Are you lost in cyberspace ??

I have talked about the importance of crediting your images the right way every time you post a picture of your work in any site in the Internet. This not only gives you the rights and credit of your work but also makes your images have an identity.
I talked about this topic in this post: Do you credit your art work the right way?

Crediting your images is very important but it is also not the only thing you have to do when you post your images on line, tagging your pictures is extremely IMPORTANT !! 
You will be lost in cyberspace if you do not tag your images.


Some people may think this is too hard or they may not want to do the extra job of writing tags for their images, but I am telling you, if you do not do it then I do not see the point in posting your images without tags. Tags help you to make your pictures visible to others when they do search in the Internet.


Tagging an image is simple, tags are words that will describe what is in your picture; for example:

ROSAS
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Sterling PMC
Photo: Speedy Peacock

Tags: Lorena Angulo, Ring, Silver, PMC Sterling, Sterling, Metal Clay, Roses, flowers, leaves, jewelry, textures, hand sculpted


Every word in this list will make my image visible when someone writes a "key" word in any search page. 

I hope you will take the extra time when you see a space that says "tags" or "labels" to write tags in your images the next time you post a picture, this will help you and help others find your work.


Happy Tagging !!!!  


Keep Playing, keep creating !


Lorena Angulo

p.s. I almost forgot !! I need to tag my blog post too ! ;o)

25 grams of PMC Sterling

I was very happy to have the opportunity to play with the new PMC Sterling back in November. Finally we can have a metal clay that it is stronger and can me mark as .925 silver (sterling).


I got a package of 25 grams and I got into my studio to make some pieces with it. The working time for this type of clay is longer and it gives you the flexibility to not worry about the clay drying too fast while you are working with it. The color of the clay is darker and the texture is great and easy to work with.


My plan was to make a ring, earrings and a pendant. The first piece I made was the ring, I hand roll a long snake and wrap it around a mandrel to form the band. The joining of the joints was easy to make and I just added some water to smooth the connections.

I decided to go 3.5 sizes bigger than the size I need it for the ring. I do not use any inserts in my ring when I fired it, I believe it is better to let the clay shrink all the way.


Carving is another thing I wanted to try with this clay since most of my work has carving in it. I was surprise to see how smooth and easy carving was with this type of clay. The carving went perfect and I saved my carving scraps to add some texture in my pendant later on. 

Since the clay has a longer working time before it gets dry, I knew hand sculpting will be easy and great to do. I hand sculpted a rose to add to my ring and it was perfect for sculpting.

I let the rose dry first before I added it to the center of the band, this way you will not deform the rose. Adding the rose was easy by using water and fresh clay to join the rose to the band. I do not like to use paste for this, I prefer to use fresh clay instead of paste. I continue to hand formed little rose buds around the center rose and some leaves.


For the earrings I wanted to use sterling jump rings and fire them in place. I embedded them in the earrings with fresh clay and hand formed flowers and leaves. In the center of the flowers I attached a CZ Garnet. 

For the pendant I play with textures and added my carving scraps on top of the heart with water. I carved and hand formed roses for the front and back of the piece. I always like to add something extra on the back of my pieces.


My firing schedule was different from the package because my pieces were thicker than 3mm. For the open shelf firing I fast ramp to 1000F and hold there for 40 minutes. I let the pieces cool down completely inside the kiln before I took them out to do the second firing.
For the second firing I added a coat of activated carbon at the bottom of the steel pot and added my pieces in one layer. I covered them with more activated carbon and closed the pot with the lid. I fast ramp the kiln to 1500F and hold there for 45 minutes. I also let the pieces cool down inside the kiln when the firing was over.

This is how the pieces look like when they are fired and out of the kiln. A white matte color and they do not have any oxidation or black coloring in them, not even in the sterling jump ring.


I brush them with a brass brush and soapy water, added LOS Gel patina and finally I polished them in a magnetic tumbler.

EL CORAZON
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling
Photo: Speedy Peacock

FLOR
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling, CZ Hessonite Garnet, Pearls
Photo: Speedy Peacock

ROSAS
©2011 Lorena Angulo
PMC Sterling
Photo: Speedy Peacock

I want to continue experimenting and I am going to fire the clay to a longer time, maybe close to 2 hours. I will let you know how this goes and if the size of the ring shrinks more if I add more time to the firing.

I am sure you will all like to work with this clay and the best of all is that the price is very similar to PMC3.


Keep Playing, Keep Creating !!


