Making earrings

I started with some aluminum cans

 and cut the rim off the can

 Then cut the side off the can creating a strip of metal

The stip inserts into the disc cutter and with a heavy blow from a brass hammer (orange hammer on side) the disc is created.

 Here are disc created in different sizes using 2 colors of cns.

 The strip created with the can the way it started

 Several disc cut from the strip

 Sometimes I get a little close to the edge and the strip gets stuck

Ready to make lots of earrings. I wash these disc and remove goo from the labels and smooth the edges. Earrings are put together with rivets or eyelets and are coated in acrylic to give them a smooth finish.

This isn't the only shape I work with of course.
Here are some finished earrings.

Work at Steuben Trust Bank in June

June is on the way out but my work is still up at Steuben Trust Bank in Wellsville. The bank hosts a different member, or two, of the Allegany Artisans every month.

While I was out today one of the bank's staff told me that people are noticing my huge chicken - Sarah Jane - and my tin work behind the tellers.

One of the pieces on the wall is The Happy Lady. I was harvesting some tin cans and a woman came up to me and asked if I would wait for her to finish her diet Coke. I thought that she thought I was collecting returnable cans and thought she was so sweet to offer that but no, it was even better.

She knew me as the Chicken Lady and said that she wanted one of her cans to be part of one of my chickens. The really bright silver parts of the tail of The Happy Lady is from her soft drink can.

Below are other photos of items at the bank. There's a drawing going on there too. I'll go in on Tuesday and pick a winner.

Elaine and Sarah Jane - She has a very fancy vent and a carved rooster on the bottom. And, if I may say, my best beak ever.

Sponge holders and pen holders.

refurbished horns on the 1939 Chevy

No heat in the kilns for a couple of days

Major reconstruction underway courtesy of Rick. (Thank goodness.)

From November 2011's kiln

Spread out on the dining room table

Made as a demonstration during the 2010 Studio Tour

Bees Cookie Jar not at the Canacadea Country Store

A pile of plates for Ann

Call the footman to bring a ruler. This knife is crooked.

From Clay to Found Object Tin

I do make pottery. I make a lot of pottery but I also work with metals. This is my latest tin sculpture, still unnamed.

It is based on 2 flattened olive oil cans. The fins and scales are from Country Time Lemonade cans that were flattened and then cut or punched. The gold details are from an old waste paper can. The eye once held a rivet to a wooden foot.

The blue details are from cat food cans and they were crenelated in my newest tool. It's a great tool but only takes pieces 2 inches wide and only from very light gauge metals. It might actually be able to deal with heavier material but my fingers can not.

The pink? From Ferrero Rocher candies. There are hundreds of heavy staples, each bent over by hand and then a few pop rivets. There's a hanging wire on the back. From tail to layered lips it is 18 inches long.