Sunday, February 6, 2011

6 February 2011

Sophie did a jewelry experiment this week with something called Art Clay. It's easy to see why it's a favorite with jewelry makers. Art Clay is 99% silver, but it looks like clay and can be shaped and molded like clay. Sophie decided to make a ring for her first project. She rolled out a strip of clay, embossed it with rubber stamps and shaped it into a ring.

After letting the clay dry, she smoothed the rough edges with a nail file. Then she heated the ring, burning the clay away and leaving a nearly pure silver ring.
 
She burnished the silver using a wire brush and an agate burnisher. Sophie's mind is whirling with possibilities for future projects. The entire process was fascinating to watch-- alchemy come to life.
 

Pictionary is a favorite activity for family night. We think our kids play pictionary in reverse-- they try to stretch out their drawing time as long as possible by drawing as slowly as they can or leaving out details which might help someone guess their drawing earlier. Gibson really made it tough this week. His prompt was to draw "obey the commandments." He drew R2D2. 


Brandan and Sophie have started a new project together. They're building a harp. The first step was planing a big piece of walnut smooth. This project will take a long time to complete, probably a year or more, and we'll post more photos as the harp progresses. You can see an example of the kind of harp they are building here: https://www.thorharp.com/index.htm

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

They are building a harp? It doesn't matter what else I do this week, it will never be that interesting. I look forward to seeing the progress!

Kristi said...

I was impressed with Sophie's ring, but a harp? Wow. I think you may be the first to dream of making a homemade harp. Well, maybe not, but I know that with the caliber of work you two do, it will be beautiful and amazing.

Mitchell Family said...

Loved it all--the ring, the harp and R2D2. And of course get R2D2 is obedience. It shows Gibson has a brilliant understanding of symbolism. I love the image R2D2 wandering off in the desert alone determined to carry out the Princess Leia's mission. I also liked a glimpse into Brandan's wood shop it looks so organized.