Commission pendants finished!
Aug. 21st, 2011 11:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lillian13Sorry, no pics yet as I don't have my clients' permission to post them.
Wednesday and Thursday evenings I spent putting base enamels on the pendants--a clear coat on each side and then a black on one side.
I took Friday off, since I was in the workshop until at least 10 pm both of those nights.
Up bright and early (for me) on Saturday, which became one huge frustrating day of R&D and flailing about. I could not get the stamps to not smear, or look squashed...two hours later I caved and called the local scrapbooking store. Nice lady on the phone says they have a press that might work...I run over there with a blank and my printout of my design. The press is essentially just a clear piece of plastic with a grid printed on it, held up by 4 spongy columns. Obviously designed for the clear poly stamps (which we will do next year, yes we will!), it worked fine with my sponge-mounted rubber ones. After I got another brainstorm and cut the large designs apart into more manageable pieces, anyway.
Then I ran into another hurdle: the colors just weren't working. (Learning experience, remember?) The bluish-black I had as the background worked fine for the light blue, but the red just disappeared. So after consulting with one of my clients--the artist--I just turned them over and worked on the "clear" side that showed the copper. Then I called it a day, went home and had a shower and went gaming.
Today I got up a bit later (gaming ran late), but then everything worked like a charm. I'd put the stamp on the press, put the blank on some cardboard--held in place by some of that tacky rubber stuff--apply embossing fluid to the stamp, press, and repeat 3-4 times per color. Then apply enamel and fire. For SIXTEEN pieces. Tedious, but the results were quite good. I wish I could have used a darker brown in the main stamps, but I was having to work with what I had on hand, since we changed colors in mid-stream.
Since I did reuse one of the pieces where I had already done the initial enameling on the back, I decided to add one more bit--a spray of white across the back to add some visual interest. (Since I had to cover up that one, I had to do them all.) It was getting kind of late, 4-ish, but I decided What The Hell, and cleaned off the edges and got everything finished. I got out of the workshop at five pm, staggered home, took an even better shower, and promptly collapsed for 3 hours. Of course, I left 4 of the pendants at the workshop, so I'll have to go back tomorrow to get them so I can install jump rings and cords and pack them up to go off to California.
The clients did call tonight; they were worried that I'd decided to go with white for the highlights (too bright!), but no, I had gone with a cream instead that looks muuuch better, and they were very pleased.
Now I spit in the general direction of the only art teacher to give me a 'D'. He taught color theory and thought I was an idiot. Feh on him.
Wednesday and Thursday evenings I spent putting base enamels on the pendants--a clear coat on each side and then a black on one side.
I took Friday off, since I was in the workshop until at least 10 pm both of those nights.
Up bright and early (for me) on Saturday, which became one huge frustrating day of R&D and flailing about. I could not get the stamps to not smear, or look squashed...two hours later I caved and called the local scrapbooking store. Nice lady on the phone says they have a press that might work...I run over there with a blank and my printout of my design. The press is essentially just a clear piece of plastic with a grid printed on it, held up by 4 spongy columns. Obviously designed for the clear poly stamps (which we will do next year, yes we will!), it worked fine with my sponge-mounted rubber ones. After I got another brainstorm and cut the large designs apart into more manageable pieces, anyway.
Then I ran into another hurdle: the colors just weren't working. (Learning experience, remember?) The bluish-black I had as the background worked fine for the light blue, but the red just disappeared. So after consulting with one of my clients--the artist--I just turned them over and worked on the "clear" side that showed the copper. Then I called it a day, went home and had a shower and went gaming.
Today I got up a bit later (gaming ran late), but then everything worked like a charm. I'd put the stamp on the press, put the blank on some cardboard--held in place by some of that tacky rubber stuff--apply embossing fluid to the stamp, press, and repeat 3-4 times per color. Then apply enamel and fire. For SIXTEEN pieces. Tedious, but the results were quite good. I wish I could have used a darker brown in the main stamps, but I was having to work with what I had on hand, since we changed colors in mid-stream.
Since I did reuse one of the pieces where I had already done the initial enameling on the back, I decided to add one more bit--a spray of white across the back to add some visual interest. (Since I had to cover up that one, I had to do them all.) It was getting kind of late, 4-ish, but I decided What The Hell, and cleaned off the edges and got everything finished. I got out of the workshop at five pm, staggered home, took an even better shower, and promptly collapsed for 3 hours. Of course, I left 4 of the pendants at the workshop, so I'll have to go back tomorrow to get them so I can install jump rings and cords and pack them up to go off to California.
The clients did call tonight; they were worried that I'd decided to go with white for the highlights (too bright!), but no, I had gone with a cream instead that looks muuuch better, and they were very pleased.
Now I spit in the general direction of the only art teacher to give me a 'D'. He taught color theory and thought I was an idiot. Feh on him.
