Cold Connections, Mixed Metals, my new love!

This was my first one, made in a workshop with Eugenia.
Using metal shears and copper sheet, sterlingwire, brass charms, texturing hammers, found pieces, rivets, tiny screws, it is really a lot of fun to make Cold Connection pieces. I have bought a saw but have not yet used it, but I will be taking a class in metalsmithing using it this coming weekend!

copper and silver rivetted earings

And another one, they are all joined by Sterling Silver jumprings. These jumprings are made by coiling the sterling wire on a mandrel with my electric drill, then cutting them indivually from that coil, workhardening them and Bob's your uncle. Who would have thought I would have had the patience for this!

I have a disc punch now to punch out circles and one of these links has a silver link out of a sterling bracelet that I had bought some time ago in Mexico of silver and red links, it worked out great and I still have many more to do something with..... earings???

I just finished this one. this time I used rivets for the jumprings

All pieces of copper or sterling jewelry are patina'd or antiqued. They are first dipped in Liver of Sulphur which turns them black. then using 0000 steelwool to polish off most of the black but leaving the crevices black! next the piece goes in the tumbler for polishing.