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Monthly Archives: July 2010
Ready or Not, Here I Come!
I flew to Indianapolis this morning to attend the PMC Conference at Purdue University in Lafayette, IN. For my non-metal clay friends, PMC is a brand name for precious metal clay. Every other year hundreds of metal clay artists come together to get inspired, learn new skills and connect with friends. This is my first conference, and to say I’m pretty jazzed up about it is an understatement!
The past 13 months since I first got my hands on silver clay have been a time of intense study, practice and progress. It has been truly exhilarating to discover just how this material makes my creative spirit sing. An unexpected bonus of working in metal clay is the vibrant community of artists who support each other on line, in print and out in the real world. Through forums, blogs and Facebook, I’ve gotten to know many metal clay friends. Today, I get to meet lots of them in person for the first time. So excited!
This evening I’ll attend a social event where many artists will swap charms. The idea is that you make as many charms as you’d like to swap. I made 10 charms, so by the end of the evening, I will have a treasure trove of 10 charms from different artists, while my charms will be in the collections of those 10 artists. It’s a pretty cool way to get to know people and share a small piece of yourself with them. My charms are in my fins and spheres style that’s based on the original Blue Fin piece. You can read more about the inspiration for Blue Fin here.
BRONZclay Success!
Thanks to some great advice from Bill Struve and several other members of our metal clay community, I have successfully fired BRONZclay! My strategy was to focus on the two most likely problems, which were temperature and carbon. I’ve suspected that my kiln might run a bit hot, so I backed off to 1500 for…
Two Down…
After famously trying hundreds (maybe thousands) of materials for a light bulb filament, Thomas Edison claimed he had not failed. He had simply found 1000 ways not to invent a light bulb. Likewise, I really try to treasure the learning process when things are not going quite right. My favorite saying when I make yet…
BRONZclay Fail
I went to the kiln this morning, hoping to “ooh” and “aah” over my BRONZclay pieces that fired last night. Instead, this is what I fished out of the carbon. Eight pieces, all cracked and split open. I’ve only worked with this material one time before, in a workshop setting about a year ago. My…
Studio Tour
Today I’m sharing an inside view of my metal clay “studio”. My primary workspace is situated in a corner of our family room. It’s a bit unorthodox, but it works well for me. You should know that I have a home office, which I could easily convert to a studio. However, I work full-time and…
Protector of the Lair
I’m so happy to share this piece with you. “Protector of the Lair” has been working himself out for about two years, in my head and in polymer clay versions. I’ve posted previously about the polymer versions. I made dragons for my nieces and nephew back in 2008, and you can see the photos and…