More Upcycling

So, update from yesterday..... my new Jade Scott goodies were in my mailbox so that was awesome! They are now laid out on my studio table for me to stare at every time I go in there! Another not so fun discovery I made yesterday is that my "tags" and "materials" in my Etsy items have been flipped around. Ugh, stupid me. I was trying so hard to figure out why, when I was testing out searches for my items, they weren't coming up. So, I have to set some time aside for the daunting task of updating all of that.

Anyway, what this post is really about are some projects that have been in the works for some time now. When I was in Wisconsin for Christmas, my Dad gave me these bits of scrap metal from a job he did at work. He said, "They look like peacock feathers, don't they?"

Why yes they do! Well, at least to me.......
So, I started to design some metal peacocks to which I could rivet these scraps to. I had the idea to do a series of 4 of them, since I had dreamed up 4 "poses" that a peacock could be in. So far, I have 2 completed. I have been drawing the bodies first on paper, and then tracing them onto the copper and cutting them out. I then etch a design onto them - in the case of this first one, I mirrored the pattern from the metal scraps onto the back for a cohesive look. I am thinking this one would make a nice pin.

This forward facing one turned into a necklace. A bit feminine, a bit industrial. Definitely a conversation piece.

In the end, the backside of this one did not look so pretty so I cut out another piece of copper, etched a border onto it, and stamped my initials into it.

These metal scraps are quite difficult to work with, and were the cause of an injury a few weeks ago. I forget what my Dad said they were made out of, but they are a very hard metal to drill through. Plus, the area that I need to drill through is very skinny so that makes it even more of a pain. At any rate, I broke a few drill bits in the process - one of which smashed into my thumbnail. Ouch!!! Luckily, that has grown out now and I have feeling back in my thumb. Ahhhh, the sacrifices I make for my jewelry! Hee. Hee.

I am kicking around the idea of grouping together my most favorite upcycled metal work and submitting it to a certain magazine. I think these peacocks would be cool, maybe my fork peacock, my tea strainer butterfly, etc....... We'll see!