Tag Archives: metal clay

September 2, 2014 · 11:03 am

Home from Haystack

Last week at this time I was busy in the metals studio at Haystack learning a bunch of cool new things from Chris Darway,  like how to use an oxygen reduction flame to fuse 22 karat metal clay slip (PMC Aura 22) onto copper, and how to mix up “super pickle” to etch that copper piece to make the gold stand out even more. The demo of making bezel settings on stones by dipping them in PMC 3 slip, was genius! So is the whole idea of using Elmer’s Glue and flattened toothpicks to provide a handle to work with dried PMC pieces before firing in the kiln. There are so many ideas and images going through my head that I don’t know where to start.

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I’ve not been back in my studio yet and I have to be okay with that. I am an introvert who has  just spent a whole week among people with almost no time alone to recharge. Ideally, I need at least an hour alone  to balance an hour of stimulation from being with people. Simply put, extroverts gain energy from interacting with others and introverts lose energy. It doesn’t mean we don’t want to be around people or go out in the world, it just means we have to find ways to reboot the system after we’ve been there, even among friends.

At Haystack it is ALL FRIENDS and ALL CREATIVITY all the time! It was a blast and I am so glad I spent the week there. My introvert/people energy may still need to be recharged, but my creative energy is brimming, spilling over into my quiet time in the form of sketches, poetry, and remembered images. When I make my way to my studio it will be with a smile on my face and a feeling of coming home to an adventure.

I’ll be posting an album of Haystack photos on my FaceBook page. If you want to see all of them just send me a friend request (if we’re not FB friends already). If you’re not into FB, that’s okay too. I’m going to post some of my favorites right here.

Our cabin: IMGP6711 IMGP6699

The metals studio awaits:IMGP6832

 

Demo of PMC slip bezels and Chuck’s version of the slip bezel setting:

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Copper clay is still not my favorite medium, but it was at least humorous…IMGP6725 IMGP6731

Random class photos:

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And one of my favorite additions to this time at Haystack: Holly Kellogg and I went for a 20 minute swim every single day we were there, at this sweet little beach. (It only looks warm. The water was still about 63º just like home.)

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Good bye until next time Haystack! IMGP6835 IMGP6720

It’s time to plant myself back in my own studio, and grow.

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February 18, 2012 · 12:19 am

Back to work with metal clay and a shout out to J.Fred

It sure seems like a long time. Maybe it was before Christmas that I last worked with silver PMC.  I don’t even remember the last time I worked with bronze or copper clay.

I got ready by straightening out my tools, putting away other projects, and getting my metal clay bench in tidy shape as I figured out what I might do next. I actually had some specific earrings in mind; a pair I had made years ago and wanted to retry. The original pair were hollow, flat on the back and domed in front with an off center dip in the dome shape. I could not find the original mold I made with a plastic watercolor palette, so I tried again to get the shape.

These were not quite what I wanted, but I was not getting any closer with successive tries, so I worked with what I had.  I wanted to use 40 gauge copper foil to recreate the dome and dip shape. By having a little mold of copper, I can lay the metal clay on it and transfer it directly to my cup warmer. Using a metal form to drape and shape the metal clay is a handy little trick I learned last winter from my metal clay mentor J.Fred Woell.*  The copper foil or wire heats up quickly, so the clay dries quickly and it doesn’t stick to the metal.

Getting the foil shaped properly didn’t work as well as I had hoped, but I’ll keep at it. It may be that for this particular design I just have to wait for the dome shape to air-dry on the plastic water color palette. I have a few other tricks to try before I give up on this idea.

I also made some cone shapes out of the foil to use for shaping and quickly drying cones from PMC. I would like to use them more with multi strand sections of necklaces. I made some a while ago but they were too wide. I used this handy dandy tool I picked up at a conference to get a thin cone shape. Without the foil cones I could shape the clay directly on the plastic form, then wait and wait for it to dry, or dry it a little more quickly with a hair dryer. With three little copper cones, I can make 6 cone beads in the time it would take for one to dry enough to remove from the plastic form.

The results were more predictable this time.

