Thursday, May 31, 2012



 Custom Logo Jewelry Tag

Wow, can it be that I last posted five months ago?  That is far too long.  I've been working on another tutorial and it is very close to completion; just a bit of tweaking and soon it will be posted.  More on that later, but for now I'm so excited to share something that I have been wanting for a long time, but needed to work out the logistics.  This something is a jewelry tag with the Wired Lotus logo.  I had wanted to do this in the form of a stamp, but what I wanted was bigger than most jewelry stamps could handle.  This prompted me to contact Tracey from Rolling Mill Resource to see what she could do with her custom low relief patterns.  Tracey looked at some designs that I had for her and she offered her suggestions for a logo that would translate well in a low relief rolling mill pattern.  She then put my final design into a low relief pattern and sent me a sample to see how it would work for me.  See the below photo of two of the samples she sent to me. 

Low Relief Laser Paper Pattern 

The above is a photo of the actual rolling mill relief patterns.  Note that one is three dimensional and the other is sunken in relief.  So, not only did I get my choices with size, but I also was given two different looks to choose from.  For those that patina their work, this makes a huge difference, as when you "rub off" some of the patina to expose the high areas this is what stands out, while the rest of the piece looks more antiqued and dark.  So, the above pattern will sink into the metal and the words will be dark with patina and the below pattern will be three dimensional resulting in the letters and pattern being highlighted with buffing.  How cool is that? 
If I didn't own a rolling mill and I discovered this technique of personalizing all of the jewelry that I give as gifts, then I would surely want one right now!!  I mean, who knew that paper could imprint designs onto metal right in the convenience of my home?  If you are interested in learning more about rolling mills or this technique I have now posted my free rolling mill tutorial at JewelryLessons.com, which can be downloaded and printed from your computer.  See the link below:
http://www.jewelrylessons.com/tutorial/patterning-metals-compact-rolling-mill

Also, check out Tracey's Facebook page, but hold on to your hats, because this will really wow:
http://www.facebook.com/RollingMillResource

As always, thank you for taking time to visit my blog.  I'm excited to be back at it!!

~Susan