Let's Torch It!

PRELIMINARY METAL AGING UNIT

INTERMEDIATE 3-D ART

copper, brass, aluminum, silver

A favorite unit of my intermediate 3-D kids is learning to work with metals.

Expensive?

A bit, but so creative and exciting.

They learn to use a propane torch to melt, anneal and patina the metal.

We also do two other patina recipes, one with vinegar, the other, ammonia.

They etch the metal, stamp it, puncture holes, set eyelets, deckle it.

The list is long, and a great project to end the year with.

These two pieces belong to junior Laarnie Barcelon.

Laarnie did this one below first to try out many of the techniques required.

Next she created this book, again bringing in so many of the techniques she learned in the unit.

Enjoy looking at her book from various angles.

Metal Jewelry Unit - Part I

Every year I do a unit with my Intermediate 3-D kids to introduce them to metal jewelry and what you can do with copper, brass and a small bit of silver.  Techniques that are covered are stamping/embossing, cutting, acid etching, various patinas, setting eyelets, drilling holes, annealing, and a few other cool things.  Then I have the kids make 6 pieces in which they show me they've tried them all.

Above and below are the pieces that were done by senior Noel Kim.  You can see all the creative ways...

she thought up to design her pieces with.

These next six above are the work of senior Ingrid Huang, and as you can see in the two pix below she also came up with some really cool ideas.

This next one above was done by senior Andrea De Leon.  Love how she heated up the ends of the copper wires until they melted and formed balls on the ends.

This next group of six was the hard work of junior Nida Fatima.  Just look at her go with all these crazy, wonderful designs!  And i really like how she turned many of them into key chains.

A few close-ups.

And the ones in this last series are the incredible work that is senior Elsie Aguilar.  She went all out on her samples, dedicating her metal book to her older sister Heide.

And her stamped mica pieces to her mom and dad.

And my favorite, her feather below.

Metal Jewelry - Part Two

Senior Johanna Paz made her six into clever dangle earrings.

And junior Rita Labib created this gorgeous ring above and below. 

Also by Rita, yes good old Rita  LOL, this fabulous neckpiece.  She can't help it, she's just a super star  :)

Close-ups

And now we have junior Kevin Tang, no slouch either in the design department, with this cool necklace. 

Rings by Kevin too.

And more, yes, more.  Earrings by Kevin as well!  Ya think he enjoyed this unit or what??  :)

This incredible leaf is the work of one of my favorite students, junior Joyce Le.  The patina that she was able to achieve with the torch is exquisite.  

And below another extremely wonderful design by senior Erica Roderos.  She used a sawdust/vinegar patina on this work.  Pretty cool, huh?  :)

4th Quarter Final -Student Work

Check out these pieces from my 2 top 3-D kids.  They had to research new cold connection techniques in copper and brass from several books I brought in, and then pick 2 techniques to put together in one original work. 

This first piece is by senior Kelsea Lee.  She has actually put together more then 2 techniques, she is hammering the metal, weaving with wire and thin copper strips, embossing, and putting a patina on the metal.  Below is a close up of the tiny seed beads she strung before she started to weave.

The other student, senior Nandi Best, so loved this assignment that she came in every snack and lunch period, so that she could make several pieces.  She started off with these gorgeous pair of earrings for her grandmother.  The patina she is putting on the metal is from an ammonia dip.  And the balls she got at the end of the wire came from using a propane torch and melting the wire until it formed a bead at the end.

In this next work, a too dye for piece, she built a book with etched and patina-ed copper sheets.

I really like how she used many different kinds of paper and deckled the edges.  She also put on a layer of both gloss and matt medium to seal the patina on the metal.

And in her last piece she wove paper with copper strips, did some embellishment on top and around the edges, used several fun papers, and turned this into another book.

Really like the feather she put on top, you wouldn't expect it in a work like this, but it really softens the piece.

Preliminary Metals Unit - Student Work

I save one of the most complex units for the end of the year in my Intermediate 3-d class.  It's a metals unit, and the kids learn how to cut, deckle edges, anneal, emboss, etch, bend, puncture, add eyelets, cut openings, polish, and age copper.   Then the students get a chance to design and make a little something to show off what they've learned.  Unfortunately, we ran out of time this year and only had 5 days to learn all the techniques and build something.  These were the results.  This really intricate top one was done by senior Brittaney Lee.  

This really cute moon and star piece was created by junior Carolina Navor, and below hers is senior Miya Clark's clever key chain. 

Love all the embellishments senior Florence Buendia added to her two pieces above, and senior Jessica Jay really liked using the etching solution to help in the designing of her 2 pieces. 

Rachel Rilloraza - Student Art

Senior Rachel Rilloraza has been taking art classes from me since she was a 7th grader. She is currently in 2 of my classes and did this piece at the beginning of the school year. Because she is in a 4th year special studies crafts class with me she gets to create her own assignments. I had bought this wonderful new metal product that can be manipulated and embossed and thought she might be interested in sculpting with it, so this was her end result. What I especially appreciate about Rachel is that she goes the extra mile to frame out many of her pieces.

A close up of her mask. Sorry it's a little blurry.