5 Years of Art School at Work

Our jewelry store isn't like other jewelry stores... why use only standard black velvet displays when that twisted log in my backyard looks so rad? Buddha coin bank was just cryin' out for some necklaces... and antique iron trivets- I think I can find a good home for those. We have an incurable habit of leaving every park, antique shop, yard or basement with pockets full of miscellaneous objects and debris that somehow can be worked into a jewelry case display. Sometimes it can be awkward to explain when standing in line at the supermarket with 3 pounds of Goya dried beans- "Making soup tonight m'am?" "Uhhh.... not exactly". The folks at Home Depot seem the most confused as to what exactly I'm making, but I've learned that the simple phrase "It's for an art project" will usually receive a bland stare and an "oooh, ok" and will avoid further questions. Maybe we need more avenues to express our inner artists or maybe we just made too many dioramas as kids.

Emily and Ashley turn up the HOTNESS

Well folks, September is back again and you know what that means... enameling season is here!!! What were you thinking? Back to school season? Not really a factor for us here at the shop. Now a-days our year is judged by what conditions we can bear for certain metalsmithing endeavors. Nothing more lovely that warming one's hands by the kiln on a crisp Autumn day, but try sitting next to the thing in mid July while it radiates 1450 degrees Fahrenheit and you'll see why we only do it certain times a year.
Real vitreous glass enameling is a time-consuming, labor-intensive, eye-straining, back-aching process which only true devotees continue to practice. Champleve, the technique we use the most, is a method of glass inlay. First we create a metal piece with recessed areas-this can be done by either etching, carving, or piercing (sawing out a design and overlaying it on a backer sheet). Next we choose our ground glass powder colors and mix them with Klyr-fire (a tree resin product) and distilled water. Using a very fine paint brush or tiny spatula we fill the recesses in the metal with the glass/klyrfire/water mixture and let it dry. Once dry, we put the piece on a trivet or sheet of mica and place on a steel mesh rack which we lift into the kiln with that fencing-stick looking thing (sticking your hands into a kiln is a BIG no-no). In a few minutes the steel rack will be glowing a orangey/red and we know it is time to take it out. The glass should be smooth and shiny - underfiring will result in grainy or "orange peel" look (sometimes used for stylistic effect) and overfiring can change the colors to brownish hues or burn out the edges (which can also look cool for certain applications). Repeat the filling and firing many times until the glass completely fills the recess. Now the real fun starts! Grinding the glass down until it's flush with the metal and your fingers bleed and you've lost the will to live. Proceed to sanding and polishing out grindstone marks and re-fire to glaze the glass. Then polish again! It's really a blast. I kid, but really, it looks beautiful and (we feel) is worth it in the end. We hope you think so too ;)

We're #8 !!!

Nyack, NY has been proclaimed #8 "Coolest Small Town in America" by Arthur Frommer's Budget Travel magazine 2010. In your face Medicine Park, Oklahoma and Egg Harbor, Wisconsin (#9 and #10)! Just kidding -I'm sure they're lovely too. Anyway, we got a small mention of our shop, Torch Song Metals, and a picture of my very messy... I mean productive workbench. Other highlighted shops include: Franklin Antique Center across the way from us and jam-packed with fun stuff, Winter Wednesday Flowers which had beautiful arrangements but has sadly closed, Patisserie Didier Dumas our nextdoor neighbor friend who makes the best French pastries this side of the Atlantic, The Hudson House renowned for it's fine cuisine and delicious cocktails, and Riverview B&B which I am not familiar with, but that's just because I live here and therefore have never gone looking for a great place to stay. And just a note: there is not a floating mansion above our main drag- the scan just shows what was on the other side of the page... though I'm sure we would have made #1 if it was real... maybe we better get to work on that.

Kustom Kills and Hot Rod Thrills

This past Saturday we cruised on down to the 10th Annual Rumbler's car show under the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and had a blast. We started out 'round the corner at Hanna foods and got the most delectable sandwich two pieces of bread could possibly contain. Then we oogled all the hot rods, rat rods, and gassers our eyes could take in. We saw our shop buddy Chris Machin with his rad hand pinstriped artifacts. Then we settled the afternoon at Union Pool for a couple a beers and some grade A people watching. It's pretty crazy for us to contemplate the amount of work that goes into a custom car- it's a whole different level of craft to work on a single project for years when we usually spend a week tops on a custom jewelry piece. So we tip our hats to all you mad mechanics out there. We may be tiny tinkerers in comparison, but we hold true with metalworker solidarity- so keep up the great work fellas!

