A tiny handful of metal

As you can see from the photo below  - a day's work in the garage-studio can sometimes result in a tiny handful of metal slivers.

©2014 Barry Smith - A handful of earring metal

I was cutting up offcuts to make components for two types of earrings: riveted earrings; and swing earrings - both types have multiple pieces of metal. And of course given they are earrings and that there are multiple layers some of the pieces can be quite tiny. The pieces of metal range in length from about 12mm to 65 mm; and in width from about 3mm to 10mm. So after a couple of hours of designing 8-10 sets of earrings (in my head) and cutting pieces of metal to be riveted etc  - I ended up with the stash below. It all looks pretty corroded and patinated at this stage.

©2014 Barry Smith - Metal in the rough

This afternoon was given over to grinding edges smooth and polishing the pieces. So I now have a stash of reasonably polished pieces ready for assembling.

©2014 Barry Smith  - 60 pieces of trimmed and polished metal

And of course as part of the cutting process one comes across a few other bits that call out to be cut and polished such as the ones in the photo below.  I loved the brass petal forms.

©2014 Barry Smith - Other bits that have been salvaged along the way

The 60 wee pieces of metal  held in my hand will be punched, riveted and assembled over the weekend - at least that is the plan.