Today was a really long, but extremely cool and interesting day at school. Well, not actually at school, since we took a field trip to see some forges and foundries in and near Tallinn. The most impressive one was at the BLRT (Baltic Ship Repair ....place :) ) where they had one of the largest forges in one building and another one was where they were casting iron.

At the foundry

At the forge

What can I say, I just LOVE fire and anything to do with it :D
After returning to school I decided to make the most of my day and stay to work few more hours. Hahaa, as usual, those "few" hours turned into a whole afternoon and I ended up leaving around 8om.
But, here is what I have to show for that time.

Here's a ring that I've been itching to try to make for a while, but had no clue on how to actually do it. When I started today, I was just as clueless, but as you can see, figured it out in the process. That is also why I started with copper instead of moving right to silver. And I'm glad that I did. This ring turned out kinda OK, but it is mainly a very good example of mistakes and things to avoid. So my next one's gonna be better and of silver. I actually started working on the silver one this evening, but as usual, messed up the soldering and had to start all over again, which led to frustration, which in turn let to pain and bleeding... literally :D


The second picture is of a bookmark, that I found the idea for online last night and couldn't wait to try out. Again, a perfect example of what tho do different the next time.

Oh, and btw, today I noticed a little round number at the bottom of my blog - 10,000 visits!!! Not new ones only though, but all new and returning ones. So congrads to me, yay!

Ethnic Ring

I finally decided to try a tutorial by Iza Malczyk that I had bought months ago already. I started off with silver plated copper wire, but after tarnishing and polishing it turned into lovely copper tone. I'm not completely happy with how it turned out, but I never am. The next one will be better. It's a neat design and I'm planning on mixing different metals in the next ring. Iza makes some of the most amazing jewelry! What a creativity and class!! Check it out and you'll see.

Ma viimaks otsustasin proovida järgi Iza Malczyk'i õpetuse, mille juba kuid tagasi olin ostnud. Ma alustasin hõbetatud vasktraadiga, aga pärast oksüdeerimist ning poleerimist ilmus välja selline ilus vase toon. Ma, nagu alati, ei ole eriti rahul selle tulemusega, aga eks järgmine saab parem olema. See on väga lahe disain ning järgmise sõrmusega ma plaanin kokku panna erinevaid metalle. Iza teeb lihtsalt võrratuid ehteid! Milline fantaasia ning tase! Vaadake ise aga järgi.

Amethyst ring

Üks väga ammune töö sai pika väänamise ning ümbertegemise peale lõpuks valmis. See läks ühele väga heale sõbrannale. Suurim sõrmus, mida ma siiani teinud olen. Üritasin ka mingisugust sümmeetriat jälgida, aga noh, eks ise näete ju, kuidas see mul õnnestus. Tänama pean jällegi suurmeistrit Eni Oken'it

Copper Rings

Labradorite

Mainisin eelmises postituses labradoriiti, mille ostsin sõrmuse jaoks. Tema värvi vaadates on ta aga vist spektroliit, mis on Soomest leitud labradoriit, mis kannab endas sügavamaid tumedaid, kuid ka väga erksavärvilisi toone. Minu kivis on dominantne selline südaöise taeva helk. (pildil kõige suurem, madlikujuline)Ülejäänud labradoriidihelmed tõin kaasa oma hiljutiselt reisilt. Seekordse sõrmusega olen rohkem rahul. Tööpind oli väheke suurem, kuigi kivi erikujulisus nõudis rohkem tähelepanu ning läbimõtlemist. Kivi läbimõõt pikuti on ~2,2 cm

Ma olen üdini lummatud selle kivi võrratust välimusest ning sügavusest ja otse loomulikult oli vaja sõrmuse juurde teha ka sobivad kõrvarõngad ning kõrvakate juurde ka käekett, kuna kaelaehteks kive enam ei jätkunud. Kõrvarõngastes kasutasin ka Bali hõbedat ning käeketis on labradoriidi kõrval ka amasoniiti ning paar swarovskit.
Ise olen nende ehete üle jube õnnelik, sest nad on just minu maitsele ning nende tegemine oli ka ülimalt nauditav. Ispiratsioon tuli materjalist endas, paigutades erinevaid kive ja helmeid üksteise kõrvale. Aeg-ajalt on hea end väheke poputada ning endale väheke rohkem lubada, kui tavaliselt. ;)