Kick Out the Jams!

I've rediscovered a whole new world of awesomeness.... are you ready for it? Homemade jam- it's going to blow your mind to a million pieces THEN you're gonna go out to the grocery store with a baseball bat and smash to very sticky bits all the jars of Smuckers you can find. And after the red haze clears you will gather what people you can who are standing still in shock and haven't run away screaming and sing them the gospel of home-canning. "Thou shalt not have high fructose corn syrup! Hallelujah! Bring forth the fresh flavor my brothers and sisters! Cast out artificial preservatives and additives! Do not be slaves to the devil in a mass-produced home-style look-alike label! Amen."

Our garden is producing way more this year than we can eat readily so I decided to explore hot water bath canning- something I haven't done in over 15 years. I bought a book called "Canning for a New Generation: Bold Fresh Flavors for the Modern Pantry" by Liana Krissoff and it totally rules school. It's easy to be scared off canning because just about every book and website puts the almighty fear of Botulism in you and gives you such a severe level of paranoia that you will start to believe that if you look at the vegetables the wrong way they will kill you. But let's get this clear- fruits and veggies are not like gang thugs lookin' for an excuse to put a cap in your ass- if treated properly they are really fine respectable (and delicious) citizens. This book is so simple to follow and reader friendly and the recipes are all things that I would want to eat.

So this afternoon I made the recipe for "Blueberry and Apple Jam" and holy s#!t is it unbelievable. With nothing more than organic blueberries, granny smith apples, a lemon and some plain old sugar I was able to create bliss. I could practically eat a whole jar with nothing more than a spoon. I might become a canning addict. Other mouth-watering borderline orgasmic recipes include "Strawberry Jam with Thai Herbs", "Pickled Fennel with Orange and Mint", "Brandied Sweet Cherries with Red Wine", "Peach Jam with Lemon Thyme and Almonds", "Persian Tarragon Pickles", and "Honeyed Fig Jam with Sesame Seeds" to name a few. The list goes on and on, but I'll stop now so that you'll finish reading and not immediately drop your laptop and go running for the nearest book store and/or farmer's market. I certainly don't want to cause any panicked preserve-related incidents. Anyway, the point of this story is TRY THIS OUT - it is completely and utterly satisfying in every way. The end.

Just another rainy Monday afternoon with Emily and her time machine...

Yesterday I started out the day picking tomatos from my garden and spent about 3 hours making homemade tomato sauce, then I proceeded to cut out pieces for a new dress that I'm sewing and decided to finish off the evening by making honest-to-goodness from scratch chocolate chip cookies (no store bought dough ever enters this house!). So either I'm the coolest chick in town, or more likely, I'm an 80 year old woman trapped in a 28 year old body.

Though I've made my career through metalsmithing, I have a true lust for all things handmade. I prefer to think of myself as "homey" and not some sort of separatist Luddite. Sure, the convience of factory made stuff is great, but quality handcrafts have such greater value. I've been talking quite a lot about doing some tutorial videos for this blog, but haven't quite figured out how to make a video or edit it (any techie who wants to give a hand feel free!). But, for now, I think I'll start doing some photo documentation so I can rattle my head off to any of you kind folks willing to listen. So here's a taste of what's to come and anybody who wants to try out the wares, just mosey on down to the homestead and we'll split some cookies over tea.

Hyperactivated Pickle; a jeweler's wet dream

Jeweler's have secret lusts that most people would find odd.... is it wrong or unnatural to get shivers down my spine when gazing at a drop-forged steel anvil? or feel my pulse quicken at the thought of a Cavallin Rolling mill? I think not. Well one of the things that fills me with joy is tips and tricks to make my work easier. Most American jeweler's use sparex to "pickle" (clean) their metal which is commonly thought of as an acid, but is in fact a salt. In Europe, I'm told, they still use alum which is the origin of the term "pickle" because alum is an ingredient in cucumber pickles. Hyperactivated pickle is made by adding hydrogen peroxide to sparex pickle and it becomes a magical liquid that removes the copper scale that sometimes occurs when heating brass and the gray firescale that occurs on silver. And like the sexy mofo that it is, the hyperpickle caresses the metal all over making it look and feel beautiful. I bet from the title of this blog you thought be much naughtier and far less educational, huh? sorry... i'm just a big metalsmithing nerd.