Saturday, September 24, 2011

Pissed off at silver but happy with brass.


I don't care how well off you are, we are all feeling it.
Who the hell do I write a scathing letter to, anyway?
Who decides what the price is? Is it the same people who decide the fuel?

Can we just agree to send a secret assassination team to do away with them and replace them with clones of Tim McCreight and who ever started Rio Grande
(I'm convinced these 2 people are looking out for my best interests)

Has anyone tried silver filled wires for soldering yet?
I miss working with the bright sparkle and the matte dark grey.


Now on to other more depressing news. 
Something has been wrong with the email account that the slevart.etsy.com jewelry store was connected to. I missed 2 sales and numerous convos because of this and still haven't figured it out. I do not receive notices and I am logged into missficklemedia all the time so I have no idea what is happening in the other store front unless I remember to check it but I can never remember to. 

 I think as soon as I can pay off my bill, I will just list a few jewelry pieces here on my blog. Just the most special that shouldn't be put away in bags or sold across a counter without an explanation. 
Pieces I need to talk about.  


When I saw copper in a stone for the first time, I was amazed at how natural it looked, almost like the stone itself. The layering effects of patinas on these simple hammered strips of brass give the same organic metal look as the copper embedded stone. The natural aging effect metal has in the ground changes the hues of the rock around it.

I love that.

11 comments:

  1. I agree about the sterling. I love using sterling, and really miss that classy look it gives my jewelry. Don't get me wrong, I love brass and copper too, but there's just something special about sterling. Knowing how supply and demand works, brass and copper will most likely be going up soon, and then we'll have to start usig telephone wire or something.

    Sorry you are having trouble with the email. That's so frustrating, especially since you've missed sales because of it.

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  2. Oh, Shannon, I feel your pain! Silver is my true love and I almost feel nervous using it these days! But it has made me appreciate copper and brass. I know I'd love to see your jewelry on your blog :)

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  3. Oof, our choice of business is pretty challenging these days.

    So agree with you about Tim and Rio. Tim has got to be one of the nicest, most genuine people I've ever met. As for metals - I've got some of Hadar's steel metal clay in the kiln as we speak. Pain to fire and I was about to write it off, but it's looking pretty cool. Jury's still out, but I'm hopeful.

    Good luck with your Etsy annoyances ... hoping for a painless resolution.

    l i g a - kvk

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  4. I purchased some silver filled wire at the Beaducation booth at Beadfest. They said that it could be soldered and would take a patina with LOS. I have not had a chance to try it yet.

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  5. so very frustrating about the slevart etsy shop... i am sorry to hear about it... and silver filled wire ball ends very funky, so i don't know about soldering... keep your chin up shannon... the new work is gorgeous - as it always is... you have been so busy, that last post had my head spinning! but so glad to hear about the article submissions...

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  6. When I was about 9 years old, my family moved from the south to northern michigan - up by Lake Superior - an area known as "copper country". There were numerous areas where we saw copper nuggets laying around - it was quite interesting!

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  7. I've only tried some silver filled for wire wrapping and forging, and I liked it a lot. It takes patina well, but the process takes longer than with solid sterling for reasons I can't quite figure out. I've not tried soldering with it, though. Plus I don't think it'll ever get hard enough for earwires in 20g & 22g. So it has its plusses and minuses.

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  8. LOVE the copper rings with the amazin' patina~~yes, I miss silver too. Just feel stressed THINKING about using it because it's so much money!
    Rats about the email shenanegans...

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  9. I tried the sterling silver filled to make ball head pins and it's just not right. I would not recommend using it to solder either.

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  10. I just ordered a bunch of sterling filled wire from Monsterslayer that should be arriving today...I plan to try soldering it, so I will let you know how it goes! Silver has dropped a bit and is down at least $10 since I put my order in for the silver-filled, so let's hope it keeps going down! I suppose when we all resolve to start ordering silver-filled, that's when sterling will drop...Murphy's Law should kick in!

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Thank you for taking the time to read and comment on my blog, it means a lot to me.
Shannon