Practicing Metal-and patience

I fell in love with metal years ago. First, Tracy Moore and his heavy metal book covers.  Then, Nina Bagley and an affair with copper.  Keith Lo Bue - oh, thank you - a new drill that WORKS!  Stephanie Lee and getting over the fear of solder.  Melissa Manley and a whole new world.  And finally, Susan Lenart Kazmer - breaking free.  Each of these teachers has given me something, but now I'm experimenting and let me tell you - it's not so easy to step off your regular path.

I usually do these with leather spines and linen thread stitching. 
But I spied some thinner brass in my stash and thought I'd try it instead.  But, I'd already drilled the cover for stitching, so I ended up with a whole lotta rivets!  These are tiny screws and nuts. 

The metal spine is interesting and I may do more of them.  I didn't want to do the screws for the back cover, so I practiced my other riveting.

These are escutcheon pins, snipped off and riveted.  I had to get to the very last four rivets before I hit my stride. I obviously need a lot of practice - what a mess!  I'm having an interesting time trying to make the closure work.  I fabricated a piece of copper that holds a vintage ivory pick but it's not cooperating.  I also need to finish the spine decoration.  I'll never be able to sell such a mess, but it was fun to practice.

Comments

[gina armfield]

beautiful - I love it!

[Katie Delgado]

Yes, very beautiful! Is that some sort of bone-pen on the side? I like that too.

[Christine Kalina]

Gorgeous, but of course!

[Perplexedlizard.blogspot.com]

this is so cool! i never thought of using metal for the spine.how is ist working out?
Love the elements on the front

[Joanne Archer]

This is a stunning piece of work Judi. I love it.

[Lawrence Halter]

It's very artistic! Are those made entirely of metal? I think gold and copper were fused for that book cover.