Charm Swap 18

We haven't posted much about it but we are wrapping up another Etsy Metal Charm Swap. This time around our theme is "Tools". Some participants made actual tools and some made charms inspired by certain tools. This is what we have completed so far. 

The file is made by Nina of NinaGibsonDesigns. The hammer by Regina of ReginaMarieDesigns. The knife was made by Victoria of Experimetal . The fire charm by Norosola of Samaelle. The dagger by Ruby of  Iacua. And the calipers were made by Elise of EMWmetalworks. 

More to come! ~Michele of MicheleGradyDesigns

Etsy Metal Charm Swap 17: Progress Report 6

 Michele Grady has received her first Charm Swap package!
They will all be rolling in shortly. I have gathered a few photos below of  some of the finished and in progress pics that were shared by the swappers this week.

 

The way the swap works is, Etsymetal members sign up to participate. The number of sign ups we have decides the number of charms to make. This time there are 7 participants and a theme of "Animals". Each participant makes a charm for each member plus 2 extra. When they are finished they send the charms to one of the curators who in turn will sort and pass them back out to the 7 participants. The 2 extra charms have a purpose as well. One individual charm will be sold in the EtsyMetal shop and the other one will be going on a "charm holder" necklace this time around instead of a bracelet. 50% of the funds collected from the sale of the charm swap bracelets and necklaces will be donated to a Youth Arts Organization (TBA) to support budding young artists. Below are the Artists participating in Charm Swap 17 and some work in progress photos:

Victoria Takahashi    Michele Grady   Jessica Lopour   

Andrea Ring   Stacey Maddock   Nina Gibson   Regina Ewer 

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Andrea Ring "Tiger"

Nina Gibson "Koi Pond"

 

 
Stacey Maddock "Where We Live"

Regina Ewer  "Clown Fish"

Victoria Takahashi "Handcarved Antlers" and packaging.


Michele Grady  & Jessica Lopour  
are busily working away on their charms, can't wait to see them!

Stay tuned to see the "Shop Charm necklace" that will have a handmade charm holder made by Michele Grady and it will be available in the shop in the very near future also along with an individual charm from each maker.
Thank you for following along with us <3 font="">
See you soon!
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Etsy Metal Charm Swap 17: Progress Report 4

Countdown! Only 22 days until these will be finished and in the hands of me, Michele Grady. No this is not Victoria Tackahashi posting this week's update. She is having some torch issues she needs to take care of this week so I'm filling in for her but she will be back soon!  Now back to the swap...The way the swap works is members sign up to participate. The number of sign ups we have decides the number of charms to make. This time there are 7 participants and a theme of "Animals". Each participant makes a charm for each member plus 2 extra. When they are finished they send the charms to one of the curators who in turn will sort and pass them back out to the 7 participants. The 2 extra charms have a purpose as well. One individual charm will be sold in the EtsyMetal shop and the other one will be going on a "charm holder" necklace this time around instead of a bracelet. 50% of the funds collected from the sale of the charm swap bracelets and necklaces will be donated to a Youth Arts Organization (TBA) to support budding young artists.

Below are the Artists participating in Charm Swap 17 and some work in progress photos:

Victoria Takahashi    Michele Grady   Jessica Lopour   

Andrea Ring   Stacey Maddock   Nina Gibson   Regina Ewer 

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First we have an update from Nina Gibson of NinaGibsonDesigns. Nina made a bunch of fish from a die and sent in a few options of what she should do with them next...Can't wait to see which sample sketch she ends up using for her charm! 

Victoria Tackahashi  from Experimetal sent in this photo and says "My charms (pendants) have taken a complete turnaround once again. Now I am hand carving antlers again and making steel stamps to personalize the caps, they will all be completely different individuals"

Jessica Lopour from AbellaBlue sent in her photo and says "I have just finished my sample and finalized my design. Now I am working on gathering the components and cutting out all the pieces to solder together."

Andrea Ring from AmuckDesign sent in her update photo and says "Made and printed a tiger pattern to transfer onto metal for etching. Decided to do keum boo for the stripes on front of the tiger."

And last but not least Stacey Maddock from StaceyMaddockDesigns has her first charm finished! She says "Not a finished shot but a finished charm! Mine will go in the mail soon! Calling it 'the place where we live'

That's all I have for this week so check back here again next week for Victoria's latest news on the swap! 

EtsyMetal Charm Swap 17 Progress Report 3

Countdown begins!  only 37 more days until these will be finished and in the hands of our Curator Michele Grady! She will then sort and pass the 9 charms out amongst the 7 participants. We always make 2 extra charms, one individual charm will be sold in the EtsyMetal Shop, and the other one will be getting attached onto a "Charm Holder" and on a Necklace for this round!
50% of the funds collected from these Charm Swap Bracelets and Necklaces will be donated to a Youth Arts Organization (tbd) to support budding young artists!

Below are the Artists participating in Charm Swap 17, 2016!

