Day 3, the experimenting continues

So here we are on day 3 of experimenting in the studios.  Not too much got done today, due to a headache that struck this afternoon.  Not sure how I irritated my neck to cause that, haven't had one of those in awhile and really hadn't missed them at all.  But fear not, there are lots of ideas floating around in my head and hopefully I will get tons done tomorrow.

Started with some wire work that I enameled.  I saw some lovely enameled wire flowers by Jennifer LaVite on the Painting with Fire ning.  If you are interested in torch fired enamel I encourage you to join this fun, supportive group of inspiring ladies.  Jennifer's flowers reminded me of little wire angels I had made in the past after seeing them on an episode of Carol Duval.  So, I made up a quick little angle out of 19g dark annealed steel wire and enameled with torch firing.  I used cobalt and foundation white, then added a cat's eye bead for her head.

Thankfully she is made to hang as a pendant and not stand, she stands a tad crooked.

Then another stamping and enameled piece.  This one is cut from 24g copper, and hammered so it's domed slightly.  Enameled with a few coats of clear, stamped with Stazon, sifted with victoria red and refired.

This one still needs a bail soldered on it since I didn't want a hole in my heart.  I like that the stamping isn't quite perfect, feels more organic to me.  Tip of the day: After stamping and sifting allow to dry a bit, tap off and use a small dry paint brush to remove any excess enamel grains.  This prevents shadow color that you may not want.

The pieces that follow are experiments from last week:

Sometimes you have to share the uglies too.  These are brass pieces for a bracelet.  Notice the missing chips of enamel on 2 out of 3?  The enamel keeps pinging off these spots.  This may be because i need to counter enamel on the back, I thought I could get away without it since they are domed but perhaps not.  However, I am determined to make it work because I really like the granite effect I got by mixing black and foundation white.  So those 2 chippy pieces plus 2 more of the links will be refired tomorrow, think happy enamel sticking thoughts for me on this one :).

This little dragonfly I did either last week or the week before.  I neither love nor hate him.  I'm undecided as to what it is I don't love about him.  Any critiques or ideas why I don't love him?

Hopefully tomorrows pics will be crowded with several pieces per pic.  See ya then!