Cleaning up Tarnished Copper

We’ve just had a client ask us how to keep their copper bracelet clean, so I thought I’d do a little research to see what I could come up with. A lot of this information also applies to sterling silver or gold – basically any metal that can tarnish.

Natural copper can tarnish over time as it reacts to air and the natural chemicals in your skin (a month could be all it takes to lose that beautiful coppery sheen). The reaction (called patina) will make the copper darken into a brown colour (like old pennies). [For interest’s sake, when copper is outside and exposed to the minerals in rain, copper will turn that light bluish-green colour (called verdigris) over time that really makes old architecture stand out - see the Parliament buildings in Ottawa or the Statue of Liberty in New York if you don’t know what I mean.] If you like the dull brown, leave it as is. If you want to keep your copper jewellery in that beautiful bright shade it comes in, there are a couple of things you can do.

When you first get your lovely new piece of jewellery, you could store it in a tightly closed container (a Ziploc bag will work in a pinch) with an anti-tarnish paper (a 1”x1” square is all you need). There are also baggies you can buy that are designed with a thin sheet of anti-tarnish plastic that does the same job. These items should be replaced every 6 months or so to keep your jewellery shiny and bright. Make sure to buy ‘jewellery’ anti-tarnish items as there are some industrial materials out there that can be abrasive to jewellery.

If you wear your jewellery every day or have some old jewellery that’s been sitting around, you’ll probably need to clean it. There are several store bought options (Copper Glo, Brasso Metal Polish and Wright’s Copper Cream are a few) – your local jewellery store or friendly eBay vendor will be able to set you straight. There are some homemade remedies you can try (to varying degrees of success), and they can most likely be found in your kitchen. Coke (or Pepsi) works like a charm – just check on it every few minutes to see how it’s doing and take it out when you think it’s ready. I tried this last night on some jewellery I had and it does a good job. However, I have read that if the patina is too strong on the item, this remedy won’t work too well. Other home grown solutions (not yet tried out by us though) are:
• Ketchup (smear it on, wait 10 minutes and rinse clean)
• Lemon & Salt (dip the lemon in salt, rub across the copper and rinse clean)

As always, the remedy you want depends on the amount of work you want to do. If you’re lazy (like me!), use a dip solution (like the coke) that you can drop your jewellery in and walk away for a bit. If you prefer to do things the hard way , then a cream or paste solution is your best bet. Use a cloth or an old toothbrush and have at it.

Good Luck and I hope this helps!
Cheers!

New Shows, New Patterns

We are now into November and the chilly weather is coming. This is not great because I am not a winter person – definitely born in the wrong hemisphere! However, that also means lots of craft shows to sign up for. We’ve done two now, both in small towns, both at Legions. Other vendors have told us that attendance was down significantly this year, whether that’s due to the economic situation or the H1N1 fears, who knows, but they were not anything to get excited about. They were good learning opportunities to see if we have everything for our table layout. Here’s a pic of our booth (and us!) at the latest show.

Stacey’s husband has done a wonderful job on all of the jewellery stands and card holders. They look really good and show off the jewellery nicely.

I’ve been working on some new patterns – I’ve tried out rings for the first time and they’re really cute! They can be made to any size and I’ve got them in two colours so far: the regular silver-colour as well as bright blue! I’ll have to invest in a hand-shaped stand to show them off properly! Next I’m going to try a bracelet to match, a little thicker – three times as wide as the rings, I think.

Another pattern I’ve been working on is called ‘Japanese Stepping Stones’. I’ve done it in copper to start. It takes a lot longer than other designs because of the amount of smaller rings, but it’s currently my favourite!

Until next time, have a great fall!
Sandy

The Other Sister

OK, so I'm the other sister, Stacey. This is my first blog!

I'm really excited about our very first craft show next weekend! I think I've spent waaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyy too much money on display equipment & supplies, but I'm also worried that we won't be ready enough for the show. I'm also spending a lot of time making jewellery, but somehow I'm not as concerned that we will sell out.

We've definitely picked a small show to start out with, but I think it will be good experience for us. We'll learn a lot, and our next show will be even better!

Slideshow, Yeah!

