A Flurry of Metal Clay

Flexible Copper (Hadar's Quick Fire)

There's been a flurry of metal clay in my studio.   My late winter goal was to use the older Hadar  clay that I have so I can focus on her new One-fire clay.   Over the years (yes it keeps that long in powder form) I've collected many containers of Quick-fire bronze, copper, steel, etc.  They take longer to fire and have 3 stages of firing instead of 2. 

Hadar's Flexible Copper 
My mid-west background of using and saving kicked in and I would not allow myself to use the new One-fire clay until all the other was gone.  So I started creating.  First I was just going to make some simple earrings and then a pendant.  Pretty soon I wondered how I could make some pieces using tools not used before.  One thing led to another.

Crisco Ad Engraving
A metal engraved stamp for a Crisco ad that my mother saved became a necklace.  When this piece was fired, it separated in two parts.  I liked it so much I repaired it and fired again.  This time I fired it on edge and gravity pulled the end a little lower.  Always learning!  The fix?  A polymer back that is straight and make it visually interesting from the front.   Be creative!

Crisco Necklace with ruby CZ accent
Small engraved pictures that my mom also saved became bead squares with 2 channels on the back of each for chain or connectors.  This could become a bracelet but I chose to make a double strand of chain for a necklace.  The squares are pictures of Del Monte Peas, Del Monte Canned Fruit and Del Monte Canned Vegetables.  I kept the engraved pictures subtle without patina and I like the contemporary look.
Del Monte Necklace
Detail - Del Monte Canned Vegetables
I've always wanted to make a lariat necklace.  It's time had come!  Using some of the techniques I learned from Hadar, I made the bronze teardrop hollow focal.  I also used some flexible copper for accent.  The trick was to the make the accompanying piece the right size to go through the larger teardrop focal and to make it all interesting from both sides.  Here it is with the amber bead chain!

 


Now you know why I haven't posted for a few weeks!  If you are in the Prescott area be sure to stop in Tis Gallery and in Mountain Artist Gallery to see some of my work.
Have a great week!  I'll be enjoying all the birds on my deck.

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