I'm Still Doing the Coin Dance

Fajitas in Trafalgar Square

This is Coin Bracelet No. 2. These coins were colored mostly with Vintaj opaque patina inks (I got these from Melinda Orr)--I was trying sort of a dry brush technique, like you would use for stenciling. I think the coins themselves are perhaps brass and copper--I sanded the edges a bit and this is what seemed to show through. I don't know what the coins are. The materials in this one are similar to the last--Czech glass, and some copper openwork tube beads treated with traditional verdigris patina from MissFickleMedia (they're sealed with Permalac). This one is heavier on the turquoise/azure/sea green than the last one. The copper charm on this one was textured with a 1967 British six pence coin and a 1947 British halfpenny (the "ship" halfpenny coin). You can't really see it in these pictures but the halfpenny, on the "tails" side, is imprinted with the image of a gorgeous multi-masted sailing ship--I just love it! (I read on Wikipedia this ship is thought to represent Sir Francis Drake's Golden Hind ship.) You can see it a little bit in the picture below. (I got most of these coins from Joel Anderson.)

Some of the coins are just lovely, but I didn't think the design on them had enough relief to use with a hammer, so I thought I would use them in a clasp as-is, without patina. I thought these were especially nice:

A couple of these are modern coins--the two larger ones from Costa Rica and Mexico. I'm in love with the Costa Rican one! You can't really see the glimmer very well in this photo, but it's a lovely warm brass. The other two coins fascinate me--the copper one at the top right is a Palestinian coin from 1927 (!), and the smaller brass one at the bottom right is a 1924 German "Rentenpfennig" (the Rentenmark was a currency issued in 1923 to stop the hyperinflation in Germany, and this is a ten cent piece--again with the Art Deco! The other side has some beautiful, stylized wheat stalks on it). Little pieces of history....I will certainly use the two larger, modern coins, but I don't think I'll use the other two. They're too interesting!

These are also quite nice--I assume they're some sort of nickel alloy, probably nickel and copper. I pickled them and then scrubbed them with a brass brush and some dish soap to get the grime off--I hated doing that because of how nicely oxidized they were, but the idea of decades of grubby fingers on them kind of grossed me out. I tried to re-antique them a bit with some nickel oxidizer.

I just love that 1946 15 kopek coin (from the former USSR!), it's so Art Deco looking! And I love the little honey bee on the Norwegian coin at the bottom right! The coin just to the left of that is a Colombian ten cent piece featuring the portrait of Indio Chief Calarca--it's just lovely! The other coins, from the left of that and around clockwise are from Zimbabwe, Portugal, Spain and Indonesia. The older coins have some modest value to collectors ($5 here, $10 there), but I just love them because they're beautiful.

Tomorrow I hope to try some other colors of patina and some bracelets in different color schemes (I'm thinking maybe something in reds, oranges and purples with some brass...)

New Life for Old Coins

I mentioned in my last post that I had just bought some coins from Joel Anderson Interesting World Coins and Paper Money--I got a whole pound of them! They're from pretty much everywhere. I pulled out the ones with the nicest textures to use on my metal, and left the rest in the bag. What to do with them...?

About five of them were very worn down and blackened with oxidation, so I decided to use them for patina experiments. I didn't even know what kind of metal they were! Well, they all took the verdigris to some extent (the coins in this post were treated with traditional verdigris solution from Shannon LeVart (MissFickleMedia), and then sealed with Vintaj/Ranger sealant and Renaissance Wax). I used one of the smaller ones in a pendant (see my last post), and saved out four for use as bracelet clasps (I REALLY need to make some bracelets for the shop). I had an idea for possibly stacking them to make a toggle clasp:

I used my little hole punch from Fire Mountain to make holes in the smaller coins, and my drill to make holes in the larger (they're too big for the punch). Then I turned them into toggle clasps with a rivet and copper sheet and wire.

I decided on a Southwest kind of color palette, because I just can't stay away from that when I have something turquoise! I had just gotten some FABULOUS Czech beads from CraftAnne and BeadsAndBabble on Etsy, and they seemed just perfect.

This was how it came together:

More Hong Kong-Santa Fe Fusion

I also included poppy jasper in an interesting shape, Indonesian glass beads from Happy Mango Beads, and some "cocoon" beads (based on a tutorial by Kharisma Ryantori) I had made from copper and antiqued with Shannon's verdigris solution. I am in LOVE with the multicolor Czech picasso beads (I might have to clean out CraftAnne's shop of these!)--they're the larger ones with the beadcaps on them.

When it was mostly completed I added few tchochkes: a Czech glass wheel bead in turquoise, one of my new round charms (textured on one side with a 1963 Hong Kong fifty-cent piece and on the other side with a Thai coin I can't identify-- I'm guessing it's from the 50s or 60s too), and a couple of textured copper bowls to sort of camouflage where the strands join the toggle loops (this is beaded with SoftFlex beading wire).

Here's a view of the other side of my round charm:

I'm digging these Asian coin textures.

This item is sold, and on its way to the East Coast today!