Well I finally got around to putting photos on a slideshow for this blog. It's been a busy month. We have our annual fall fair this weekend so for the last month, I've been concentrating on that, which doesn't leave a lot of time for creating fabulous jewellery, let alone the admin stuff that goes along with it. I'm a quilter at heart (my first love), so the fall fair is a fun way to show off and maybe get some ribbons. My sister and I did manage to head to Queen Street for some deals on beads and findings last weekend though. :) There's always time for shopping! I hope you enjoy the photos! Three weekends and counting until our first craft show so guess what I'm doing as soon as I sign off?? :)

Cheers,
Sandy

First Attempt

Alright, this is my first attempt at a blog so here goes. My sister and I have always enjoyed doing hand-crafts. I'm a quilter and have been for 5 years now. I'm good at it, will never win 'Grand Champion' at a fair, but I love doing it and all my gift recepients seem to enjoy them too. A couple of years ago my sister started to get into beading - mostly jewellery. Gorgeous stuff, and she loves doing it - so much variety out there to enjoy! With 2 completely different hobbies but both crafty, we starting going to the Creativ Festival in Toronto - every spring and every fall - we don't miss it EVER. It's a wonderful way to get new ideas and blow a couple of hundred bucks, all in one location! I always try to buy just for the projects I have going, but always end up with a few new ones too... my husband has stopped questioning my fabric purchases; he just shakes his head when he knows I've bought more! lol!



So Stace with her beading and me with my quilting, the Creativ Festival weekends are always a blast. However, that's only twice a year.... we'd get together on weekends and she'd bring me to yet another bead store and I'd be bored out of my tree. So. I decided to take up yet another hobby - Chainmaille jewellery. We both love anything medieval - castles, the Arthurian legend, gaelic festivals, the whole bit. I'd tried a bit of chainmaille as a teenager, but that was back in the day when all you could buy was the large, heavy steel rings designed with battle protection in mind. You know...King Arthur. And kind of impractical for a teenage girl living in Southern Ontario. But now, there are so many wonderful materials available, with only a click of the internet and a credit card away! My sister bought me my first kit from http://www.urbanmaille.com/ for Christmas 2 years ago and I was hooked! The kit I started on was sterling silver - absolutely gorgeous and I LOVE it and working with it, but it's so expensive. Bright aluminum is a good alternative - it's lighter and a whole lot cheaper, which means I could make jewellery to sell for a decent price.



So with the economy the way it is, and my mind on the potentially soon next generation (and therefore stay-at-home occupations), we started to think about selling on Etsy and becoming vendors at craft shows around the area. We both have full time jobs so this will just be part time for now, but who knows; if it takes off, it'll be great!



We set up on Etsy at the end of June http://www.sgsquared.etsy.com/. Apparently it takes a while to get going on that site so we're not too discouraged (yet! lol!). We've had one buyer on there so far (thank you Tile Goddess!!). But we've discovered that friends and work people are a great way to sell things! Stace and her husband are HUGE into cars - they have (let's see if I can get this right, me not having the slightest interest in the mechanical beasts...) a metallic blue '68 camaro (hers), an absolutely beautiful '32 Coupe (Jamie's) that's won a bunch of awards at shows (it really is a pretty car - it has flames), as well as a '29 Ford pickup that Jamie just finished building from scratch by himself. Well, he had a bit of help from various friends and family - let me tell you the door panels are beautiful! (can you guess which part of the car I helped with???) They just drove this one out east on an annual non-profit car tour they help organize. The car worked perfectly for the whole trip (so proud of him!!). If this is your thing, check out http://www.canadianrodder.com/. Anyway, I digress. Stace was at yet another car show a couple of weekends ago, and sold a couple of her necklaces to some of her car friends! Pretty cool!



Our first official craft show is coming up on October 17th in Victoria Harbour (where our mum lives). We're nervous but excited. It's a small town, so it's a good place to start. We looked at being a vendor at the Christmas Show at the Molson Centre in Barrie but they have 10,000-12,000 people through that show! That's a crazy amount of stock needed to do that show! I don't think we're quite there yet... we'll get a few smaller shows under our belt and see how it goes.



Anyways, I think I've babbled on long enough. Thanks for still reading. I'll post some photos soon. I hope this helps other people who are looking at doing the same thing - I'd love to hear from you if you are...

Cheers,
Sandy