Post by Bejewelme on May 5, 2010 18:38:55 GMT -5
Well I have been playing with the PMC Silver Clay and have been very frustrated, mainly because it is expensive and then when something doesn't turn out it is really disappointing! So I invested in a class by a really well known PMC teacher who happens to live not far from me. Check out her work at
hollygage.com/
So Sunday I took the class it was suppose to be 9:30 am-5:30 pm, but it lasted until 7:30 pm, me and my ADD were at wits end but I came away with a lot of knowledge and some more confidence about working with the material. Holly was an awesome teacher and really wanted us to be happy with our designs. So we basically had to draw our own design, and bring a stone, then I had to blow up the drawing 12% to account for shrinkage, then we fired the piece, burnished the piece and then set the fine bezel in the metal oil paste and fired again, and burnished again,and then tumbled and then set the stone. Man I was exhausted, LOL. So here it is, this is a beautiful thunder ridge opal I got at the show in Jersey, the opal is about 1 1/2 ", the finished piece is almost 3" tall, I am really happy with it, I was having all kinds of problems working the clay, warping when drying, etc. I will post some of my prior attempts! Setting a stone in a silver bezel is still hard, it looks easy but getting that bezel right and then getting it pushed over is tough, I am not totally happy with how I finished this and need a lot more work!
I couldn't capture all the fire in the opal.
Here are some copper leaves that Tony was making, he was just fooling around with some copper and started making leaves, I said make me a set, so here they are, pretty cool I think!
I got some copper findings at the local bead shop and now it is ready to wear!
More PMC I did before the class, and ever since the roundup my camera is messed up, so they are so blurry I couldn't even post the others.
Nickel sized dragonfly earrings with sterling lever backs
Shell I made from a real seashell, I had a small CZ crystal in it and lost it in the tumbler
I made molds of the shells and let them dry and filed then attached to the background and finished with real pearls.
Pendant with rose swarorski crystal
I know a lot of you are talking about doing PMC I would love to have some advice, etc if any of you work with it, the fine silver is beautiful, I happen to like the shiny silver I want to play around with liver of sulfur and try different pantinas but boy that steel shot int he tumbler really works great! Also I got a dremel tool and am not sure what attachement or compound to use to give that mirror finish?
Amber
hollygage.com/
So Sunday I took the class it was suppose to be 9:30 am-5:30 pm, but it lasted until 7:30 pm, me and my ADD were at wits end but I came away with a lot of knowledge and some more confidence about working with the material. Holly was an awesome teacher and really wanted us to be happy with our designs. So we basically had to draw our own design, and bring a stone, then I had to blow up the drawing 12% to account for shrinkage, then we fired the piece, burnished the piece and then set the fine bezel in the metal oil paste and fired again, and burnished again,and then tumbled and then set the stone. Man I was exhausted, LOL. So here it is, this is a beautiful thunder ridge opal I got at the show in Jersey, the opal is about 1 1/2 ", the finished piece is almost 3" tall, I am really happy with it, I was having all kinds of problems working the clay, warping when drying, etc. I will post some of my prior attempts! Setting a stone in a silver bezel is still hard, it looks easy but getting that bezel right and then getting it pushed over is tough, I am not totally happy with how I finished this and need a lot more work!
I couldn't capture all the fire in the opal.
Here are some copper leaves that Tony was making, he was just fooling around with some copper and started making leaves, I said make me a set, so here they are, pretty cool I think!
I got some copper findings at the local bead shop and now it is ready to wear!
More PMC I did before the class, and ever since the roundup my camera is messed up, so they are so blurry I couldn't even post the others.
Nickel sized dragonfly earrings with sterling lever backs
Shell I made from a real seashell, I had a small CZ crystal in it and lost it in the tumbler
I made molds of the shells and let them dry and filed then attached to the background and finished with real pearls.
Pendant with rose swarorski crystal
I know a lot of you are talking about doing PMC I would love to have some advice, etc if any of you work with it, the fine silver is beautiful, I happen to like the shiny silver I want to play around with liver of sulfur and try different pantinas but boy that steel shot int he tumbler really works great! Also I got a dremel tool and am not sure what attachement or compound to use to give that mirror finish?
Amber
Also, on a whim (it is real cheap) I am messing around with polymer clay. Kind of fun and any stone can be set in it because it only needs "baking" at 250 for 15 minutes. Keep up the nice work, I look forward to seeing more!
