More Results of Patina Color Experimentation

Filigree Leaf Earrings with orange "rust", yellow "topaz", and green "emerald" patina

I am hosting a patina blog hop that takes place on Feb. 29.  Ten jewelry designers are working with the same natural brass compass and coloring them.  They will then show the compass in a jewelry design.  To prepare for this I have been experimenting with my new patina sets and mixing colors from different sets of the Ranger patinas.  For the filigree leaves above I combined two colors from the Faded Pickup set with 1 from Rusted hardware.  I hung the patinaed leaves on gold colored ear wires with a gold bead to highlight the gold color of the metal that shows through the patina.

Natural Brass Pieces

You can see the natural brass leaf that I started with in the above photo.  Also, I put patina on natural brass rectangles with flowers cut out.  One of them is pictured above.  I  created another set of earrings with the floral rectangles.

3 inch long flower earrings available for purchase in my Etsy store

I hand patinaed these flowers in a lovely aged green, orange and yellow. I then hung them on gold colored ear wires with a gold bead to highlight the gold color of the metal that shows through the patina.

 I love the cutouts in the rectangle.  These earrings remind me of sunflowers.

I had another set of earrings that I was working on.  In my excitement to put patina on them, I forgot to wash them before beginning and the grease from my hands shows on them.  I intend to take some steel wool to them and start over. 

To prepare my piece for the patina blog hop, I also purchased some Vintaj Glaze. The Vintaj Glaze can be used as a sealer (to preserve the patina color), or as a patina extender to dilute your colors and create a washed look. To achieve this look, I often use the ratio of 1 part Patina to 3 parts color.  While the patinas are permanent on metal and don’t require sealing,  everything has a tendency to lighten with wear over time. To preserve the look of your patina, seal your piece with a glaze after it finishes drying and after using the metal reliefing block. I sealed both of my earrings.

I found a wonderful page on Pinterest that is a great resource for learning how to put color on metals.  It is located at http://www.pinterest.com/karlawebb/jewelry-making-color-patina-ink-transfers/

I am pleased with my earrings.  What are your thoughts on them?

Purchase and Experimentation Is How I Prepare for the Patina Blog Hop

Ranger's Weathered Patina Can Give an Aged Copper Look

My experience with patinas has been limited to creating several pairs of earrings with a Ranger selection of patinas called "Weathered".  I used "Weathered" because it had the colors of jade, verdigris, and moss and it is designed to give the look of aged copper.    I liked the results of it on these earrings.   The colors remind me of the gorgeous water of the Florida Keys and I love copper so it was a win win for me.  If you aren't familiar with patinas they are opaque inks, specially formulated to adhere to metals.   The ink is fast drying and can be heat-set for added durability.  

Rusted Hardware

For this blog hop, I enlarged my patina collection to include Ranger's "rusted hardware"  which includes rust cinnabar and clay colors.   I also purchased "faded pickup" which has lapis, emerald and topaz colors.

Faded Pickup

I then gathered the following materials. 
Brass pieces to patina
Ranger 15-Inch-by-18-Inch non stick Craft Sheet
flat tipped paint brush
paper towel
water
reliefing block

I watched my favorite video tutorial to review the process-- Vintaj Patina and Glaze Video Tutorial.


Before beginning I  degreased all the items that I planned to patina.  If you leave any greasy fingerprints or machine oil it will leave a spot that stubbornly resists any patina.
I then got to work.

"Rusted Hardware" and "Faded Pickup" applied to this 

 I put all 6 of my new patinas on my craft sheet and began experimenting.  This tree pendant is one of my finished pieces that uses a combination of patinas from my new 6 paints.  I think it turned out pretty well.  What are your thoughts?

Art Bead Scene Blog: Perfect Pairings :: Bay Moon Designs + Blu Mudd

Art Bead Scene Blog: Perfect Pairings :: Bay Moon Designs + Blu Mudd

In the Forest Blog Hop Sponsored by Lisa Lodge

Lisa Lodge bead kit for In the Forest Blog

The kit for the "In the Forest Blog" arrived in early autumn so I had lots of time to use these beads.  The first thing I did was separate most of the aqua beads from the dark green just for the heck of it.  I then used most of the aqua beads in the first 3 pieces that I made.

Autumn leaves bracelet uses aqua crystal beads

I made this autumn leaves bracelet has a handmade polymer clay cuff by Humblebeads that sits on top of the wrist. This cuff style is all the rage. The handmade artisan cuff bracelet has brown and white button pearls and turquoise/aqua beads from Lisa are used. These are the colors that are found in the sketch of the leaves on the bracelet bar. I also used gold wire and gold beads to add sparkle. There is a brown jasper bead and a few crystals. I think that the aqua beads are perfect for this bracelet.

