#brass jewelry

Still playing with my little LED lights and tritium.  I found these great paracord beads - expensive but totally worth the money.  Beautifully turned brass with “windows” - three vertical holes interspersed with a long window around the whole bead.  I sealed the holes and poured resin into the center and embedded the LED leaving the connector post exposed so the battery pack “clutch” can turn on the light.  

The top photos are “BlueBot” with a domed cap making him look a little like a certain famous robot that I can’t mention because I don’t want a trademark strike.  It can be worn without the battery pack and brass ring.  Unfortunately the photos make the light seem much brighter than it is in reality.  It just gives off a blue glow.

The middle photos are a design I wanted to revisit with a blue tritium stick in a glass vial and silver tone sleeve.  Very cyberpunk.  I combined it with a horizontal post hanger with mechanical bits and pieces.

Final piece is a little “Green rocket”.  The top has a small silver tone stepped cap on top and serrated exhaust funnel over the battery pack.  It can also be worn without the battery pack.  Again, the photos don’t convey the light well.  It gives off more of a green glow and isn’t that bright in reality.  

The LED necklaces are on long chains to be worn mid length.  The battery packs are very secure and the batteries can be replaced easily.  I’ll list them in my Etsy shop.  Etsy doesn’t let me sell tritium (I don’t agree with it but their sandpit - their rules) so if you are interested buying it - drop me a PM.  It’s US$125 including shipping/tracking from Australia.  

I have been busy!  These are two new Tritium designs.  Unlike normal glow in the dark Tritium doesn’t need to by charged by an existing light source.  It’s a gas, slightly radioactive (not dangerously so) and glows continuously for 12 to 15 years.  It’s used in high end watches, gun sights - anything that requires constant illumination.  But it’s very, very expensive and is sold in a range of small glass tubes.  For the safety of the tube I install them in a second glass or crystal vial.

The green stick is small 12mm x 2mm.  It’s sealed in the square crystal vial hung on semicircle silver tone connector with pointed terminals.  Two flat struts are used to attach the chain. 

The orange/pink stick is larger 24mm x 2mm sealed within a second glass vial test tube.  I created a hanging bracket for the vial.  The vial is topped with a 5 finned post.  There is a brass ring on the test tube that holds the vial at a midpoint and can be removed.  The vial itself can be worn without the bracket by clipping two clasps to the holes on the top cap that will be included.  

The Detector

I’ve been overdosing on documentaries about CERN, the Large Hadron Collider, quantum physics/mechanics and proof of the Higgs Boson.  As a science illiterate it fascinates me.  That massive tube full of magnets, cameras, detectors and liquid nitrogen is an incredible instrument.  Simply awe inspiring.  These docos play in the background in my studio and I would occasionally look up to see the massive size and complexity of the machine.  

This started with simple flat brass rings with eight holes and some rescued snake chain I cut into eight lengths.  This design wasn’t thought out - I just had to wing it.  I vaguely wanted a “cage” to hold a glass vial with a Tritium vial in it.  Etsy doesn’t like Tritium (their sandpit - their rules) so I sell those pieces off Etsy.  It basically glows without the need for a charge - it glows constantly for 10 to 15 years.  But I’ve been working with UV resin and recently purchased some tiny LEDS.  So I set an orange LED into a gold tone cord cap with UV resin.  Then I put a glass tube into the cap and slowly poured resin into the tube stirring it frantically to produce air bubbles.  Normally I’m fighting against air bubbles in resin so trying to form and quickly cure them was surprisingly difficult.  I didn’t even know if the LED and electronics was going to work after pouring resin on them.  The light refracts and diffuses on the bubbles.  I was thrilled when it all worked.  

Once I had brass beads on the end of each chain length I threaded a range of beads, pinions, tubing and 5 brass rings to stabilize the tube.  I still had no idea if the vial would fit through the middle and how I was going to attach it to the structure.  This is where the magic often happens - it fit like it was designed with precision.  To fasten it within the tube all I had to do was slide another cap on the top of the glass vial and seal it with a screw.  

As you can see - when unlit there is a small silver tube, slightly hidden by the brass tassel.  To turn the light on - insert that tube into the battery pack - a tiny silver tone tube with a central hole (3/8 x ¼ inch).  Once inserted it turns the LED on.  Batteries can be replaced easily by unscrewing the cap.  

During the day - it’s an unusual mecha deco design - at night with the light - the wow factor.  

It sort of looks like a little mechanical cephalopod with those 8 tassel “legs”.  I’ve designed this to be worn low on the body - Gatsby length with a long chain.  It’s hitched high on the display bust just to show scale and fit it into the photo.  If you want it to be higher - I’m happy to alter the chain length.  

Automata X

Another steampunk goddess made with a range of watch parts, brass bits and pieces, electrical probes and two part resin.  She can look very intimidating from one angle yet strangely zen from another.  She’s in my Etsy shop.

Tritium Deco Drop

Something a bit more simple - a green Tritium vial, wrapped with fine gold wire and sealed within another vial attached to a gorgeous cut out brass pendant.  I’ve teamed it with a solid brass pendulum covered in ridges. I love using exotic materials like Tritium although Etsy doesn’t like it.  I disagree with their estimation of the material but - their sandbox, their rules.  So if you are interested in buying it, please let me know and I can invoice you through Paypal. You will covered by their buyer protections.  The price is US$145 with free shipping.

Please note that the pendant is made to be worn low on the body.  In the images I had to place it high on the display bust to photograph it and show scale.  The chain is currently 30 inches long, brass rolo links - but I’m happy to alter it to your measurements.  The glass vial is 1 ½ inches long including caps, the whole pendant section is 3 ½ inches long and slightly over 1 inch wide.  

It’s estimated the Tritium with glow continuously for 10 to 12 years.  It requires no charging like conventional “glow in the dark” pigments.