*To my friend and teacher, J.Fred Woell, congratulations on your well-earned recognition from the Society of North American Goldsmiths. When you introduced me to precious metal clay in 1998 it changed my life!

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April 8, 2011 · 11:07 pm

Opportunity

Less than 2 months ago I asked the question, “How much is too much?” when it comes to paying for fine silver metal clay. The price of silver was $33.70 an ounce. I could not imagine that price would ever sound like a bargain, but today the price of my favorite precious metal reached $40.41, making that February 22 price look a lot better than it did then.

Today this much PMC would cost me  $95.16. I have 2 packages on hand that cost me about $20 less, and I will not be rushing to open them or to order more. It’s hard to think that in another 2 months I may kick myself for missing out on the “bargain” price today. I would rather hope that the price will come back down sooner than later.

Most of the people I know who work with PMC, (myself included) are starting to freak out, wondering how much higher the price of silver will go. But whining or worrying is not going to get us anywhere. What’s the worst that can happen if we stop working with it for a while? If the demand goes down will the price go down?  Who knows?  In the meantime, we have  an opportunity to grow as artists. We can find ways to make jewelry from other materials, learning new techniques and expanding our base of experience.

Think of Alexander Calder and the jewelry he made from brass and copper.

Alexander Calder (1898-1976) Untitled (spiral pendant), copper, 3½ x 2 1/8 in. (8.9 x 5.4 cm.). Executed circa 1957.

Not into forging wire? The world of base metal clay is expanding all the time. There are a variety of manufacturers of bronze and copper clay, and the price is very reasonable. For those of us who still like a silver colored metal, Hadar Jacobsen has developed a white bronze clay, and there is a wealth of information available on her blog.

My friends Angie and Marly, from Studio 28, have been working with Hadar’s white bronze clay lately, and they have a wonderful blog entry about it.  Their earrings below are a combination of white bronze and copper. (Looks like silver, eh?)

The white bronze is something I hope to try soon.

But first, I have ordered some patina solutions and an e-book from Shannon LeVart at Miss Ficklemedia. Her patinated beads and components fascinate me, and the process is one I’ve wanted to try for a while. I like the idea of creating my own colors on copper and brass to use in my necklaces and earrings. I will use silver, too, but I can stretch my silver supply a little farther when I combine it with other metals.

After I ordered the solutions and instructions from Shannon, I checked out some of her sources for copper beads. I also found some copper and brass pieces at the Beadin’ Path. So I ordered a few things on which to apply patina. I spent some studio time stamping, dapping and drilling holes in some of the flat pieces to leave my own marks on the metal.

See the plain willow leaf shapes in the center of the photo above?   This is how I made them “my” copper leaves:

The next step(s) will be to clean all the metal surfaces, making sure any grease is gone. I’m excited and nervous to try something new, especially applying the patinas that require heat.

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March 3, 2011 · 12:42 am

Draping jigs

Today I made some wire jigs on which to drape metal clay. I just learned this technique from Fred Woell’s workshop last weekend. The idea is that metal clay, draped over metal (in this case the wire), will dry quickly and release easily when the supporting piece of metal is heated. Draping the wet clay allows for some interesting shapes to be made into beads.

PMC shapes drying on an electric cup warmer.

Hollow beads ready to be fired in the kiln.

I had planned for such a long studio day today, but it took me forever to get settled into work. Some days are just like that. I finally got around to it after catching up on some reading and taking a little nap. The sun came out for a while this afternoon so I also went for a low tide walk on the beach while the temperature was still around 40º.  Considering how unfocused I felt, I was actually happy with what I accomplished.

The temperature is already down to 15º and I will set my alarm to wake up and add wood to the wood stove. Bruce usually wakes up at some point every night and refills the wood stove, but tonight he is away. Tonight is also supposed to be a good night for Northern Lights, with all of the recent solar flare activity. So far, there is nothing but a lot of stars in the sky. (Which is pretty special in itself and I never get tired of seeing the stars here. ) I’ll be checking the sky again when I get up to put wood in the stove. If there is anything going on, aurora borealis-wise, it will be worth it to bundle up and go out to see it.

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