All in a day's work

This weekend was a busy one for me. I only work two saturdays a year, and this was the saturday that I had to go in. It was only for a few hours, but it still bit a chunk out of my day.

Once I got back from work, did all the usual things that needed doing, and settled in for the evening, I sat myself down in front of my anvil and worked on some new things. I've been making a lot of smaller shawl pins that are fairly quick and easy to make. I'd also been etching a lot of pendants over the course of the week, so I had to mix up some liver of sulfer so I could oxidize them.

By the time I was finished it was nearly 9:30 at night, and my fingers were stained with etching solution, resist, and the excess patina that I'd polished off the copper and silver when I was done oxidizing it.

This is one of the etched pieces I put together:



and some of the shawl pins:







and a pair of earrings:



I have about half a dozen more etched pieces waiting to be made into necklaces. I'll take care of those tomorrow after I get out of work. Ah, to be able to do this full time. But my regular job is what pays the bills, so keep it I must.