Silver Bells

This month's challenge for the Metal Clay Artisan Guild in CT was to create a unique charm that represents our personal work for our end of the year meeting.  The charms will be swapped with those participating with one extra created for a bracelet the Guild will be auctioning off for charity.  I created a set of "Silver Bells" based on these small dried blossoms I picked from my yard earlier this fall.  The delicate nature and size of these pieces made them a real challenge for me as I had to taylor my process to a more production-like level.  Each piece features a fine silver wire bail to hang from and a liver of sulfur patina that left behind these wonderful hues of red and green - which may have been my favorite part.  I approach my silver work as a sculptor, making unique organic forms, but this was a really good opportunity for me to problem solve from the jewelry end of the spectrum.  I think these monthly group challenges will lead to a lot more individual growth for members than I had anticipated.  Can't wait to see what everyone else creates!

Silver Accessories 2013

I was really excited to be included in this year's Silver Accessories Contest sponsored by Art Clay World.  The juried show took place in Tokyo, Japan this past October and the catalogue features really incredible artists from around the world.  What a great way to end the year!

MJSA Confab

Creating Your Own Niche:
Alex Woo,  Jessica Kagen Cushman, Andrea Hill & Lisa Jenks

This month began with a great day to get out of the studio for a road trip with a fellow artist.  We headed to New York City for the ConFab Event at F.I.T. hosted by MJSA (Manufacturing Jewelry & Silversmiths Association) on Sunday November 3rd.  The inspiring event was designed for jewelry artists to examine their business practices while learning from field experts and networking with fellow designers.  Andrea Hill set the tone of the day by leading the panel discussion: Creating Your Own Niche.  She began the discussion with the statement that "…you do not need all the clients, you just need the right clients…"as she had Alex Woo,  Jessica Kagen Cushman, and Lisa Jenks share their personal journeys and perspectives.  Andrea challenged those in the audience to really examine who we are as designers, to consider what is both unique and sustainable with in our design language and to really focus on who it matters to.  The take away message was that we must be constantly evolving within the framework of who we are as designers for longterm success.  The day went on to include sessions on:  Subcontracting Made Simple, Sales for the Selling Challenged and Developing a Digital Marketing Plan.  One of my favorite quotes of the day came from the Digital Marketing session.  As examining data was being covered, it was stressed that data analysis must be balanced with judgement calls as Henry Ford was quoted "If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses."  It was great to end an uplifting and information filled day on a note of common sense.  I would highly recommend this series of events and MJSA's online resources for designers of all levels.

A Day of Demos...

The MetalClay Artisan Guild in Connecticut kicked off the month with our Annual Fall Show and Sale.  The Friday night reception was a great time, but what was really exciting was filling Saturday with demos for all levels of artists.  From a basic introduction to metal clay techniques to more advanced processes, there really was something for anyone interested or even just passing by.  I shared my organic pasting techniques, from selection of organic materials to preparing metal clay slip to layering and drying techniques.  Lis-el Crowley (lower left image) demonstrated how the new art clay formula lends itself to working with delicate coils and Alexis Crowley (right image) demonstrated how traditional carving techniques for printmaking can be applied to create texture plates for working with metal clay.  The day also included demos in working with base metals, carving in metal clay, working with textures and getting started in metal clay.  A special thanks to Susan Dunne for including us in her Art Smart Blog that week which helped us reach a broader audience for this show!

Annual Guild Show

This week in the studio has been a bit of a frenzy getting ready for our Metal Clay Artisan Guild in Connecticut's Annual Show and Sale.  If you find yourself in CT next weekend, come out and join us!  Friday evening will kick with a reception to meet the artists and Saturday will bring hourly technical demonstrations for those who are interested in learning more about metal clay.  My ring featured on the front of the show card will be part of the guild display and we will all have collections of work for sale. Its a great time to meet local artists, learn more about metal clay and get started on your holiday shopping.

Demonstrations:

10:30am - Creating Textures directly in Metal Clay

11:30am - Carving Metal Clay Forms

12:30pm - Using Two-Part Molds with Metal Clay

  1:30pm - Working with Mixed Metals in Metal Clay

  2:30pm - Working with Metal Clay Coils

  3:30pm - Working with Metal Clay in Paste Form

  4:30pm - Carving Texture Plates for use with Metal Clay

Don't Forget!  Bring a non-perishable food donation to receive a raffle ticket for door prizes created by the participating artists. 