Love,
Lorena Angulo

Ring a Week continues

I continue to make rings for the challenge "Ring a Week 2011", I was so excited making them that I was doing more than one ring per week. Now, I am trying to calm down a little bit but knowing how I am I do not think it is going to happen ! ;o)


Ring #12
I decided to continue with my use of Creative paperclay and  I made a bezel inspired by a wonderful tapestry. I formed a FastFire Bronzclay ring and after fired I added the paper bezel.

12/52 RAW 2011

©2011 Lorena Angulo

FastFire Bronzclay, Creative paperclay, colored pencils.

Ring #13 
I designed something totally different to what I usually do. Again the use of creative paperclay was the material of choice. This time I wanted to create something fun and of course very colorful. 

13/52 RAW 2011

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Creative paperclay, colored pencils and glass cabochon.

Ring #14 

This ring was part of the first challenge in RAW, this time we chose to make a kinetic ring. I was planning to make it with copper or bronze but life sometimes gets in your way and I was not able to made it. I still wanted to participate in this challenge and at the last minute (30 minutes) I decided to create a pinwheel ring with a soda can.

If you want to see a little video of this ring go and visit this link: Pinwheel ring. You can also visit the challenge page to see all the other kinetic rings, I am sure you will love them all. Kinetic Challenge Rings.

14/52 RAW 2011

Ring #15 

For this ring I was inspired by my big love for Mexican Folk Art, mostly the wonderful "Arboles de Vida" (trees of life.)

15/52 RAW 2011

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Creative paperclay, colored pencils, acrylics, pearls and polymer clay.

3.58 " tall by 2.60 " wide

Our next challenge for RAW it is going to be a ring inspired by Japan, stay tune to see what I can came out with ! ;o)

Keep playing, keep creating !!

Love,

Lorena Angulo

Second ring for RAW (February).

After being sick for more than seven days I had to do something to lift my spirit !
I knew I needed to make my second RAW ring for February and I decided to make it with a different material this time.
I choose to have a play-day with myself and paper clay. 
I have never made jewelry with this clay and I taught this could be a great opportunity to experiment and play.
The first idea in my head was to hand sculpt a "Calavera" (skull) ring and add color with colored pencils. The clay is very easy to mold and hand sculpt.


I am sure this will not be my only ring made with paper clay because I love the versatility and how easy is to add color to it.

Here you have it !

 LOVE CATRINA

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Paper clay, colored pencils and beads.

3.75 inches by 1.35 inches

Keep playing !! Keep creating !!

Love,

Lorena Angulo

My first RAW ring for February

I had a super fun time making my first ring a week for February. This time I decided to just have fun and play with metal and the cork. 

I riveted the brass band to the copper base and twisted the copper rays to hold the cork in place. 
Simple and FUN !!!

6/52 RAW 2011

Lorena Angulo

Keep playing, keep creating !!

Love,

Lorena Angulo

A bird in my hand

It all started with a tiny bird in my hand.
I hand sculpted the tiny bird for my "Bird a Week" challenge, but I felt he was too lonely and decided to create another one to make him company.
When I saw the two little birds I new they will be needing a home and that is how this piece was made.

LOVE BIRDS
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Bronzclay

LOVE BIRDS
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Bronzcla

The ring was made with FastFire Bronzclay  and I will fire it at this schedule:
Full ramp up to 1550F and hold there 3 hours. This schedule has worked very good to me, but every kiln it is different and you may have a different firing schedule.


How do you create? Do you start with an idea, a drawing or it comes out in the moment?

Love,
Lorena Angulo

PMC Pro

Hola !! 
This is Lorena Angulo and I want to share with you my experience with the newest PMC in the market.
PMC Pro was introduced during the PMC conference in Perdue last year. Metal Clay Artists Magazine talks about it in the latest issue, if you do not have this issue you still can buy it here.

I was a little unsure about this "new" clay but as I always said, "I can not say I do not like something if I have not tried it yet!".
In my personal blog, I shared my experience and the pieces I made with my 25 grams of PMC Pro.
Do you want to take a look at them?

Visit these links and let me know what you think about it.

PMC Pro (first post)

PMC Pro Fired Ring (second post)

25 Grams of PMC Pro (third post)

This is my first ring I made with PMC Pro.

BIRD NEST
©2010 Lorena Angulo
PMC Pro

Have you played with this clay yet? 

We will love to know what you think.

Hope my postings help you in any way and if you have not tried the PMC Pro yet, give it a change !

Keep Playing !!  Keep Creating !!
~ Lorena ~