March 2011
23 posts
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Acid Etched Warhol Banana
A customer asked for a banana pendant as a gift for the 1 year anniversary of his friends website called Steel Banana. I etched the Warhol screen print onto the silver using tar as a resist and put it in a mordant of nitric acid for a while.
This one was actually my second attempt as the first one sat in the acid a bit too long and became but of a ghost of the banana that it once was. I hope...
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Enamelling for Beginners
This weekends Enamelling for Beginners class this past weekend went great! Thanks again Catherine!
The students got to work with glass on metal to create these great pieces using scrafitti, painting and cloisonne. One of the Artists that we represent at The Devil’s Workshop, Mary Frances took the class this weekend and made the cutest little tea pot set in cloisonné, I cant wait to see how...
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Diamond Alternatives? Good Question!
Anonymous writes:
Hello Sarah,
I came across your workshop online as I perused a location close to where we live where my fiancée and I could take part in the process of creating our wedding bands.
We are both outdoors, ethical, and sustainably-minded individuals, and thus having a difficult time in selecting a stone/material that would fit the path we have are trying to live in our lives...
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Do you know the Muffin Man?
Eric is the Muffin Man and I was honoured to make baker themed cufflinks for Eric’s wedding, I really love them and everything is always better when miniaturized. I hope Eric and Sarah will have a wonderful wedding this weekend and it was great having both of them in The Wedding Band Workshop a few weeks ago.
Take a look at Eric’s baking blog, Do You Know The Muffin Man next time...
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Rob and Formidable Silver Horse
Yay to Rob! After 2 years Rob has finished his Pull String Horse and it was well worth the wait!
…Ok, it didn’t take the entire 2 years to finish but Rob did start it two years ago and finished it just recently. This sterling horse with moving legs was quite a challenge for a first time Silversmith (& Lost Wax) student, it is always easy to imagine a complicated project but execution...
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Propellers →
Check out Propellers jewellery shop on Etsy. Propellers is a gathering of 3 different jewellery disciplines by Sylvia Lee (graphic etching), Tanya Lyons (glass) and myself (metalsmith), so happy to be part of this collective. Great photos are by Marc Ouelette!
I hope our little Etsy venture goes well, tell all your friends about it and keep us in mind come Christmas time or anytime ;)
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Custom Engagement Ring
I want to thank my recent enagement ring customer for giving me so much time to perfect his ring. I started over 5 times! I wanted to get it just right and a little something seemed to go wrong with every attempt but the finished piece looks great. So happy to have a customer that values craftsmanship as much as I do. This ring is called the “Weave Ring” it is in 14k White gold and...
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Fused Glass Pendants
This Sunday’s Fused Glass Pendant class was great. This is the 4th time we have held this class and it has always been a great success and this time I am particularly proud of the students work. I have chosen just a few of my favorites from this group, Lia, Marnina, Tracey, Meghan, Chantalle, Agata, Rebecca and Kelly.
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Valentines Day at The Devil's Workshop
Thanks for the Petit Fours Kirsten!
We had a great Valentines day! I learned a new word… ;)
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Happy New Year 2008!
It has been so long since my last post. September is always busy in the Queen West neighbourhood and November and December are insane as usual. I am currently on a long break, December 25th through to January 5th, and it is wonderful. Looking forward to 2008, this January our busy little studio will be jam packed full of classes and we are already booking into March!
This holiday season the West...
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Couple made in birch bark heaven
Ok, it has been forever since my last posting. Summer and all, you understand.
I have to blog about Danielle and Stephen. About a year ago Stephen bought Danielle one of my signature birch bark rings. This year Danielle came in to order birch bark cufflinks for Stephen that he has been asking me to make for some time now, but as a surprise to Stephen for his birthday. Danielle told me that if...
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North Carolinian Goldsmith Ana-Cristina
Jewellers, Jewellers everywhere! Ana-Cristina is visiting Toronto from North Carolina for a few months while her husband works on a film here. Ana-Cristina has been using my studio to work on her handwoven jewellery to be featured in a magazine called the Robb Report. Ana-Cristina has her GIA certificate and is going to be a special guest instructor for our “Gemology at a Glance...
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So pretty
I just finished these wedding bands for Mike and Jane. They made these 14k white gold bands almost a year ago and finally got around to having the stones set. Mike has a solitaire Peridot and Jane has diamonds and pink sapphires. I think these coloured stones make the rings look fresh and exciting. I can’t wait for them to see the rings.
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OH!
You will never guess who came into the store last week…
Sandra Oh! She wandered into my shop because she got off at a streetcar stop too soon (how eco-friendly of her) and was petting my brother’s lazy Springer Spaniel who was laying on the sidewalk in front of the shop. Sandra purchased a pair of Double Hoop Earrings in Brass with Aquamarine. The pair she purchased are the large ones on...
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All that glitter is not gold
I have been trying to cast with Bronze Manganese and hate it. It doesn’t flow like gold and silver when poured and the melt down takes forever. The Bronze castings always come out porous. I have found the perfect solution! 14k gold casting alloy. Casting alloy doesn’t have any actual gold in it but is used to cut the karat of gold when making alloys therefore it is smooth, melts quickly...
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Waste Not Want Not
Check out the ring Colleen made in her Lost Wax Casting Workshop.
Colleen’s Dad requested that she replace the wedding band that he no longer wanted to wear with an updated piece. Since Colleen’s Dad is a “nature lover” a burn out of a piece of bark was the perfect solution. She started with a straight piece of bark and burned it out to make a straight piece of silver...
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Ring by Mistake
So many little things to do, so little time.
Today I will complete a large order commission by setting a million little rhinestones into bumble bee pins for a corporate account, a task I am not looking forward to but someone has to do it. I will also spend some time preparing a casting batch for tomorrows Lost Wax Casting Class, it is their last casting batch and everything has to turn out. In...
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Burnout
Where do I begin…
Last night I did my first organic burnout here in our Lost Wax Casting class at The Devil’s Workshop. 2 out of 3 were successful, I had my doubts about the one that didn’t work out before we began, it was too delicate. One of the successful ones was a piece of bark that Colleen (casting student) will turn into a wedding band for her father, now that it is silver she...
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