And some work-in-progress shots!

Victoria Takahashi    Michele Grady   Jessica Lopour   

Andrea Ring   Stacey Maddock   Nina Gibson   Regina Ewer 

~*~

 

Michele Grady - Michele Grady Designs
"Playing around with my new die and trying to decide which animal to use in my charms. This is a photo of the die and the elephant head I embossed in silver sheet. It still needs work but I'm liking the idea!"

 Andrea Ring - Amuck Designs
"After cutting out this next layer and the stripes I think I will stamp the stripe pattern in the metal rather than cutting them out. I've also chosen to use citrine for the eyes this week."

Stacey Maddock - SMaddockDesigns
"Designing etsymetal charm and can't decide...leaf or no leaf?"
If you want to help Stacey decide you can comment here ;)

Nina Gibson - Nina Gibson Designs  

 "I ordered a tool too. It hasn't come in yet. I'll keep you posted. It has to travel a long way."

 

 Jessica Lopour - AbellaBlue  

"Sorry, nothing yet. But I should have something soon!" 

   

Victoria Takahashi - Experimetal 

"I have finally gotten my paper model to look correctly, not to figure out what size, then I'll shrink it down to teensy-weensie size and I will be ready to saw!"

 

~*~

Thank you and see you again in a few days for our next update!

EtsyMetal Charm Swap 17 Progress Report 2

Countdown begins!  46 more days until these will be finished and in the hands of our Curator Michele Grady! She will then sort and pass the 9 charms out amongst the 7 participants. We always make 2 extra charms, so one individual charm will get sold in the EtsyMetal Shop, and the other one gets attached onto a bracelet with the 6 others, but this time it seems we will have a perfect amount for a Charm Necklace, and these will come on a charm keeper!
50% of the funds collected from these Charm Swap Bracelets and Necklaces will be donated to a Youth Arts Organization (tbd) to support budding young artists!

Below are the Artists participating in Charm Swap 17, 2016!

And some work-in-progress shots!

Victoria Takahashi    Michele Grady   Jessica Lopour   

Andrea Ring   Stacey Maddock   Nina Gibson   Regina Ewer 

 

Andrea Ring of Amuck Designs

Look very closely and see actually how small this Tiger is!

To create something this complex and small, is a great feat in itself!

 

 

Stacey Maddock of smaddockdesigns  

Stacey says, "Not as much about the animals themselves, but where they live.

Places in nature and colors are what come to mind. More to come soon!"

 

 

Victoria Takahashi of Experimetal

"I am just mocking up my design and deciding on the actual animal this will become. My animal will be sitting in a box about 1.25 to 1.5" square. I am making them a bit bigger and more complex now than originally planned since we have the great luxury of our charms being on a charm necklace this time!

I'm very excited as we have a fantastic line up of very talented Jewelry Artists this round!"

 

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If you have some time and want to take a peek at some really cool pieces, you can see the charms & bracelets from past charm swaps in our EtsyMetal Team Shop, some are sold, but some are also still available!

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Stay tuned for next weeks Progress Report!

Thanks for reading!

EtsyMetal Charm Swap 17 Progress!

Our EtsyMetal Team Charm Swap is underway! There is a voluntary "Animal" theme this round! We have gotten off to a bit of a late start this round but we are pulling it together and here is the progress so far. We have a very light roster this swap so expect to see some extra fantastic artwork this round! If this swap is under 10 participants we are more than likely to make a charm necklace for our shop instead of a bracelet. And as always, 50% of the proceeds will go towards the support of a Youth Arts Organization. (TBD)

Andrea Ring

This is her rough draft idea! Looks like she is working on a Tiger! Rawr! 

I just love her graphic styled artwork. Looking forward to seeing her progress.

 

 

Michele Grady

Michele says she is still playing with animal prints and textures... Not sure what they will become as of yet.... Michele's work is always so perfectly made and beautiful!

 

 

Victoria Takahashi

Ok, I keep changing my mind! It was Giraffes, Elephants, Meerkats and Fishies... but, now I think I am going with these above. I want to hand carve these babies, I might have to pick straighter ones out as I am thinking I want to try to attach them to my mini lathe....
...and also thinking of fabricating a little dangly charm to it as well. But things can still change!

 

Also so far joining us this round are:

Jessica Lopour 
Stacey Maddock 

 

 

 

 

Etsy Metal Charm Swap 16 News!

The latest Etsy Metal Charm Swap is complete! It is a beautiful collection of sixteen charms which have been sent out to all the lucky participants. Each member has also created two extra charms to be sold in our shop, EtsyMetal  There will be sixteen individual charms for sale and a fantastic bracelet of all sixteen! The proceeds from the sale of the bracelet will go to a charity. (More about that later.)

