Pin Swap

Bunch 'o brooches

Scrap transformed into "Platinum" brooch

Yay! Self promotion.

Tonight is the Annual General Meeting for the Metal Arts Guild.  As an icebreaker they encourage members to create pins that they can swap with others.  Yesterday, knowing that I am dying to trade with other creative folk I decided to whip up some enamel brooches.  Instead of creating perfect forms I searched through my copper scrap bin for pieces with an interesting shape that I wouldn't have to alter.  I have quite a few pieces from my hydraulic press dyes that didn't work out.  Sometimes the copper sheet was too close to the edge and collapsed into my dye when I was adding pressure, so I gave six of them an enamel makeover.  I sawed out some forms to hold the pin back in place, but other then that and the enamel I didn't change my scrap pieces all that much.  I decided to add on a painted layer of enamel that I labelled each with a different metal. Just before firing them in the kiln for the last time I added my blog address and name, just so each recipient knows who it is from.  Hopefully some of the new owners will be reading this shortly after meeting me and exchanging for one of their creations!