Chain Number 4

Time to catch up on the progress of my goal to complete ten chains from aluminum sheet metal.
Recap: I started this project in March 2012 after taking a chain making workshop taught by jewelry artist, Amy Tavern. I needed a long term project to keep me focused, to motivate me, and to keep me active in my jewelry studio (as I find time while home with my toddler). The workshop inspired many ideas for chains and I wanted to explore them. I wanted to focus on using aluminum sheet, because I have a lot of scraps leftover from an Airstream camper renovation.

Chain 4

I ran into some challenges with this chain which have yet to be resolved.

I like the chain's segmented linear quality, and I like the way it moves, but I haven't figured out how to make it lay nicely around a neck. It needs something else but I'm not sure what that is.

I closed the loop and took it to the October Pocosin Arts Metals Guild meeting for some helpful feedback.

Someone suggested I make it a brooch, attaching some pins in several places so it can be arranged in a variety of ways by the wearer. I like that idea.

Someone else suggested I make several more of the same components and keep adding sections to the chain.
I also like that idea.

 I have a few things I want to try. I'm definitely not finished with chain number 4, but I went ahead and started chain number 5. I will come back to this one again.

Chain Number 3: Finally Finished!

What a busy summer.  Finally, today I finished chain number 3 of my challenge to make ten chains from scraps of aluminum sheet metal.  After the long pause it feels like this is going to take forever. Years, maybe. We have a toddler in the house and we are learning to count. 

Un. Do. Eee.

It all takes time. I was happy to sit and work at this again.

This design with the raindrops or tears and little blue flowers seems delicate, and cute. 

Cute little flowers and teardrops.

Hmm.  

 The clasp can be worn in the back or front.

Number 3: A Chain with Flowers

So, in late February, after taking Amy Tavern's workshop (Innovating the Chain) at Pocosin Arts Folk School's annual retreat, I was inspired.  I was inspired to make more chains, and to focus my energy and create some boundaries for myself in my jewelry making.  I challenged myself to make ten chains from aluminum sheet metal.  Why aluminum?  Because I have a lot of scraps left over from an Airstream Trailer renovation project.  And, it is shiny, light, and soft.

In my first post to this blog, I loosely listed my criteria.  I wanted to create some limitations for myself, to not think too much about jewelry making in the sense of creating earrings, pendants, broaches, bracelets, necklaces, rings, etc.  And I didn't want to think about making things to sell.  I wanted to make some chains made of shapes which connect somewhat self-consciously.  Each shape is made with the intention of connecting to another very similar shape.  They are all sawed by hand, so they vary, and I also vary them intentionally. 

I'm in the early stages of jewelry making, and I feel the need to learn more about what I like, before I go banging out a bunch of stuff I'm not so sure about.  I have a lot of ideas.  I'm trying to refine them, and grow my technical skills.  This ten chain project is a learning exercise for me.  The blog is to keep me on track and say things out loud.  I also work really independently and I feel a need to connect, so blogging seemed like a good idea.


Number 3: A Chain with Flowers
I made a wee bit of progress on my third chain.  In the photo at left you can see the shape of one of the links, just after I drew it, cut it out with my jeweler's saw, and filed the edges.  It still lays flat on my bench pin.  The next step is to form it, give it some dimension.

 Here you can see I formed one of the links.  I used a weighted rawhide mallet to hammer and form the aluminum to a round steel dapping punch.  This process also hardens the aluminum.

The rawhide doesn't mar the top surface.

The underside is shiny, burnished by the steel.

After the links are formed, they are connected and are secured with tube rivets, and this connection is bejeweled with little blue anodized aluminum flowers (which I sawed, filed, and domed).  To complete the chain, I'll probably make around 18 links.

 Thank you for reading!

Chain Number 2 - Finished!

Here is chain #2 of my ten chain challenge.  Aluminum sheet metal and tubing.

 

I wanted to make a chain connected with rivets.  Rivets are round, so I chose circles for the holes for tabs to pass through.  I then tried to draw/saw the external shape of the link in such a way that would nicely contain the two circular elements. 

To bring in some color, I tried some lime green anodized aluminum.  I used this in the clasp (also adding a bit of strength), and added little circles as highlights around some of the tube rivets.  The color held strong through the patina and the tumbling. 

The back of the chain. 





























I think my next chain will have some flowers...

Chain Number Two - Sidetrack

Chain number two is actually complete.   I'm a little behind in blogging.  Before I post the finished chain, I want to write about this direction I started in, then turned back and clarified my criteria.   

