New Skills & Extra Income!

[Dalewick]

I'm teaching myself to make custom copper, bronze and silver jewelry for the wife to sell as a supplement to our retirement. I'm using some metalworking skills I already had and learning new skill sets. Does any one else on here make custom jewelry? I'll post some pictures when I get good enough to suit my standards.

Also learning scrimshaw.

What do others do for added income from the homestead?

I also paint, sculpt and carve.

Dale

I flint knap also.

 

[Dalewick]

My photography skills could use some work. LOL!

Dale

 

[Bacpacker]

Very nice

 

[Rebecca]

Your a very talented artist Dale!

Have you tried pyrography? That can be beautiful and very popular at markets etc and it doesn't alway have to be the more complex pictures. A neighbor burned, very nicely I should add, in cursive, the names of plants onto wood slats and sold them all very fast as plant markers.

Shou sugi ban is also really popular right now. I am trying to make small furniture like side and coffee tables with this finish. I am not what I would call good but then I don't have much time to dedicate to learning it right now.

You could do wood and resin jewelry as well. Or combine it with your custom metal jewelry.
https://images.app.goo.gl/vQZTQpfjPHk8A9KK9

 

[Peanut]

Very nice flint knapping! Do they still have the WV state Arts & Crafts Festival?

For a brief time I lived in Sissonville WV. Just after I moved there, I saw the festival advertised and went. They had a lot of the crafts you describe.

Funny, at the festival I saw some rustic paintings by someone named W. Edens. I kept going back and looking, I really liked them but they were way out of my budget. A couple of weeks later I was eating at the only diner in Sissonville. I looked up on the wall at another rustic painting. It was signed W. Edens. So I asked the folks at the diner about this person.

Turns out this artist was Wilma Edens and she was my next-door neighbor!!! Small world!!! After a meeting was arranged, I went to her home and bought 3 paintings directly from her. I still have them on my walls to this very day.

Anyway, please post more of your work.

 

[Dalewick]

Very nice flint knapping! Do they still have the WV state Arts & Crafts Festival?

For a brief time I lived in Sissonville WV. Just after I moved there, I saw the festival advertised and went. They had a lot of the crafts you describe.

Funny, at the festival I saw some rustic paintings by someone named W. Edens. I kept going back and looking, I really liked them but they were way out of my budget. A couple of weeks later I was eating at the only diner in Sissonville. I looked up on the wall at another rustic painting. It was signed W. Edens. So I asked the folks at the diner about this person.

Turns out this artist was Wilma Edens and she was my next-door neighbor!!! Small world!!! After a meeting was arranged, I went to her home and bought 3 paintings directly from her. I still have them on my walls to this very day.

Anyway, please post more of your work.

As far as I know they still have the festival. While we were working we never had time to attend. I'm hoping to change that next year. I need to learn to photograph my work better. Maybe I can talk the wife into learning that. She's a very talented photographer. I take wildlife photos well, but that's about it. Thanks for the complement.

Dale

 

[Morgan101]

Good Morning Dalewick: Your creative skills are off the charts good. I am envious, but only in a good way. You do beautiful work. I feel very pleased with myself if I am able to make a board.

For secondary income I am a High School sports official. I have been doing it for a very long time. I did college as well, but retired from that a few years ago. I really don't want to travel. It is something I truly love, and can do on my own schedule.

 

[Cascadian]

I have been thinking of making small bus stop shelters for kids. I see them all over. I think I could do one I a few hours. By the way we get 50 inches of rain a year.

 

[hiwall]

I wish I had some skills or artistic abilities.
I can shoot but have not done competition shooting for many years and that sure wasn't a money maker(though I have won many a turkey at turkey shoots).
I guess I'll just stay fully retired.

Best of luck on your endeavors!

 

[SheepDog]

I am a metalsmith but I rarely do any jewelry. It is time consuming and unless you use precious metal and semi-precious stones you can't make enough to justify it. It takes me less time to build brass handles for a rolling pin than it does to make a brass rose leaf.

 

[Dalewick]

Your a very talented artist Dale!

Have you tried pyrography? That can be beautiful and very popular at markets etc and it doesn't alway have to be the more complex pictures. A neighbor burned, very nicely I should add, in cursive, the names of plants onto wood slats and sold them all very fast as plant markers.

Shou sugi ban is also really popular right now. I am trying to make small furniture like side and coffee tables with this finish. I am not what I would call good but then I don't have much time to dedicate to learning it right now.

You could do wood and resin jewelry as well. Or combine it with your custom metal jewelry.
https://images.app.goo.gl/vQZTQpfjPHk8A9KK9

Rebecca, I do some wood burning when wood carving. Mostly to add definition to feathers or fur of animals and birds I carve. Thanks for the ideas!

Dale