Igal juhul, jõulud juba ukse ees, nii et

HÄID NING RAHULIKKE JÕULE KÕIGILE!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

Freeform Pearl Ring

Eile tegin ühe väga põneva investeeringu - ostsin nimelt ühe Eni Oken'i õpetustest. Olen tema töid juba kaua imetlenud, aga aukartusest pole veel julgenud tema stiiliga katsetada. Nagu tavaliselt, jõudsin koju alles 10 ajal õhtul, ning ilma õpetust järele proovimatta poleks arvatavasti tundigi magada saanud. Nojah, aega kulus selle sõrmusega pusimise peale ca 5 tundi, nii et magada sain kokkuvõttes ikka vaid mõne tunni :D Tööd alustades avastasin, et kogu oma viimaste kuude kokkuostetud kraami hulgas pole mul selleks sõrmuseks ühtegi sobivat kivi ega helmest. Niisiis tuligi leppida väiksema lapiku pärliga, mis tegi töö käigu tunduvalt keerulisemaks, sest pidin erineva suuruse tõttu natukene improviseerima. Esimese töö kohta kukkus ta mul enam vähem hästi välja, aga tegelikult pole ma üldse rahul. Seetõttu tuiskasingi esimese asjana täna kohe poodi ja ostsin paar sobivamat kivi (labradorid :D ), et saaks õhtul kohe jällegi katsetama hakata.I made one very exciting investment last night - I bought one of Eni Oken's tutorials. I have been admiring her work for quite some time now, but out of awe never dared to try her style. I got home around 10 as usual, and would not have been able to sleep without trying this tutorial. It took me nearly 5 hours to complete it, which didn't leave too much time for sleep. When I started with this ring, I discovered that among all the beads that I have I was unable to find an appropriate stone or bead for this project. So I had to settle with a much smaller coin shape pearl, which made work more difficult, because I had to improvise due to a different size of bead. For my first try, it's not bad, but I'm not satisfied at all. Therefore I headed to the store first thing this morining to pick up a more suitable stone (a labradorite :D) so I could give it another try this evening.

Raining Rings - Sõrmuste sadu

Pärast kauaoodatud pikka nädalalõppu on teile lõpuks näidata kohe tervet armeed uusi ehteid. Ma pole varem sõrmuseid teinud, aga vahetevahel teiste meistrite töid piilumas käies on erinevaid lahendusi meelde jäänud, millest osad ka oma nappide oskustega valmis sai väänatud. Palju traati läks raisku harjutamise peale, aga kuidas siis muidu ikka õppida. Mõned tööd on ka oksüdeeritud, millest näitan teile enne ja pärast pilte. Peale sõrmuste valmis ka veel midagi... aga seda näitan homme.

After a long weekend I'm finally able to show you a whole army of new pieces. I haven't made rings before, but remembered seeing some different designs when browsing other masters' works, and tried to make a few of them the best I could. I wasted a lot of wire while practicing, but this is the only way to learn. Some of the pieces are oxidized and you can see the before and after pictures. Along with the rings I made something else... which I will show you tomorrow.
If anyone is reading this blog in English, please give me some feedback, so I know that someone is actually reading this and I'm not just wasting my time and brains... :)

Swarovskid vases ja roosinupp
Swarovskis in copper and a rose bud

Tiigrisilma helmes vases hele ja tume
Tiger's eye bead in copper light and tarnished

Mageveepärl vases hele ja tume
Freshwater pearl in copper light and tarnished

Lihtsalt palju puntras haamerdatud vaske hele ja tume
Bunch of hammered copper in a ball light and slightly tarnished