Repairs in (fired) Metal Clay

"The best laid plans..." don't mean a thing when you open the kiln and realize you've changed your design in your head.  In this case, I decided I wanted to remove the bail I had been unhappy with all along for a coil based design.  This meant taking the torch to the piece, which took just long enough to cut the old bail off to put a small hole in its side.  Sigh.  Not to worry though, I am a big fan of Art Clay Silver's Oil Paste which was the solution to both these problems.  There are a lot of DIY metal clay oil paste recipes, but I am a big fan of a sure thing when I am already investing a fair amount of time and money.  A jar of it is a great investment to keep on hand and seems to go a very long way.  It actually has two parts - the oil (a thinning agent) and the paste (a thick, dry consistency) - you mix the two together as you go to use it.  In the case of the hole in the side, I painted it on, allowed it to dry and pasted a patch over the area.  The side view above is the same as the side view to the left with a hole in it.  I then wanted to add my new bail and coated the contact areas of the fired piece with the oil paste, allowed it to dry and attached the fresh coil.  I then re-fired it according to directions. The oil paste is able to bond with the fine silver so you can make repairs, add fine silver findings to fired pieces or even torch fire fine silver bezel wire seams.  It's one of those great materials that I wouldn't go without in the studio because that would be the very moment you needed it!

A New Twist on an Old Favorite!

The studio was briefly hijacked at the end of the summer to produce centerpieces and decorations for a dear friend's bridal shower.  She loves antiques and has a beautiful wedding gown covered in lace, which quickly became the theme we worked the day around.  I recalled some fun lamps made from antique doilies that I thought would make a great basket for our centerpieces.  They were on Dos Family Blog and the post with its simple instructions can be found here.  You can see two of my baskets below in progress.  I had a tough time finding a round beach ball, since by the end of summer the Halloween decorations are already out, so I ended up with a "ladies workout ball" from the dollar store.  It was thick and easy to inflate and deflate.  I used white school glue, for the six I made I went through close to a half gallon.  To simplify it, I placed the balls in paper bowls with the plug side down, so I would be able to access it when it came time to remove it.  Wearing gloves, I poured the glue into a paper bowl and dipped the doilies right in there to saturate them.  I squeezed the excess glue off, draped them on the ball and smoothed until they covered the way I wanted them to.  I then let them dry for 24 hours with a fan on them.

Below you can see the baskets before we filled them.  Some general tips:

When checking to see if they are dry, there will be a point where they are no longer wet, but they are soft.  You will know they are dry when they feel hard and crunchy - if you remove the interior support too soon they will collapse.

White school glue was just right for our purposes, but it is a slave to moisture and humidity.  If you want these to be more durable or appropriate for outside you should consider sealing them with a spray glaze or spray lacquer.  You will want to very slowly build up many thin coats of spray lacquer.  If you really saturate it by painting it on or spraying super heavy the glue may not hold up to the liquid and collapse.

I didn't have a bunch of old doilies laying around, but found them at a reasonable price at Factory Direct Craft where I could order them in sets of a dozen.  They have a nice variety, so if you were doing a very special piece you could order individual pieces, but the bulk worked for us.  I ordered two different sized round doilies and a set of heart shaped doilies in an ecru color to create some contrast.  Their prices were hands down the cheapest I found from a US vendor, they immediately sent a confirmation and I received my order within the week I placed it at no extra charge.  I found cheaper prices on some international sites, but many of them had ship times of up to three months and surprise charges at check out.

We filled our baskets (and the room) with paper flower pom-poms.  If you haven't made them before, they could not be more simple and Martha Stuart offers a great tutorial you can check out here.  We made varying sizes of small flowers for the centerpieces and made huge ones to fill the room and the window sills.

The key was finding a lot of tissue paper in just the two colors we wanted.  This elevated the final pieces and helped tie in our theme.  I found the colors I needed at a store called Bags & Bows that specializes in retail gift wrap supplies.  It allowed me to order a ream (400 sheets) in colors of my choice for under $20.  They have more than 100 solid colors and the economy reams start at $13.  Again, they shipped fast and the delivery was packaged well to protect the tissue paper from the elements.