EMC Charms

I haven't actually written about the charms that I recieved in the Etsy Metal Clay charm swap.  I got mine a bit later than everyone else as I was moving abroad and I didn't want them to get lost in transit!
Each of us involved made a set of charms using either silver, copper of bronze clay and we made a couple of extra ones for charity.  One of the bracelets went to the Hearts for Haiti shop on Etsy and pretty much sold right away which was awesome.  Here is a pic of the charms I made and another pic of the finished bracelet that went to Hearts for Haiti.  Thanks to Ruth for the finished bracelet pic :)

More Hearts

I have been making quite a few heart pieces for my shop and the latest addition is a little pink one.  Even though its Valentines day next and they are pretty appropriate for the occasion, I love hearts anyway! :)

Clay withdrawal!

I have been in France for 1 week now and everything seems to be working out so far. We have signed for an apartment which we will move into on Wednesday if all goes well, fingers crossed! Its then off to Ikea to buy me and big new desk to work on and then I can get the silver and polymer clay out. Feels like forever since I made anything new! My Etsy shop is still in vacation mode, I thought I would leave it that way until I know where everything is and its all organised.

Hopefully next week I will finally be ordering the Foredom flex shaft which I cant wait to get. It will open lots more avenues and make drilling, sanding and polishing a breeze, yay!

Before we moved I made my sister a little anklet with some left over charms, definitely something to make for my Etsy shop.

Im Back

After being ill for the last 2 weeks and being away visiting my sister for her graduation, I am now back working away, yay!
I have a couple of photos to share, one is a daisy ring I made for myself from PMC, which I love and I thought turned out really well. I also have a pic of the cake topper I made for my sisters graduation cake.
Now I need to get cracking on my charms for the EMC charm swap, I have decided to make mine from Copprclay combined with silver, just need to wait for the supplies to arrive now!

Something New..

This is going to be a really short post as I am just about to head away for the week. I just wanted to share these new earrings I made. You can find them in my shop, I hope you all like them :)

Bronz Clay

Something new to play with, I actually ordered copper clay but bronze turned up instead. I have made a few pieces and I will have a couple of pics up tomorrow of the pieces and my story of the dreaded bronze clay!

New Work

Hello blog followers!

Well I have had a very productive last couple of days, it feels like I have made lots of new things this week, all of which are up in my Etsy shop now. I also made my first pair of earwires which I am excited about because now I can make more earrings, yay! I also had a sale yesterday which always completely surprises me. It was a brand new item which I only listed in my shop the day before so I was very impressed, heres to lots more!

York, haunted & charms!

I have just got back from my weekend away in York which was lovely, got to spend some time with Dom's son James which was nice. While we were in York we had lunch at "The Golden Fleece" pub which is supposed to be the most haunted Inn in York and dates back to 1503. I love watching ghostly programs like TAPS and most haunted which the Golden Fleece has been featured on so it was really exciting to have lunch there, didn't see anything though :(

On another note I am really excited to be involved in a charm swap with other members of the Etsy Metal Clay team. 24 people are involved so we are make 24 charms and then we all have a charm bracelet with a charm from each member. It is a great way to have a little piece of everyones work and I am really looking forward to the finished results so I will post updates on that project as I start making my charms.

E=MC

I thought I would write a post just to say I am now part of the Etsy Metal Clay team as of yesterday which I am really excited about. The EMC team is a global team of metal clay artists and there work is amazing!  You can find the teams work on Etsy by searching "EMC Team".

What is PMC?

So I thought I would right a post just to explain what precious metal clay (PMC) is. There are people out there who aren't crafty and haven't a clue what I work with so this is for them! I am pretty new to this medium also but this is what I have learnt.

There are 2 types of silver clay available, 1 brand is called PMC and the other "art clay silver" but for the purpose of this post I will call them both PMC.  Both PMC and art clay silver have different types of clay for example, slow dry clay or low tarnish. PMC once fired turns to pure silver 9.99 which is more pure than sterling silver 9.25 but not as strong as sterling, its is a much softer metal.

PMC comes in quite a few forms, clay, syringe, paper type and paste.  In my work I mainly use clay and paste, I do have some syringes but I am saving those for when I can think of a good use for them. There is also a product called oil paste which is used on already fired silver clay to attach findings or to mend broken pieces.  Oil paste can only be fired in a kiln.

The clay comes in different size packs, 7g, 10g, 25g and 50g and it costs just over a pound per gram so pretty expensive. You can use this medium like any other type of clay with regards to manipulating it. It is best to know what you are going to make before you take out the clay from the packet as it dries really fast. You can also get slow dry clay which gives you up to 4 times longer to work with the clay before it does dry.  The good thing is though that it never goes out of date and if your clay does dry out you can bring it back to consistency.  Small dried out pieces call also be added to your silver paste pot which is just watered down clay which is used to attach findings, stick pieces together and it can also be used to make designs on your work using a paint brush.

There is also PMC paper type, which is silver but you guessed it, like paper! You can cut it with scissors, punch it with paper punches or even fold it and use it for origami.  

