Sunday, July 10, 2011

All Things Emmys - Part 2

At the risk of developing rough scaly man-hands, I chose to make 100 Trash Metal Collection® horseshoe pendants for the Emmy Awards celebrity gift bags.  Way back in April I made 1.  No problem.  As I set out to make 100 I slowly realized what I had gotten myself into.  And being the procrastinator that I am the clock is ticking...louder and louder.

I've recently set aside all household duties (not that they were ever high on my list anyway), friends, family, and beautiful sunny days in order to make some progress.  So here's what I've been up to...

The process begins with sawing
I saw all the horseshoes and rectangular backplates by hand from sterling silver sheet.  I also threw in a couple of copper horseshoes to mix it up a little.

Then I file them all to get out the rough spots.

Next step is to drill 5 tiny holes in each horseshoe.  The holes serve no purpose, they are just part of the design because I thought they looked cool.   After drilling 500 freaking tiny ass holes I began to rethink their coolness. 

Now the rectangles need to be treated to my signature "trashing" technique and the backs stamped with my logo.

Ok so now horseshoes and rectangles are ready to be soldered together.  But since I saw them all by hand none of them are exactly the same size.  So I sort through them all pairing up the ones that look best together.

Let the soldering begin!
My favorite part, playing with fire heeheehee...

After the torching all the pieces go in the pickle pot for clean up

Take them out, rinse them off, and now I have a big pile of pendants

They still need to be sanded, oxidized, buffed, tumbled, polished, attached to chains, etc...and finally packaged. "I'll get to it, I swear.  I do my best work under pressure", said the procrastinator.

11 comments:

  1. "After drilling 500 freaking tiny ass holes I began to rethink their coolness." ROFL I feel your pain! Those are just gorgeous, Autumn. Way to go!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow, Autumn! And I thought my stuff was gonna drive me crazy. :) They look marvelous!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Love this!! You silly girl, the holes are for the horseshoe nails to hold the horse shoes on- they really do have a purpose! Terrific post.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Autumn, better you than me! They do really look great! Now you will need a hand massage!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Great post, and you're a girl after my own heart in the incredible usage of space on your silver sheet, I hate the waste unplanned sawing creates! lol.

    ReplyDelete
  6. WOW! That's a long process! I hope you get good results from it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Autumn, These are going to be beautiful when you are done. Original Handmade items take time, patience, and a bit of wear and tear on our hands. But in the end it's all worth it, right?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks everyone! Yep, totally worth it :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. Wow Autumn, that's a LOT of work. (and that's a huge sheet of silver!)

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bless your heart for all the sawing--a lot of work. But the lucky celebs who get one of your pendants. Diane http://catcophony.artfire.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. Those holes just make the whole thing! They are a definite "must" :-)
    Your pendants are beautiful.

    ReplyDelete