Telling Stories in Clay

The Dragonfly Story

The Butterfly Story

 Looking through my stash of older Hadar’s clay, I settled on Quick Fire Steel XT.  Why I have 3 bottles is still a question in my mind and now my goal is to use it!  First I started with oval links.  My idea is to make these links as my test pieces and use them in a mixed base metal chain when I get enough.  That should make another good story! 

Steel Links

Next I decided to make a steel frame to house a moving event.  That will be another post as soon as I decide on the subject of that story!  And you will have to wait to see it.

Rocks!  I found my box of special smooth rocks the correct size to use as forms for hollow beads.  Of course I had to make a pendant with a center hole.  Following the directions in one of Hadar’s books and remembering what I had learned in one of her classes, the basic form came out great.  I decided to hang a pearl (I think) in the center and made the hole for the wire.  It looked good but not that much different from others I have seen.  How to make it mine?

Adding leaves, petals and insects to my hollow steel pendant

After my recent trip to Death Valley and with spring in the air, wildflowers and nature came to mind.  I have not used the extruder much for metal clay and found it makes great stems.  My oval cutter makes great flower petals and of course I could also shape them into butterfly and dragonfly wings.  My story of the butterfly starts on one side of the pendant and ends with the story of the dragonfly on the other.  

I’m reminded of t-shirts that have a picture on the front and nothing on the back.  My favorite t-shirt has a frog that wraps around me front to back.  My pendant seems much more interesting with the two stories connecting.  And the pearl in the center reminds me of a honeycomb or a bell.

The dragonfly story in the finished pendant.

A huge ‘Thank You’ to Cindy Pope http://peaceofshine.deviantart.com/gallery/,  Lauren Bracken http://www.brackendesigns.com/servlet/StoreFront and Hadar Jacobson http://hadarjacobson.com/  in Hadar’s Support Group on FaceBook.  I asked for tips and cautions before firing the QF Steel XT clay pendant and received such good concern and helpful comments.  .

I fired the pendant at night so it would be ready first thing the next morning.  As sometimes happens, the clay did not sinter completely.  I smoothed the areas that did not become metal and put it back in the kiln.  As stories often go, this one had several repeats. 

Look carefully and you can see the space in the inside wall.

And finally after repairing a hole on the inside of the hole, I have a steel pendant that pleases me.  I just had to share the event with you.