Recent metals experimentations...

From top left: 1. Materials to play around with, 2. dinos ready to etch, 3. toolbox!, 4. Metalwork is hell on a manicure

My most exciting metals experimentation, recently, has been working with etching designs into copper. The method I used was similar to this one.  I've done this in the past, but never went too far with it. Back in school, I was learning so many techniques, in so short a time, that a lot of things didn't really have a chance to stick.

Now that I have the luxury to explore different skill sets independently, there's a lot more room to play around. I haven't gotten back to the studio to turn these copper pieces to finished jewelry yet, but I'm excited about the potential. I did some simple dinosaur silhouettes, plus a portrait of Gene Wilder, and some radial line designs. It's a whole different way of playing with texture.

I'm thinking that an etched dino cocktail ring would be pretty spectacular, no?

I also made this layered pendant, using a strawberry wooden bead (sawn in half). The metals are copper and sterling, patina-ed.