PMC can be fired either with a blow torch or in a kiln apart from the paper type and oil paste which is kiln fire only.

There is definitely lots to know about PMC so I have only touched the basics here but I just wanted to share a little bit about the medium I like to use.  Now bronze clay and copper clay are also available so one day I hope to introduce those clays into my designs too.

Guitar plectrum

I seem to have been very productive of late, making lots of things for my Etsy shop.

Here is my latest offering for the music lover or guitar player.  Its a silver plectrum which I have made into a necklace, you can whip this necklace off and play guitar anytime you like now :)

Leaves!

I just love, love, love how these necklaces turned out, if I do say so myself!

They are made from real leaves which have been painted in silver clay paste (the back of the leaf is painted, the veiny bit).  I fire them in my kiln for about 30 minutes at 650℃, the leaf then burns away and the pure silver leaf is left with all the detail, how cool!

Once I had brushed them I oxidized them and then burnished the edges to really make them sparkle and twinkle in the light. I hope you like them and you can now find them in my Etsy shop :)

Work in Progress & sale!

First of all I made a sale today, yay! it was my falling star necklace that sold so that has made my day.

Secondly I have been making some silver leaves, the reason being is that I ran out of silver clay but have loads of paste so I thought I would utilize it and make some leaves.  Im not sure what the outcome of them will be yet but I am pretty sure they will be oxidized and turned into necklaces, maybe combining them with polymer clay.

Building Bricks

I made this necklace a couple of days ago and have just got round to listing it.  Again made from art clay silver strung on antique silver chain with a lobster claw clasp.  You can find it here :)

My thoughts on art clay silver (PMC)

So this post is mainly for Holly, I hope you are reading! :)

I haven't been working with silver clay for very long.  I remember I kept seeing "art clay silver" for sale on the website where I used to buy my polymer clay but I never really took any notice of it.  I just clicked on it one day and read about this clay that once it had been fired would turn to pure silver, a higher silver content than sterling, I thought wow!

I booked myself on a intro to silver clay course and loved it, I then saved up went and completed my level 1 in art clay.  Believe it or not I never touched silver again at home until February this year one I bought my kiln.  I saved up for my kiln as I didn't want to torch fire.  You can get the same results with torch firing but you can melt the clay if you get the torch flame too hot, or you could not fire it long enough and it could become brittle.  Silver clay is expensive and I didnt want to mess it up.  

So you could say I have only really been working with it now for about 4 months and I love it! It is totally different from working with polymer clay for a start I have found that I need to think in advance what I am going to make as the silver clay just dries to quickly so there is no time for messing about!  With polymer I used to just sit there and fiddle about until I came up with something that I like, I cant do that with silver clay.  There is also silver paste also know as "slip" this stuff is the best thing, you can buy the paste but there really is no need as all it is is watered down silver clay.  Or I would just buy the one pot then you can just keep topping it up with bits of clay that have become hard or the sanded off bits from when you have been sanding in the dry state.  The best thing about silver clay is that you can fine tune your piece once it has dried before firings,  sanding with either a file or fine sand paper.

I could go on and on about silver clay as there is lots to find out and learn so if you are curious, definately give it a go.

Tomorrow

My thoughts on PMC coming tomorrow, watch this space :)

I was going to write this post tonight but its late and Im feeling the tiredness so I shall leave it for the morning.  Meanwhile here is some serious eye candy from the very talented Mango Tango, enjoy! 

About to Move

So I have been busy packing these last couple of days as we are moving house on Tuesday.  I say house I mean pubs.  We move quite a lot as my other half is a pub manager and this time we are back up to Northampton.  I havent had much time lately to make anything new but I have been finishing off some old pendants, putting them on chains and oxidizing them.  I think they look much better oxidized as it brings out so much of the detail.  The necklaces are now in my Etsy shop.  I see art clay silver has now gone up in price so I might purchase some of the bronze clay and give that a go, you get more for you're money, plus I have been meaning to try it so this gives me an excuse!

Art clay post earrings

Art clay post earrings
Originally uploaded by ✭Lou✭

Some new earrings which I made the other day. These ones I am going to keep myself as they need refining a little but I am going to make some more for my shops so look out for those. I have also been oxidising some older pieces, you can check them out in my flickr stream.

Some more pendants & other news

Here is another of my new Art Clay pendants which I really love.  The is made by backfilling the silver with polymer clay, it works really well I think.

I have listed this in my Etsy shop along with some others too.  I have also opened a shop over at Folksy.com I have listed the same 3 silver pendants that are in my Etsy store as the design I have used can be easily replicated.  Folksy is another Etsy type site for all handmade products and it is U.K based, yay so prices are in Sterling for all the U.K buyers out there.

I hope to have some new earrings in the shop over the weekend as I am experimenting with paper clay at the moment so watch this space!

Awesome Art

Naupaka Brooch/Pendant
Originally uploaded by GordiSilver

I have been searching around on flickr for Art Clay Silver and PMC pieces and came across this pendant.  This is by the talented Gordi Silver (at least I think thats his name) he is an art clay instructor and his work is amazing.  I hope my pieces are as beautiful as his, go check out his flickr page or website.