# Let's see the craft behind the member



## patrickfraser (Mar 11, 2014)

What's your craft???? Post photos of your work and explain your process.

I do wire wrapping and electroforming copper jewelry. Previously discussed here. http://mantidforum.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=24170

Wait til you see the crafty thing I've got brewing (electroforming). It has been soaking for about 2 days and I think it's about time to take it out and give it a tumble.







I did a trade quite some time ago and received these cool beetle wing dangle earrings. I got like 6-7 pair and thought I gave them all away. Well I found another pair and decided to use some of the wings and electroform a pendant.

First, I got a decent matched pair and glued them together (slightly overlapping in the middle), then I attached a copper jump ring (bail). After that set out to dry, I then glued a cool opal vaseline glass stone. After that set out to dry..(lol. there's a lot of waiting involved. This isn't instant gratification, but the results are worth the wait)...I painted (with copper conductive paint) the edges of the wings, the entire backside, a stripe down the center "seam", and arount the glued on stone. It was a rather messy paint job, so after that dried I got out my dremel and sanded to smooth the lines in the paint and reveal more wing color.

I had something else going at the moment, but just knew this pendant would be next.

This is a mushroom pendant I had made and just thought electroforming it would probably be cool. Boy, was I right. The copper attached to the wire between the beads and grew copper nubs all over. Very organic and it really sparkles.











I put it into a solution of copper sulphate and attached the rectifier. Positive is attached to the copper to transfer (anode) (I use junk wire and scrap that I have saved up) and negative is attached to a wire holding the piece to take the copper (cathode). The rectifier is set to .1 amp per sq inch to plate (recommended for smooth an consistent plating, but I bump it up for more organic "growth". as seen above (is it there yet? lol). Then you just leave it and check it once in a while. I looked this morning and there was still some space needing plating on the back, but I felt it would be ready this afternoon.






This is the pendant straight out of the solution. Very unique looking, but a lot of the growth will be tumbled away. It looks like it will have a very bumpy texture.











This is the fresh pendant with a similarly painted pattern on a smaller set of wings using a smaller stone.






It starts to oxidize and darken quickly, but there is lots of shine under that dull salmon color.






...and off into the tumbler we go. What's going to come out? It always surprises me and I amaze myself, again.


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## patrickfraser (Mar 12, 2014)

Here are a couple other things I've made recently. The key is just wire wrap and electroform, I really like the look. The other little pendant is something I just threw together. Just a random bending pattern with a random assortment of beads wire wrapped and electroformed.











This is what I have going now.






The wire was getting pretty pretty low (in the first picture copper scrap is being held together by a coated copper wire attached to the rectifier) , so I made a more proper anode. It is just a long copper wire spiraled to corkscrew into the bottle and around the inside of the jar. I like it better because I think it better distributes the copper evenly all around, as opposed to on just one side.











I think these will be cool electroformed.











PLUS I have a whole bag of other stuff to play with.






What's coming out of the tumbler??? Stay tuned and cross your fingers it holds up. :clover:


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## TheBeesKnees (Mar 12, 2014)

Beautiful work!! Metal working is one of those things I've never tried, nor do I think I'd have the chops to successfully attempt! Kudos * U* you have some lovely pieces!! (that mushroom pendant is my favorite!)

As I've mentioned a couple of times before, I'm an illustrator! I paint digital and traditional illustrations! :&gt;

Here are some digital ones!:

(A piece commissioned by a private client; photoshop)





(personal work; photoshop)






And here are some traditional ("real" media) paintings!:

(A piece commissioned by a private client; acrylic ink on wood board.)





(Personal work; acrylic paint on wood board)





And here are some photos of that last piece during its progress!  















Oh yeah, this is also pretty cool! It's a progress gif of this image--it shows off stages of my process on digital illustrations!:





This is a neat idea for a forum thread!  I look forward to seeing the creative and crafty outlets of other users here!!


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## patrickfraser (Mar 12, 2014)

Different strokes for different folks, :lol: I have never been any good at drawing/illustrating. Great work.

I just checked on the pendant and it did not hold up in the tumbler. The paint didn't adhere well to the smoothness of the wing or stone and the glue didn't hold well either. It kind of fell apart. I have the smaller one to do and can re-use the wings and stone from this one. Live and learn then move forward.


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 12, 2014)

nice work u guys, really like the key. I do lamp work, maybe take pic today and post, or not same thing?


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## Paradoxica (Mar 12, 2014)

Ok, so I'm totally a novice at this (I've only been doing it a few months) but I've taken up whittling. Since I work at school I thought I'd try it and bring in what I carve for the kids, the teachers said they wanted sea creatures so that's what most of them are.

