Check this out: http://www.flickr.com/photos/downtothewiredesigns/3335478235/in/set-72157594513114698/
Wouldn’t it be cool to figure out how to do this with metal clay?
Filed under: Uncategorized
Ok, so I might have had some assistance making him, but I have to cop to the
fact that he is mine and I love him. Even when he is being a pest… or is that when I am being a pest.
Filed under: PMC | Tags: Bronz Clay, Bronze Clay, Copper Clay, Coppr Clay, Hadar’s Clay
Last weekend I worked with Hadar’s Clay in Bronze again and I had a blast. Working with Hadar’s Clay is so different from the silver clay. In my mind I keep comparing it to stoneware vs. porcelain. But that is just my pottery experiences coming to the surface.
The items that I made in the metal clay intensive class were out of the kiln with a wonderful patina. The only issue with them is that they are rough, so I started polishing them with the flex shaft. Once I had them polished, I decided to heat patina them. I found out that the torch will give an attractive patina, but if you see color it’s gone to far. It seems like the thing to do is torch & quench in short intervals to see your progress.
I’ll take some pictures and get them up soon.
In the meantime here is a shot of the stuff that I made out of Hadar’s Clay 
while it was drying.
The last day of the class is today, I hope that everyone has as much fun at it as I did at the first 2 days.
Working with the copper and bronze clays was very different from PMC. I had a lot of fun and am looking forward to doing more with the bronzer and copper. I’ll try to get some shots of my finished stuff when I get it complete.
Here are some pictures from the first 2 days,
I finally finished my tree frog pin. I love the way that it came out. I used PMC and a stamp to make the frog base. After firing I decided that it needed some color in addition to the fire opals, so I started asking Nancy (Brighton Beads) about enameling it. It turned out that she was going to a weeklong class to learn about enameling, so I was in luck.
After Nancy came back from NC, she had all sorts of juicy things to show us. I just loved some of the techniques! She let us try out some enamels that she brought back and we fired with a torch.
I need to figure out a better way to position this pin so I can get a full on shot to show. I just got a new photo kit and I am still experimenting with taking photos of my jewelry. 
As you can see it’s a small set up, but it works well.
Filed under: PMC, Soldering | Tags: Cork Clay, PMC, Precious Metal Clay, Silver Clay
A while back I purchased some cork clay from Nancy at Brighton Beads and started messing around.
The cork clay is a wet clay that has a unique texture…Almost food like. It’s rather pleasant to work with. I started shaping a form on a toothpick (to make it easier to cover with slip) and then sanded it a bit after it dried.
I painted my cork form with layers of slip until it felt heavy enough to be fired. If you fire a slip painted cork for without sufficient layers (thickness) the walls will not be stable after firing, because the inner support of the cork will have burned away.
This is the first completed piece using cork with PMC. I like the way that it turned 
out.
I soldered a fine silver bezel and bale on to the piece. Into the bezel I set a simulated opal. I was originally going to patina it, but I like the look of it now.
I am not quite sure that I like it on the silk cord that I have it on, but I can wait until I get some inspiration for a change.
I finished anther necklace last night, I am addicted to this Khuimino stuff. I think that ConurePT is right, beads are my new addiction.
I just love the way that you can set up the foam form and the bobbins, then take it everywhere. It’s almost more portable than knitting.
The finished look is quite nice, I love the possibilities.
I found a pattern for creating a flat braid, I think that I will try it next.
oh, and here are the earrings that I have on today. Another soldering scrap 
project.
Last weekend I sat in on a kumihimo class and I really enjoyed the technique. I can see using the necklace as a nice vehicle for some of my PMC pieces. It’s an easy project to do in front of the TV. My son even helped me do a few passes.
This weekend at soldering class Nancy had me look at my scraps and see if I could make anything from them. She had some tiny bezel cups that she had purchased to use in the PMC class.
I chose a 4mm set of silver bezel cups and a pair of fire opals to combine with my scraps to make these earrings. I really like the look of them.
A hint of copper at the top of the crescent shape really made these delicate earrings work for me.
