Open studios: Lilarubyking

Today we are going to peek into a jewelry studio: the studio of Anna from Lilarubyking. She not only shows us her great studio, but tells us about how she makes her brass jewlery.

First of all: lets see her very well equipped studio!

And now, she explains how she makes jewelry.

"All the hard work is really done here, cutting, soldering, filing etc. Alls that needs to be done is the blackening of the brass to give the effect that I like. I really like working with brass because firstly the price is very forgiving, which means I can be braver and make bigger items without the fear of financial ruin if I were working with gold. Secondly brass takes colour so well, it can be oxidised, which is the blackening, and it can also be given a golden, antique colour. You can also use solutions to give it a green/blue verdigris finish. Over time as well, it naturally because darker as it reacts with its environment"

"I paint on a solution that reacts on the surface to become a velvety black."

"I sand off a lot of this black layer, leaving only a small about behind."

"Once I get the finish I want, I paint on the blackening solution again, but only in a few areas that I want to be more solid black. Finished!"

Voilá!
Since she made the above brass earring today morning, I guess this is the one in her shop, waiting to be in someone's ear.