Here's my first really simple whale:






Then a fish:






Sea turtle:






Shark 1:






Shark 2 (painted by my wife):






Sea snail:






Sea horse:






One of my mom's chickens (again painted by my wife):






Sister's cat:






Bear:


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## TheBeesKnees (Mar 12, 2014)

oh no! Those carvings are _too cute_!!

The sea turtle and smiley shark melts my heart :'] &lt;3 these are excellent!!


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## Termite48 (Mar 12, 2014)

You guys are very talented and it is nice to see your work. Thanks for the idea to post these Scott. Keep it up. I may get around to posting some in the future.


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## patrickfraser (Mar 12, 2014)

hibiscusmile said:


> nice work u guys, really like the key. I do lamp work, maybe take pic today and post, or not same thing?


What is lamp work? Is that glass forming or actual lamp making? A lot of people use electroform on lamp work beads and forms.


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 12, 2014)

I love the carvings, u r getting really good at it. My dad did carvings, I will post pic of a ship he did if I can unpack it.

Lamps are what I ment, I gather lamp and parts and then make something out of them. Nothin special, but I love them. Milk glass is

a fav of mine and so is copper. The floor lamp is made from many pieces and conduit I cut and painted. U have to pretend it has its globes on it as I have just packed them up.

The small lamp is electric. The table lamp is a for candles. The milk glass is pegged and u put the candle in it and then the globe over it. Only found one of each I unpacked for the pics. All of this is from other lamps.


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 12, 2014)

Heres a dresser I made and matching nightstand. ps excuse my crochet baskets!


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## patrickfraser (Mar 12, 2014)

hibiscusmile said:


> Heres a dresser I made and matching nightstand. ps excuse my crochet baskets!


You know crochet is a craft too, right?

You are quite crafty. Real women know how to use tools. :lol:


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 13, 2014)

Don't forget shoot! haha! heres a lost art, just finished these for my sister, hand embroidery.


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## sally (Mar 13, 2014)

It is amazing that you all make time for the wonderful art that you do  Atm I only have bugtime lol


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## Sticky (Mar 13, 2014)

Rebecca, your things are beautiful! Do you sell your lamps? And maybe we can talk trade, my yarn for your mantids? I spin exotics, angora, baby alpaca etc....


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 13, 2014)

I don't sell them as of yet, I don't get enough time to make many, plus my son wants an old fashion lamp and I have like 5 to remake and my sister does too, so hopefully for I die, I can do them....

I can't even imagine what skill it would take to do what u do. My work may be nice, but would be a waste to use something like u make on my things.

PS... I hope I did not hijack this post, but I have enjoyed stopping work to take pics of some things I do.

I teach my grandkids how to do embroidery and sewing, cooking and wood work, here is a piece my grandson did last weekend on my band saw. This was his third try on using it and he did good! ps this is him with his pillowcase we made with his emb he started when he was 3 or 4. Good thing we took pic as his mother threw it away. :{


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## patrickfraser (Mar 14, 2014)

My pendant has been tumbled and polished. It came out pretty nice.


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## Sticky (Mar 14, 2014)

hibiscusmile said:


> I can't even imagine what skill it would take to do what u do. My work may be nice, but would be a waste to use something like u make on my things.
> 
> PS... I hope I did not hijack this post, but I have enjoyed stopping work to take pics of some things I do.
> 
> ...


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## Paradoxica (Mar 17, 2014)

Here's a few carvings I missed (these were painted by my coworker):

Eel





Sting ray





These I posted the unpainted pics already

Sea snail





Sea turtle


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## hibiscusmile (Mar 17, 2014)

She never keeps nothing I give them. So they keep things at their dads house, I guess they get to enjoy them there.


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## Paradoxica (May 20, 2014)

I'm no PatrickFraser, but I've always thought wire working looked fun. Last night I gave it my first go:


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## patrickfraser (May 20, 2014)

Well done. Have fun with it.


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## PlayingMantis (May 20, 2014)

I enjoy painting, but I've never been professionally trained. It's just something I do for fun, but I can't help but wonder what life would've been like if I had studied art back in college.


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## brancsikia339 (May 20, 2014)

Here's some of my recent drawings. I just turned 15 in January so these are a mix from back before January until now






Skull drawing, ballpoint pen; about 1 hour to finish






Lady gaga, white and black charcoals &amp; graphite; took about 3 hours






Impressionistic painting for school






Ariana Grande, ballpoint pen; took 2 hours






Lana del Rey, graphite pencil; took 3 hours






Cubist self portrait for school


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