While working on this chain, I made a link different than the rest.  It involves two layers separated by two sections of tubing, and tube riveted together.  It's kind of like a link of a bicycle chain. After I connected this link to the rest, I considered making a centerpiece for the chain, making more of a symmetrical necklace (as seen in my sketch in the top photo).

But I just didn't feel good about where this was heading.  It was seeming a little too cyborg or something. I kind of liked the new link, and maybe it will be the start of another chain, but I wanted to take it out, set it aside for awhile.

For this ten chain project, I realized I'm most interested in chain-likeness.  Chains with varying links, similar in form and function, with no dominant center.  I think I partially made this decision to keep it simple, and not let too many ideas creep into one chain.  Tune in to the way the forms are repeating.  Pay attention to how slight differences in the links affect the way they connect and move.

The links of this chain are connected by a tab folded over then riveted with aluminum tubing.  The green circle is a piece of anodized aluminum.  I was curious how the anodized material would hold up with the patina and in the tumbler.

Chain Number One is Done!

Okay.  My tumbler arrived and I used an abrasive plastic pyramid media (medium grit) to finish the chain.  I tumbled it for at least six hours.  I took it out a couple of times and removed a bit of the blackener by hand with an abrasive polishing paper, as the patina was darker on some links for some reason (I think this is because I was a little inconsistent with the file and roughened some surfaces more than others.)  The result is a satiny matte finish and the necklace looks and feels very soft.  I like it much better now that I've darkened and tumbled it.  Now that I see it like this, I may eventually want to make more of these necklaces, or something close to it.  And it feels nice to wear.

Here you can see the back of the necklace and the looped tabs which connect the links.  I have found that I occasionally need to squeeze the loops with my pliers again, but it generally has held up with a fair amount to movement (and tugging by my enthusiastic toddler).  I think, if I make this chain again, I will solder the loops in place.  But first I need to do some experimenting with soldering aluminum...  So I say chain one is done.

Chain Number One

I pretty much completed my first chain.  This isn't a very good photo, but here I am wearing it after I finished the clasp.  Since then I've blackened it (with Jax aluminum blackener) and used an abrasive polishing paper to brighten and remove some of the patina on couple of the links.  I'm waiting for my new tumbler to arrive and I'll be tossing the chain in there to see what kind of finish I might get.

While making these chains and learning about aluminum, I'm looking for efficient ways to saw, file and finish the metal, in which I am exerting the least amount of effort and creating as little dust as possible.  I would really like to avoid sanding because this creates really miniscule dust which I'd rather not breathe in, have all over my skin and clothes, nor wash down the drain.  I don't have a dust collector (nor do I have room nor $ for one at the moment).  So, since I'm not sanding much, I'm trying to be conscious of my file marks.  Perhaps I can live with them.  We'll see what kind of results I get with the tumbler.

Eventually, I will be using my small hydraulic press to stamp out jewelry components, such as these links, which will eliminate the dust created from sawing.  But I will still need to finish the edges.  I've jumped ahead...  But in the back of my mind, as I create these links, I imagine shapes being stamped out instead of sawed by hand.  My awareness of my hydraulic press is influencing my designs, for sure.

This first chain lays pretty nicely on the body, but when I wore it around, I found I didn't like the way a section of it would flip over.  I removed a couple of links and it now it doesn't flip so much.  But in my next chains, I'd like to accommodate for some flipping, design it so it looks good if it flips around on an active person.  I feel like this one would wear well on a composed person in a black dress, going somewhere fancy, not running around with a one-year old on a playground (which is how I wore it).  This is a pretty flat necklace and I'd like to make something with a bit more dimension.  Also, the shape and function of these links make for a more static necklace.  But as I was designing these links, I was really interested in how the links would line up and move.  I wanted to allow some movement, but limit it so they would fall in line and all be oriented in the same direction.  I was playing with the shape of the hole, and the shape of the connecting tab.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with this first chain and what I learned from it.  I don't know if I'll ever make these components again, but I'm sure I'll the make use of the information I gleaned from the process.

My Ten Chain Callenge

I'm working on making chains. Ten of them.  I was inspired to this challenge after taking Amy Tavern's workshop called "Innovating the Chain." I learned a lot. Mostly I was reminded in my interest in process, my love of multiples, and the process of learning through repetition.  She suggested when we try something new, we try it more than once, perhaps ten times and we may discover something.  Maybe something we like, maybe what is not to like.  I really took this to heart, and I realized that making ten chains would be a great project for me.  It gives me a goal, and a boundary in which to play and explore ideas. 

My criteria:

• Make ten chains
• out of aluminum sheet metal
• without planning them all in advance
• and instead, let one lead to the next
• but, sketch ideas in my notebook along the way.
• Don't think about selling them.
• They are sketches.