Two bears were seen causing a ruckus in our community a few nights ago. They know how to open car doors to gain access to the forgotten snacks inside the vehicles. And they did just that in almost every driveway in town before eventually wandering down to my studio where they felt the porch needed its feng shui adjusted. So they rearranged the furniture. It may have been prompted by an empty bottle of fish fertilizer in the corner. Anyway, I like what they did…. it really ties the porch together and they were respectful enough not to mess with my ‘patina station’ which is where these cuffs were sitting.
As a jewelry artist, working with metal provides an opportunity for me to experiment and express with color, shape, texture, and pattern. Patinas are a way to add depth and color to jewelry. There are many types of patinas that react differently on different types of metal. Generally, I just stick to adding black to the recessed areas of my designs and remove the patina from the high spots. Fingers and baking soda make great tools for this. I dip my wet fingers into my baking soda and then rub the patina away from the high spots, then rinse and polish the piece of jewelry as desired. This helps accentuate the details and the textures, making the jewelry more visually interesting.
