Thought I'd share some of my work. Mostly cold worked copper, some silver, simple soldering, a couple of chainmail items. Some of the older work is rather crude.

 

 

Very lovely curves.  

What copper alloy do you use?

Very nice work.

Thank you. I use various gauges of C101 copper wire, most of the sheet I use is salvaged from copper pipes that I found in my attic, which I think are rather old and don't seem to react any differently from pure copper so I assume they are fairly pure. 

OK, good. Many don't know that copper alloys can contain significant amounts of lead. The alloys we use at work have it to aid machining. It wouldn't matter on the kilt pins, but for jewelry in contact with the skin it could.

Very fine work! I have never been partial to the chainmaille styling but they look well executed. I agree the scrollwork flows very nicely and they are very pretty :)

The 'free machining' alloys are very sneaky, I can't but brass or bronze from the steel supply near me because they are all machine alloys :'(

Chino I, try Copper and Brass Sales

Thanks, I usually end up buying non-ferrous stuff online, but I still prefer actually being able to pick things up in person when buying, rather than looking at a stock photo of XYZ and some listed dimensions.

Is that a particular place or thing, or just a recommendation to not buy non ferrous from a steel yard? :)

Copper and Brass is a big outfit all over CA. We get materials from them out of their Las Vegas office.


http://www.tkmna.com/tkmna/TKMNADivisions/CopperandBrassSales/index.html

Do you have anything like Blue Collar Supply like we used to up in Sacramento? They sold remnants from the local machining, and fabrication businesses at reduced rates. We used them all the time when I had my shop near there.

http://www.bluecollar-supply.com/metals.nxg

Thanks!  looks like another good option for material :) I haven't seen anything that resembles the Blue Collar Supply model locally, but I will keep an eye out for similar.

Plumbing pipe and electrical wire will be no-lead no matter where you buy them in the USA.  One of my great finds was 3 spools of grounding wire I bought at the local Re-Store for US$5 a piece---paid for a lot of time not finding anything at a good price there!

These are examples of some of my copper and stainless work.. They help pay for my metal addiction..

Interesting designs Mike. They look very 70's to me.

Mike, nice, I like that! I agree with biggun, neat vibe. As a picker, you evet do a guitar?
BTW, Welcome!

Thanks for the warm welcome..... As for the 70s vibe it must have been something I ate.... hehe... I never was much on jewelry but when my friend that taught me to forge passed I made 500 pieces to sell to raise money for his wife at an art show.... Most of the artists there were asking big bucks for their pieces... I wanted something that people could afford.... They sold because they were under 50 bucks.....I prefer to do larger pieces.....

I made a few dulcimers years ago and a toilet seat electric called a shitar for an art show but nothing good..

Jonathan... I love your work.. The third one from the left is beautiful.....Copper is great to work with because it can be any color you want.. Heat and chemicals work wonders ... xxxx, that sorta sounded like college..... 

Thanks mike. That necklace was made as a last minute mother's day gift. I've been rather tentative with my experimentation and I'd like to venture into techniques like repousse and more advanced jewellery techniques. Your work is fantastic.

Thank you.... That is the great thing about metal work....It does save on gifts..hehe. And most people prefer hand made items from the giver....

When the man that helped me learn the basics passed I made the pendants using a treadle hammer that he built to make them to be sold to help his wife.... They sold so well they became a staple of my for sale art... Bottle openers, oyster knives,steak turners as well as special requests are also great sellers at local stores..

That's wonderful jewellery Jonathan. There's a real Celtic feel to the work.

 

Very well done.