PMC Playdate with Susan

I had a busy week at work so far because it is forecast week. Not too much time for jewelry creating or for the horses. Susan came over last night for dinner and a PMC playdate. We created a very cute three disc pendant. It is not totally complete yet, she is firing our bails at SGBC, so I will post pictures as soon as I get it put together. We each used six different textures, one on each side of the three oval discs. We torch fired them. Ooo-la-la they came out great. I'm wearing the "fern" leaf by itself today. I think that one is my favorite. The bad picture is from my camera phone. It was great to combine our creativity and share our textures. Looking forward to doing it again!

Santa Barbara tomorrow. Yeah!

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New Fine Silver Pieces

Before heading off to Villa Sorriso to meet some friends for a drink, I worked on some newly fired pieces Susan dropped off. I used Liver of Sulphur to oxidize them, and got beautiful hues of blues, pinks, and golds. They came out great, and Chad wore the tube one last night. It looked good on him.

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New Fine Silver Pieces available for sale

I have added several new pieces to my website, Five O'Clock Somewhere. This is the beginning of my new line of Fine Silver.

Precious Metal Clay(PMC) is a revolutionary material, invented a decade ago in Japan. PMC is a clay-like material made of fine silver particles, water and an organic binder. It can be worked like a clay and when fired in a kiln, the water and binder burn off, the silver particles fuse together, leaving .999 fine (pure) silver. PMC is like no other material. In its fresh stage it acts like a clay; it can be textured, molded, formed. In its dry stage its curiously similar to wood, as it can be carved, sawed, and assembled into complex forms. Once fired, as metal, it can be hammered, filed and soldered.

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Precious Metal Clay

"Metal clay is a unique material, a new technology that allows the artist to form pure gold and silver jewelry in an organic, tactile way unlike any other tradition they may have previously known. Fire in the form of a torch or kiln transforms this wonderfully malleable "clay" into solid silver or gold. Polished steel tools are then used to burnish the precious item to a gleaming luster. Imagination completes the process, turning a beautiful object into personal adornment." - Lora Hart. I am just starting to explore this medium and am having a great time creating with it. I have taken two classes so far to learn PMC techniques, and I cannot wait to take more! In the last class I took, the instructor tripped on the way to the kiln dropping the bowl of our creations, and it was all reduced to dust when it shattered on the floor. It was devastating to see 8 hours of hard work go down the drain, however, it forced me to go home with the techniques I learned and remake my pieces. Here are a few of the things I have created so far.

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