is hovering about 5 mm above your hand, while the flower appears to be nestled between two fingers opposite. I’m happy with it, but I will most definitely create a new version of the 3-branched original design, since it was more sumptuous –and I love sumptuous *grin*

And THEN to bed!!!

Art nouveau butterflies

Noone who has seen my work can be in doubt about my style-preference: I just adore the soft, biomorph whiplash lines of art nouveau. especially the french version like my absolute hero Lalique

http://www.cristallalique.fr/v2/english.html

So of cause I delve into one of the most cherished motifs of art nouveau: the butterfly. here is a brooch I made some time ago:

It has, as most of my brooches, an interesting backside:

It's Danish (of cause) and means "or am I awake?" Obviously intending the sentence "Am I dreaming?" in front of it. See more pics here

Recently I created these lovely earrings, a somewhat more contemporary take at the art nouveau butterfly, but still very nice I think:

More pics here

I have fallen in love with the combination of soft curves and a coarse structure, set off with precious stones. This one I'll explore a bit more I think -perhaps experiemnt with the ken boo guilding on the front? And definately other stones too - I have some lovely amethysts that would be stunning!

Butterflies FTW!

My top-professional photo studio

I have been frustrated for long.

I create great jewelry, but the pictures I make of it just doesn't do it justice! My x husband, who is a very gifted amateur photographer used to take the pictures and they were great. Look at this one!

But even though he's the best, I still don't want to beg him to take pictures every other day. So, I needed to come up with a solution that I could handle myself.

I have followed the advice of taking pictures in daylight, but honestly: winter in Denmark is VERY dark, even at noon. The result was dull pictures :-( By accident (while browsing on Flicr) I stumbeled on an instruction in taking great pictures of jewelry and from there how to create the right setup. Next thing I knew, I was buying the following:

1 cardboard-box (foldable)
1 roll of gaffa tape
1 white pillow-case
1 500 W halogen work lamp
1 sheet of white cardboard

Sounds utterly professional, right?

Well, I cut out the sides of the cardboard box, covered them with the white fabric from the pillow case (using the gaffa tape), put in the white cardboard and set up the lamp outside of it. Adding an additional and smaller halogen lamp in front of the open box, I all of a sudden had created an environment with light enough to take a lot better pictures! Here is what it looks like:

And a close-up on the "stage":

So what's the big difference?

Lots of light which creates this dreamy and sumptuous ambience. Take a look at these two before and after pictures and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Before:

After:

Obviously it also helps to try o push your camera to perform its best (still haven't tweaked everything possible with mine I think) but I'm afraid that I'll have to invest in a better camera some day. Thing is, I have a pocket camera. A very decent one from Canon, granted, but still - it just can't handle a few things and it's impossible to entirely circumvent the auto functions. Especially focusing on shiny objects is seemingly tough -fairly annoying when the item to be photographed is shiny jewelry.

But no matter what: I love my new setup and truly believe that my pictures have increased in quality - and hence also convey the quality of the jewelry. Now it's "just" taking all those pictures, cutting them in Photoshop and re-uploading them instead of the old ones. That will take some time. Oh well... :-D