Art Piece - Castle on a Cliff

Petrified wood slab with a handmade copper and brass scenic art frame.

Newest art piece!  This one is significantly smaller, but really cool, too.  AND if you want to give me an opinion on it, you can win a prize here:  Silver Serpent Studio on Facebook

About 12 inches tall and 6 inches wide - this small piece packs a punch and lots of details!  The black background is painted wood with a picture hanger for mounting on a wall - it could also be displayed in one of the mini easels.  The metal frame is a mixture of copper and brass - the dragon is copper with a flame patina; the waves are also copper with a genuine verdigris patina (this isn't just painted on - I went through the whole process of creating this patina over 3 days); and the frame is textured brass.

Art piece with my hand as size comparison - about 12" tall.

The coolest bit about this piece, in my humble opinion, is the rock slab that I've framed.  It is a polished piece of petrified wood!  It looked like a scene to me, so I embellished upon it.  I see a castle on a cliff with a storm raging overhead.  I added in roiling waves and a dragon.

I have a small box of additional, really awesome rock slabs just waiting to be framed.  Next up:  cheetah agate!

Thanks for stopping by!
Hannah

2015 Year End: A Few Final Projects

Beaux Cadeaux went well for me and I think I'll try it again next year!  I've been out of touch because I was getting ready for the show, and then custom orders have been flying in.  Yay for me and Silver Serpent Studio!

Here are a couple of the many pieces I've been working on - to see the rest of my new designs, please visit my Facebook Business Page and gander through the photo albums!

Spencer Opal in Sterling Silver Wire Weave - custom order

Art Bookmarks - copper and flame patina, original artwork

Lapis Cross and Enhancer - sterling silver, hand fabricated for lapis necklace

I can't promise to post very regularly for the rest of the year, but I'm sure I'll return to posting and showing what I've been up to come the New Year!

Thanks for stopping by!
~Hannah

Eastern Idaho State Fair - I PLACED!

I entered one of my pieces in the Eastern Idaho State Fair this year!  It's the first time I've entered anything in any kind of fair, and I'm very excited to say I placed.  My piece was accepted in the Fine Arts "Barn", under Professional, 3-D Based. 

Sea Serpent Panel - 3rd Place at the EISF!

I competed with other amazing artists and look forward to challenging myself again next year!  First place went to a lovely, larger-than-life bronze bust and the best in show went to a painting-style sculpture of a pair of highly detailed hands.

I can't remember the piece that won 2nd place, but I happily took 3rd with my Sea Serpent Panel hand-cut from copper, brass, and nickel!  My piece was also one of the first on display as you entered the room, right on the end cap of the Best in Show pieces.  It really couldn't have been better placement or a better time.

Enjoy the Fall Fairs!
~Hannah

Introducing Filigree!

I've been keeping busy - making more custom metal bookmarks, designing new pendants, and coming up with a fun home decor project.  More on the home decor later...but I will have my large scale serpent panel in the local state fair in a couple weeks!

Sterling Silver Handmade Filigree Pendant with Genuine Turquoise.

The only photos I have to show right now are of this new filigree pendant, featuring a small, genuine turquoise cabochon.  I love how it turned out and already have 2 more filigree-enhanced pendants in the works.

Handmade Filigree Pendant with Turquoise - about 1.5 inches tall.

The summer is quickly coming to an end and work is picking up for me - with my children, with college classes, and with my business.  I will soon have a couple days a week for myself and my studio work - whoohoo!

Happy creating,
~Hannah

Sea Serpent Art Panel - Largescale Metalwork

After a long, long time, I have finally completed this piece!  It is not my largest piece, but it is my most detailed.  I'm very happy with how it turned out, and thankfully my friend and patron is also ecstatic!

Serpent Art Panel - copper, brass, and nickel on knotty alder.

This large panel artwork is made from copper, brass, and nickel sheet metal.  The metalwork measures 4 feet tall by 16 inches wide; the knotty alder frame adds about 8 inches to the height and width.  It's actually pretty light for being so large!

Serpent Panel - Metalwork is 4 feet by 16 inches.

I designed the artwork around a specific size, as requested.  I love the layout - panoramic photos and designs are very fun to work with!  This one has three separate designs in one panel - the top and bottom and then the middle.  Photos really don't do this piece justice - I managed to get a lot of color and detail in each area.

Serpent Artwork - Details of top and bottom panels.

Here are some more detail shots.  There are several hammer textures plus a couple different patinas doing on.  Honestly, I can't wait to start the next one!  It will be quite a bit smaller, but the plan is to have it just as detailed.

Serpent Panel - details showing texture and patinas found in the pieces.

If you are local to the SE Idaho region, you will (hopefully) be able to see it on display in person at the SE Idaho State Fair in September!

Serpent Panel - custom piece (sold).  Original artwork by Hannah Trost.

Thanks for your interest!
~SSS

Custom Bookmarks II - Copper Treatments

I've been so busy that I've missed a couple weeks!  Here are just a couple things I was working on - more custom bookmarks!

Copper Bookmarks - shiny finish (middle) and rainbow finishes!

This set shows how I can finish the copper bookmarks - shiny or with a rainbow patina!  I love the rainbow effect but it is nearly completely random what I'll end up with - differences in the flame, the density of the copper, the size of the cutouts - it all changes the boundaries of what the flame patina will result in!

Enjoy and happy creating!
SSS

WeWork: "Show Us Your Workspace!"

I received an email from WeWork asking if I'd be willing to show my workspace on my blog - and I thought, why not?  It's not very pretty, it's not my ideal space, but it's what I have and it's improving all the time!  This is where my jewelry and artwork pieces are thought up, designed, sketched, made, remade, and sometimes perfected!

Going from a university with huge, well-equipped facilities to an apartment, then a rental home, and finally my first home, means that my workspace has continued to change over the years - usually for the better!  Currently, I have two separate spaces - one in my garage for my metalwork, and one in the basement for my beadwork.  Neither is finished, but both are better than what I started out with post-college!

My beading space changed dramatically after I won the bead board with all the organizational gadgets a few years ago from Tidy Crafts (here's my post about it).  Once our basement is finished (and we are making slow progress!), this area will be as close to ideal as I'm going to see it.  I'll have paint on the walls and my favorite artwork displayed - along with some jewelry-as-art displays showcasing some of my favorite pieces!


My metalworking space was non-existent until last fall when my husband gifted me a custom workbench!  I LOVE my workbench!  And then we added a beadboard here, too, and I've begun collecting tools again.  This bench makes it so much easier to work with metals, and keeps the mess outside.  I do need my space heater come winter though....

Ideally, my metalworking space would be in a building of its own, with heat and A/C, running water, and adequate ventilation (as long as I'm dreaming, I'd also have a wall of windows that had an amazing view of the mountains!).  I'd have a bench or counter for each step of the process - a place to saw, file, and sand; a place to anneal and solder; and a place for all the other "things" I do, such as stamping, roller printing, and tumbling metal.  My next big purchase will be a kiln for PMC and enameling, so of course I'd like a permanent setup for that as well! 

I make what I have work and I'm happy I have these two spaces at all! Being "not ideal" simply means that part of my creativity process is ordering my steps in a way that allows me to clean up one mess before I move on to make another.  And that I have all my tools in the correct space (basement vs. garage) so I'm not trooping through the house to get them....

Happy Creating or Space Updating!
PZ