Dragonfly bracelet uses aqua beads

The rest of the aqua beads went into making this Dragonfly bracelet.  I liked the Autumn Leaves bracelet design so much that I used it again to make this cuff bracelet.  The handmade artisan cuff by Humblebeads is combined with brown and white button pearls and Lisa's aqua beads since these are the colors that are found in the sketch of the dragonfly on the bracelet bar. I also used gold wire and gold beads to add sparkle. There is an artisan smooth, round, ceramic purple bead as well as a jasper bead and a few crystals.

Aqua Heart Necklace features aqua czech leaves

For my 3rd piece I used all of the aqua Czech leaves.  The color matches this ceramic heart and I thought that the royal blue pearls would be a great color combination.

I still have lots of forest green beads and the 3 large oval beads to use!  Please visit the folks participating in this blog hop and leave some kind words.

Your hostess:  Lisa Lodge, A Grateful Artist

Melissa Trudinger, Bead Recipes

Kathy Zeigler Lindemer, Bay Moon Design

Eleanor Burian Moore, The Charmed Life

Jo-Ann Woolverton, It's a Beadiful Creation

Chris Eisenberg, Wanderware

Christine Stonefield, Sweet Girl Design

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Janine Lucas, Esfera Travel Blog

Jasvanti Patel, Jewelry by Jasvanti

Shaiha Williams,   Shaiha's Ramblings

Kay Thomerson, Kayz Kreationz

Karla Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Veralynne Malone, Designed by Vera

Toltec  Jewels, Jewel School Friends

Christie Searle Murrow, Charis Designs Jewelry

Molly Alexander, Beautifully Broken Me

Monique Urquhart, A Half-Baked Notion

Janet Bocciardi, Honey from the Bee

Dini Bruinsma, Angaza by Changes

Heather Richter, Desert Jewelry Designs

Christina Miles, Wings n Scales

Elizabeth Engriser, Bead Contagion

Alice Peterson, Alice Dreaming

Alicia Marinache, All the Pretty Things

Kay Mallery,TBD

Catherine Yvonne King, Catherine's Musings

Alice Craddick, Alice's Beads and Baubles

Ema Kilroy, Ema K Designs

This blog hop came with great beads and lots of time.  Lisa is wonderful at putting kits together.  I look forward to her next blog hop in February 22 called Winter Sparkle.

Plans for the Patina Blog Hop in Full Gear

What will 10 Vintaj Compasses look like when patina is applied  by 10 different folks?

I gave away a 26mm (.6mm thick), Arte Metal, Compass Decorivet with two posterior prongs to some adventurous folks who have little or no experience with patina.   They are challenged to put patina on this compass and to use it in a creation.  This compass can be used to decorate any material by simply pushing the rivet ends into the material and folding over. Also, you can use needle nose pliers to turn the rivet points into loops for use in jewelry designs.   All of the folks participating in this challenge and blog hop are members of Artisan Whimsy.  I think it will be interesting to see what everyone comes up with using the same piece.

Patina Blog Hop Button

The following  folks will be showing you their creation on their blog.  They will be sharing what patina they used on this compass on Feb. 28, 2014.  I hope you will join us for this blog hop.

Hostess:  Kathy Lindemer,  BayMoonDesign 

Jennifer LaVite, Dry Gulch Beads and Jewelry

Karia Morgan, Texas Pepper Jams

Carolyn Lawson, Carolyn's Creations

Shai Williams, Shaiha's Ramblings

Jessica Murray, Whimsical Monkey
 
Tammie Everly, TTE Designs

Kay Thomerson, KayzKreationz Blog

Claire Fabian, Saraccino

Christie Searle Murrow,  Charis Designs

 

Warm Colors Help Us Get through Winters

Dragonfly bracelet by BayMoonDesign available in Etsy Store

This dragonfly bracelet is inspired by a textile by Lois Mailou Jones.  She would return summer after summer to paint in gardens and books available to her on Martha's Vineyard.  One of her textile designs is the inspiration for January's Art Bead Scene Challenge.  It was her textiles that eventually launched her into a fine art career.

Textile Design for Cretonne, 1928?  by Lois Mailou Jones

The sight of this textile made me happy instantly--what a beautiful creation.  It reminds me of the summer.  What a pleasant thought in a cold, snowy January!  The warm oranges, yellows, and reds jump right out and cheer me up.

The firefly ceramic that I used in this bracelet is from Blu Mudd Design.  I love her ceramic cuffs and have used several of them in my bracelets.  I like the size, pattern of words with the dragonfly on top.  The rich, warm, earthy color of the glaze go so well with the red, oranges and yellows in the ceramic and in the textile.  When trying to decide on the metal to use in the bracelet, I considered gunmetal. I thought that using it would allow me to add that color from the painting to the bracelet, but I just couldn't.  Since I am drawn to the warm colors of the painting, I wanted to keep the bracelet warm too.

I hope that the textile and my dragonfly bracelet bring you pleasant memories of warm summer winds in the garden.