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Oh Commissions How I Love Thee...

How do you all approach commissions?
I utterly love them.  It is a chance to work close with the client and design something pretty bad ass!

Remember my list from last week?
Step...

1.  This is going to be AWESOME

The design...
Nothing fancy here.  The difficult part was figuring out the font.
Do you all realize how many fonts there are?
I think I need a degree in graphic design and an MBA!  We need to know how to do so many things!

OH I digress...I used PnP paper.
First try was a bust only because I forgot to clean my metal!
Oh Kalaya!!!

On the second try not all of the letters transferred.  I just filled them in with my trusty oil based sharpie there.
Etched for 45 minutes using electrolysis with sodium chloride and cleaning every 15 minutes.

I got a pretty good etch.  I etched off close to half the thickness of the metal.

I am hypothesizing that the uneven etch across the sheet is due to my tubing in the etching unit.
I am in the process of designing another anode.
In the mean time I actually like the unevenness.  It gives the piece movement.

Step 2.  This is going to be tricky.
After showing the client they suggested some trees and perhaps a mountain.
I do aim to please.  LOL!
I pierced a tree which was a little tricky but not so bad.
I had originally drew lines for mountains in the "O's" but it didn't work out.

Often during the creative process I get an idea.  I decided to draw and then chase the mountains into the metal.  This was tricky and made me nervous.  Just one slip and I would have to start over.
Holding breathe here while I chase.
Well...hot damn it worked!
Now I can breathe.

I am in the last stretch.
Next...
Patina
and then 
Rivet
to the buckle.
Here is the back side of the buckle.

I am not out of the woods yet.  
There is plenty of time for all hell to break loose!

But this is going to be a really cool buckle!  
Real fun because it is a secret and they are going to give this to him real soon.
Well...as soon as I finish.  

I will post the finished piece next week.
It's going to be AWESOME.

So you noticed that I skipped some steps...
Step 3 & 4
This is shit.
I am shit.

Sometimes those steps don't happen.  :)

Have an AWESOME Friday!
I think I met my quota for the word "awesome" today.
_/\_

Namaste
Kalaya
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Comments

  1. Cinnamon JewelleryAugust 1, 2015 at 3:29 AM

    Looking good. You are very clever :D

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kalaya SteedeAugust 1, 2015 at 8:41 AM

      Making me blush! Thanks Tracy. I forgot to mention that this etching was done by using sodium chloride. Ooops! I plan on revealing the buckle on my FB page today since they gave the dude his buckle already. :)

      Delete

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