Forest Challenge Reveal & Bloghop

It's been 13 months now that I started taking part in the Art Elements Theme Challenges. Each and every one has been a challenge ... Choosing a subject, researching said subject, exploring new mediums & new techniques and generally pushing myself to try new designs that I wouldn't have thought about under 'normal' circumstances.

May's AE Theme Challenge is Forest and was chosen by Susan Kennedy. I decided to take inspiration from my 'fandom' (bordering on Obsessiveness) of the Outlander Books & TV Series. Since I've been back here in the States (yes, still temporary), I read for about an hour before turning the lights out and am now in the 4th readthrough of the 8 books (did I mention obsessive?). Not to mention some other Lord John books and Novellas.

I became interested in Penannular Brooches while watching the first couple of seasons. Historically (and even this point differs among historians), the Highlanders used them to pin up their Great Kilts (Plaids), which were long lengths of their Clan Tartan. In the series, it looks like they used modern type brooches, at least to this fan's eyes. After figuring out the basic workings & limitations of this type of fastener & the myriad of designs possible, I was driven to design & complete a few that are in our Etsy boutique. The first-born was a basic, simple forged piece out of heavy gauge square Brass that's popular with Highlander Re-enactment groups. Others are in Copper; a Heart with a Ruby gemstone, Cat Ears and one to match my New Beginnings line of pieces (Outlander-Inspired, of course). I still have sketches for many more and they will all come in their own time ...

The one for this challenge was the most challenging to date! I set out to replicate, to the best of my ability, the cover image from Book 5, The Fiery Cross, which is the next TV season coming up this fall .. hopefully. This image is not the completely finished and polished piece. See caption.

Mine is less shiny than the illustration, and I like it that way ... rustic! And no rings. You can see the other artistic liberties I took. It still needs much more polishing to bring out the copper shine and contrast with the oxidization. But it's 11pm and I just want to get this blog post done!

Inspiration from Cover of Book 5, The Fiery Cross

The idea had been floating around in the ole' noggin for a few years and I always put it off because of the complexity of the Stags. Also called Bucks, Deer, etc. depending on where one lives. I mean by that, sawing seemed too complicated; trying to find similar in a ready-made 'charm'; waiting to gain more experience with aforementioned saw.

When I learned of this month's Challenge Theme, I hemmed and hawed for a few hours, then armed myself with courage and proceeded to cut out not one, but two of these leaping babies, taking some artistic liberties with the original illustration.

You can see that my Bench Pin hasn't gotten that much use! It was safely tucked in a drawer but I've left it attached to a corner of the table to speak to me often. OH, Shame! Unpainted toenails ... in the South no less!

They look pretty darn good if I do say so myself! I 'cheated' a little with my hole punch. Sorry Evie! 😀

I used 24 ga. Copper Sheet only because the Brass I have is way too thick. It was a good decision because the only large gauge wire I have is Copper too. So I formed the 'annular' part of the brooch out of 6 gauge round 'wire'. No less than 8 annealing and pounding sessions were necessary to form the ring and flatten each end so as to attach a 'leaping stag' to each.

The pin proved to be a tad easier though just as time-consuming. I cut the top portion out of the same Copper Sheet as the stags. As I've said before, I can't do the heat transfer method for etching (I think) Mom's iron isn't hot enough, it's one of those auto-off models. So I draw directly with Paint Pens used as a resist. The design is more rustic, but I did say I like rustic!

Top L: 1/8" Annealed wire for Pin; Top R: After flattening, I think this was after 5 or 6 anneal/pound sessions!
Bottom L: After etching, before "F"; Bottom R: 3rd FAIL of soldering "F" under triskelle.

Soldering the leaping stags onto the flattened ends proved to be frustrating also. One of them worked on the second try, but the other one took two more rounds of clean, file, clean, flux, solder, pickle .. repeat!

I used the sweat soldering method, this is the last go-around.

The use of cross lock pliers on this side helped keep the stag from really leaping out of place!

Et Voila!  What I thought was my successful, final solder!Wired together before going into the tumbler.
The right hand side stag was firmly (I thought) attached.I checked and it didn't move. Not sure why it came off.

Hey, want to know a secret? In the first image of this post, the stag is just placed on the end, the solder didn't hold and came off in the tumbler. I cannot tell a lie.

I had started another project that had a sneak peek or two on social media this month, but wasn't quite able to finish it. Still needs some snipping, the bail and a trip through the pickle and tumbler. I was happy that my attempt with paste solder worked on the jump rings and for joining the two sections.

Do you know what these shapes are?

Merci for taking the time to peruse this post and please do comment! Also, join me in the blog hop to see all the works of some super-talented artists who joined in this month's Forest Theme Challenge. Grab a cuppa or a dram (or both), whatever gets you through ...
Al.

Guests  Alysen (you're here)  Divya  Evie & Beth  Hope  Louise  Michelle  Sarah   Tammy

AE Team   Caroline  Cathy  Claire  Laney  Lesley  Niky  Sue