My Goals for 2012 Revisited


Copper Bell using Hadar's Clay


Last January I listed my goals for year 2012 as:
I will have fun doing whatever I am doing.
I will experiment with new techniques and share them.
And I’m very pleased to say I accomplished them.  In fact, I think I will continue them for 2013!
Having fun doing whatever I’m doing is pretty easy.  I’m at the age that “If it isn’t fun, why would I do it?  And if I have to do it anyway, I might as well make it fun.”
Experimenting with new techniques turned out to be a mixed bag.  I experimented with polymer clay and became known as the “Button Baroness”.  (I laugh about that).  I have several mixed metal, silver metal clay and polymer pieces on consignment in two cities.  (Amazing myself).  New tools have made experimenting easier and fun. 
The copper bell really tinkles!
 And somewhere this year I signed up to take Hadar’s  artinsilver.com/ class in Tucson in February 2013 using her powdered clay and learning new techniques.  I also belong to a metal clay group on Facebook and everyone shares their experiences and concerns.  As I read artist’s progress, problems and set-backs with the clay, I got scared.  I know that sounds a little silly but it is true.  So I put off learning to use Hadar’s clay.  With my less than enthusiastic mindset, reading her manual several times did not help.   I just kept putting the whole thing off.  Well, here it is late December and I have no choice but to take the clay by the horns (so to speak) and start.  After all, I’ve paid for the class and it is non-refundable!
I cannot tell you how many times I have said to students, employees and friends, “Whatever it is, it will not be as bad as you think it will be!”  It wasn’t.  In fact, I followed Hadar’s directions and video exactly.  The copper powder clay mixed beautifully.  The two step firing worked and yes, I still had trepidation.  But I followed the manual and it worked! 
Copper Clay Pieces Ready to Fire

Fired Copper Clay Pieces with center disc polished.

Finished Necklace with Hadar's copper clay
 2013 continues experimenting with new techniques and sharing them! Next I’m trying steel and bronze!
Labels:
Location: Prescott, AZ, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Learning As We Go!

Image
Viking knit is the oldest method of chain making and I've become fascinated by it.  Once I conquered the single knit, I decided to add beads.  I could have googled or asked how it was done but it seemed like something I could just figure out.  And I've learned a lot as I proceeded first with tumbled turquoise beads and then with pearls.  I thought I'd share a few of the things I've learned.   Iif you want a great tutorial on viking knit technique, Trina Ann at http://blog.trinaann.com/  has written a clear concise easy to understand tutorial.  I highly recommend it.    Tumbled tuquoise beads in viking knit  I used tumbled turquoise beads in the first viking knit chain and I did not really know what I was doing.  But I went right ahead and as it turned out, I liked the end result.  Since the beads were irregular in shape there was a random quality to the finished product. During that process, I beg...
Read more

Polymer Clay Conversation

Image
One of the polymer clay groups on FaceBook is 'Polymer Clay Collective'.  This is a group of artists working in polymer clay who share ideas and support each other.  I'm so glad to be a part.  A new feature of this group is the 'Polymer Clay Collective Conversations' where a different member answers a set  of questions.  I get to be first - the trailblazer! I hope you enjoy learning a little more about me and in two weeks I get to learn more about someone else. • Tell us a bit about where you live. I live in Prescott AZ right next to the national forest.   When I look out my studio windows, I often see large black ravens swooping between the pine trees.   Binoculars are always available for close viewing of our smaller forest birds.   You’ve probably read about the forest fires we have had in our area this summer.   The monsoon rains we are having are so welcome. • What do you do when you're not polymer claying? As of 2010, I...
Read more

I'm Back with New Pieces of Art Jewelry

Image
It’s been a while since my last post and while I missed writing them, I hope you also missed sharing my adventures!  Between a road trip to Berkeley and having painful (very painful) shoulder tendonitis my activities really slowed down.  Now I’M BACK!  Ready to explore new techniques and have fun. When I see a good tutorial about something new that catches my fancy, I buy it and eventually the day comes when I just have to try it.  Staci Louise Smith wrote a tutorial “Gold Rush: The Rustic Crackle Technique” for Craft Art Edu.  I loved the pictures of her necklaces and wanted to see what I could do.  If you like the crackle effect  on my pieces or want to try something new, check out her tutorial on   www.CraftArtEdu.com    They have good classes on many subjects. When I started following tutorials, I expected my pieces to look like the instructors.  That just did not happen and it is not the fault of the tutorial or ...
Read more