Toolbox Tuesday – Copper!

Greetings and salutations, Beetroots!

Last Tuesday was my birthday, so there was champagne instead of tools.  Hey, I’ll take it.  This week’s Toolbox Tuesday is especially awesome.. Because fire.

BUT FIRST!

The plaster winner!

*drumroll*

Cristin!  Yay Cristin!!  Creepy baby heads coming your way, baby!

Okay.  So here’s the situation.  My parents went away on a week’s vacation. I kind of had a stroke of brilliance this week (hey, it happens from time to time)!  I went to the hardware store and ambled around.  I dug around in the plumbing department and OMG copper.  So much copper.  I mean, obviously, people used to pipe their homes with the stuff, right?

I am a little addicted to copper – I have spools and spools of copper wire.  I have copper tape.  I used to lust after my grandmother’s copper bracelets.  It’s just beautiful to me.  So, as I was fingering the plumbing parts (I mean, really.  Gross visual, but true), I said, “EUREKA!!” And asked the guy if they sold copper pipe.  OF COURSE THEY DO.

I followed him into the back and fingered the pipes.  Talk about weird looks from the hardware store guy.  I bought a pipe.  I brought it home and used a tube cutter (also available at hardware stores everywhere!  That’s a whole other post though) to cut it into ring-size rounds.  The pipe I bought makes a size 11 ring with no alteration.

See all of those sharp edges?  Well maybe you can’t see them.  They’re there, though, I promise.  Those all have to be removed before the opening of the ring factory.  My least favorite part.  Lots of Dremel bit changing and flinging rings across the room.

I dug around in my crystal hoard and found a nice piece of Quartz.  Through a combination of magic, solder, patinas, and cursing, I made this…

It went RIGHT onto my finger.  Like IMMEDIATELY.  That’s where it’s stayed.

The next day I came into the studio and went right for the pipe.  NOT THE CRACK PIPE.  Ahem.   I wanted to mess around with making smaller rings (the 11 fits my index finger perfectly, but I have sausage fingers).  Then I made this, a size 7, which fits my ring finger (again, sausage fingers).

Whee!

I am super excited about all of this.  I wish I could give away some pipe!  I would do it, but then I’d need to send 2557750 pounds of tools to make it work.  So go buy some copper!  Buy a soldering iron!  Buy a tube cutter!  Light stuff on FIRE!!

In the meantime, I’m giving away ring number two.  Because I love you guys.  So comment here to win!  If you share on one of your social networks of choice, comment again so that you can get an extra chance to win!  I’ll pick a winner next week and will have something ELSE to talk about.  Probably copper.

Good luck!  Godspeed!  Kapow!

PS… Did you know I started a Patreon?  I totally did.  If nothing else, the video is especially hilarious.  Check it out!

Things you might also find awesome:

Toolbox Tuesday – Touch-Up Paint Roller Toolbox Tuesday – Plaster Part Deux Toolbox Tuesday – Plaster of Paris Terrible Tuesday 4: A Wondrously Cute Witch and a Hunchity Hunchback Named Hank (FREE Halloween Art)