Work on our charms began in earnest late this summer. Join us with a look back in time with this post coauthored by me and Jessica:

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The Etsy Metal Charm Swap is celebrating its "Sweet 16" and from the progress photos it is not going to disappoint. I am Jessica Lopour of abellablue, the swap facilitator and along with Ann Jenkins the charm manager from tuizui, we will be sharing the progress of our sixteen (just a coincidence!) participants. Here goes:

Carrie of CarrieNunes is working on this stunner of a wax carving. This little bird charm is sure to look fantastic.

 "Carrie Nunes Little Bird Charm"

Meg of simplyMegA is well on her way with these cool sailboat charms. I can't wait to see these all finished up!

"Simply Mega Sailboat charms"

Michele Grady michelegradydesigns says "I'm working on my charms! here's my WIP pic..... I have never tried fold forming before and it looked fun so I thought I'd give it a shot!" They are gorgeous!

"Michele Grady copper leaf charms"

Victoria of experimetal sent in an intriguing shot of her colorful recycled Kikkoman tin whistles drying after being soldered and cleaned. Can't wait to see a close up! Whistles!!!

"Experimetal whistles"

And last but certainly not least is Sue from tinkertown with this intriguing work in progress shot. She says her notes give clues as to what this will be once she is finished, can you guess what it is?

"tinkertown WIP"

Keep an eye out for more updates and progress shots from charm swap 16. In the mean time check out the amazing work from past Etsy Metal charm swaps 

EMCS15: Charm Swap Update

Short on time this week, but not short on content!

We have lots of progress shots. Here we go:

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Michele of MicheleGradyDesigns shares this teaser!

"I have made molds from some carved stones that I would like to make into metal clay charms. I'm not sure what kind metal clay I will be using as of yet. They will be either made from copper clay, white copper clay or bronze clay...or maybe all of the above!

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Nina Gibson of NinaGibsonDesigns writes:

"The squares are now cut, drilled, edges hammered, name stamped, annealed and pickled. Read for their next step!"

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Work in progress shots from Ann of Tuizui

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Anna of SeverinMetals shared her progress shots:

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Francine of JewelrybyFrancine is DONE!

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And finally we wrap up this week's charm swap post with a work in progress shot from Victoria of Experimetal:

Victoria writes, "Charm progress, saw, saw, saw, file, file, file and then stamp, stamp and stamp some more and then to assemble, patina and add their finish! Almost done kinda."

We are down to the final stretch. Charms are due in Renee's hands in less than two weeks on March 31st. We are pretty excited about this swap's charms. It is going to be an amazing collection!

Until next time...

EtsyMetal Charm Swap 15 - The Official KickOff Post!

And we are BACK! The 15th EtsyMetal charm swap is well underway. This one is a bit (or a lot) different than those in the past. We have a MUCH shorter time schedule because we got started later than normal. Because of the late start, we decided to try out doing a smaller lineup of participants. This should make for a really great swap as everyone can focus on creating amazing charms and not have to work quite so hard to fabricate the usual 22 charms.

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EtsyMetal Charm Swap 15 details:

Renee Ford of PanicMama and Laney Clark of Silentgoddess are this swap's co-curators. Renee will be receiving and sorting the charms as well as selecting the Youth Arts Organization that 50% of proceeds from the sale of the completed swap bracelet will be donated to. Laney (that's me) will be posting blog updates, answering participants questions and keeping everyone on track.
We have 10 artists creating charms. That means this go-round we have to create a total of 12. 10 charms for the 10 artists and then 1 charm for the EMCS15 charm bracelet and 1 charm for the EMCS15 individual charm. These latter two will be available in the EtsyMetal team store at the conclusion of this swap.
And with that, we can get to the fun stuff: progress updates!

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First up is a teaser from Ann of TuiZui:

She doesn't have a photo ready to share but she says this about her charm design: "No sample yet but I am going to make a copper fold form boat shape with smaller boats of silver inside that move. Maybe a gold element too. It will hang horizontally by a forged silver bail."
If that doesn't get your curiosity piqued I don't know what will!!

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Next up is Andrea from Amuckdesign:

Andrea is working on a death's head hawkmoth idea

Here's her mock-up so far of her death's head hawkmoth. The finished charms will have gold skulls and spines.

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Next is Anna from SeverinMetals:

Anna says: "mine will look somewhat like this pendant I donated for a silent auction to benefit the family of a man who suddenly passed away on valentines day. It will be smaller and possibly have moonstones if they are shipped in time."

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Next is Victoria from Experimetal:

Victoria says: "I finally scaled down the size of my little Jackdaw charm, she is just a little over an inch long. Her wings flap when you pull her tail! Now to just get 12 of these made, deadline approaching in less than 2 weeks! WooOOO!"

Original prototype:

Final charm shown along side original prototype:

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Next is a sneak peek from Nina of NinaDesigns:

Nina is currently participating in EAD2015 (Earring a Day 2015) and is considering using a design she used for a recent earring:

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So far, so amazing, right? I am really excited about the scaled down format of this swap. Please stay tuned and come back weekly for more progress updates.

Until next time...