Metal Clay Design Competition

Start your year by challenging yourself and enter this wonderful competition organized by Metal Clay Artist Magazine and sponsored by USA-based PMC Connection.
The theme for the competition is "Metal Clay Plus...." You can use any type of metal clay and another non-metal material to create your piece. This can be a great opportunity to start experimenting and playing with materials that you may have not use before.


Design requirements:
Metal clay needs to be feature prominently in the design. You can use one or more non-metal materials like resin, glass, polymer clay, enamel, cement, paperclay, fabric, found objects, etc.


Example:

©2011 Lorena Angulo
FastFire Bronzclay, Creative paperclay cabochon
with colored pencils.

Judging Criteria:
Pieces will be judged based on their workmanship, originality, presentation, creativity and effective use of materials.
Artist may enter up to 3 pieces.


Eligibility:
Any independent artist who neither is employed by a metal clay manufacturer nor is a staff member at either PMC Connection or Metal Clay Artist Magazine may enter his or her work into the contest.


Entries:
All designs entered in this competition must be original. Winning pieces from other competitions are not eligible to be entered. Each entry must be accompanied by a description of the design, inspiration, construction technique and materials used.


Photos:
Images must be .jpg labeled using the following format:
Artist Name_Name of piece(optional)_brief description_country.jpg
(example, Jessica Wong_Morning Mist_PMC Pearl Bracelet_Japan.jpg).


Image dimensions:  minimum 4" x 6"
resolution: minimum 300 dpi

Send photos to contest@metalclayartistmag.com
with the subject line "MCAM Design Competition"


Awards:
1st Price $300 gift certificate from PMC Connection
2nd Price $200 gift certificate from PMC Connection
3rd Price $100 gift certificate from PMC Connection


Winning pieces will be feature in a PMC Connection ad and an article in MCAM.


Entry Deadline:
Pieces must be submitted by 11:59 Eastern Time on February 29th, 2012.

Judging:
Winners will be determined by a panel of jurors

Availability of winning entries:
Winning entries will be showcased in Metal Clay Artist Magazine and must be available to be photographed professionally (if necessary).


You still have time to make something and share your creativity with us !




 

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)

Now You See It, Now You Don’t…Transforming Your Workspace

The latest Reader Challenge is to show us your workspace. 

We all love to see where other artists work! 

MCAM reader, Yvonne Kuennen shares her experience with organizing her space and clearing the clutter… 

When you work with metal clay, you tend to fall in love with it because it takes up so little space. It’s extremely portable, and a very small toolbox will hold most of your tools. Many of the basic tools are common things you might find in your kitchen or around the house: miniature rolling pin, cookies cutters, picks, emery boards, brushes, etc. In no time at all the tools multiply; and, before you know it, take over a portion of your house! The other people who share that living space are forced to give it up. It really is unfair—to everyone concerned. 

It is a challenge to organize so many tiny tools. You can’t have too many tools or too many beads (everyone knows that)! The question is, what do you let go of? 

In my study of Feng Shui I ran across a book entitled Clearing the Clutter. Then I attended a workshop on the same topic. The basic premise for Feng Shui is in the clearing of spaces. The best tip I learned was to create three boxes (or bins) with these labels: donate/repurpose, pitch and keep. The trick for me was getting the boxes to the thrift store or the trash before I got a chance to pull things back out. I kept telling myself, “less is more.” It is so true. 

Sort it all out and systematically categorize the things you are sorting through. If anything appears to be taking up too much space, find a bin for it. Be ruthless…is it being used? Selling or donating unused items is the easiest route in making them go away. The cash or credit you receive is such a plus that the pain of letting go is minimized.

Space planning is also no small feat. It requires a good deal of thoughtful planning and engineering. It also requires a high degree of organization. Without organization, you don’t know what get rid of. In my own case, the dining room table became a parking lot for all stages of design and production. 

I struggled for months (years to be truthful) to figure out a better order for all these things. I had several different beading rooms, but each one became a cluttered nightmare with no visible tabletop to work on.

VOILA! My husband Michael, the wood artist, built a wall-to-wall bookcase from “stick.” It is five sections from floor to ceiling, made of alder-stained cherry with cupboards beneath each section. Each cupboard now houses the myriad of tools and various pieces of equipment for my trade.

One cupboard has kits for seven students (my maximum for teaching workshops), the next has a tower of drawers to house all the molds I’ve made, a variety of texture tips, cutters and the like. The third holds all my firing equipment in a work bucket. The fourth has all my scrap glass and tools for making the dichroic cabochons. The fifth stands empty—yet to be filled, but that is a good thing since I am not finished. I still have beads to organize (get rid of)? The best organizing tool that I have found for beads are 5.5 x 9 x 1 inch trays with separator black felt bottoms. Some even have tops that snap shut. These trays stack neatly, and once labeled, make it easy to find a particular bead.

Bringing peace into your house by organizing your workspace can be done without a degree in Feng Shui. It is highly recommended to understand the principles of this ancient art of placement and worth any time you can spend studying it. The timing is important because the process is difficult on an emotional level. Several weeks in between “pitches” made it easier for me, and each one was less painful than the first. The art of organizing your workspace is a process, and you have to remember to “trust the process.” What a difference it has made to have a clean dining room table! 

With my new organized workspace, I find myself being much more productive .

My head is clear and I find more room to design and plan new projects. In demonstrating my respect for other people’s space, my relationships have improved. I have started cooking again due to the newly cleared dining room table. The kitchen is no longer permanent parking space for the crème brulee torch, torch stand and tumbler!

~ Yvonne Kuennen

I am an Artist and very proud of all my "cakes" !

I have seen a lot of discussions lately about what "Metal Clay" is for some metalsmithing people and I am surprised to see how much misinformation they have about this innovative material.
I understand their lack of knowledge, and those who tried it and said it was a mess, and it does not work. Well, I have some news for you; you did not work with the clay the right way.


I respect everybody's opinion but I think there is a point where we need to be careful in how we talk about people who have chosen to work with metal clay, we can express our thinking without being rude and without insulting.
I have been called lots of names because of my ethnicity but I never thought I will be called "names" because of the medium or material I choose to create some of my work.


One of the latest names I saw was "Cake Decorator", people who work with metal clay are consider to be that by some.
I am okay with the name, I LOVE CAKES !!!
Other people feel we are "pretending to BE" metalsmiths.
We are not pretending to be "Anything", we are just people who have chosen to work with Metal Clay and create art. We are not "cake decorators", "metalsmiths", etc. We are just Artists that are open to experiment with new materials and we are always willing to learn new techniques.


I always encourage my students to learn how to solder and fabricate pieces because it will benefit their own metal clay work.


I started my journey in the art by learning metalsmithing, it was my wonderful and talented teacher -Claire Holliday- who introduced me to this novel material, metal clay, that Claire used to create some of her work. 
One of Claire's metal clay pieces was featured in the front cover of the Metalsmith magazine, a publication of the Society of North American Goldsmiths.

Sea Seed No. 1 (Brooch)
©2005 Claire Holliday
Fine Silver
Photo: Dean Powell

In 2010 I had a wonderful opportunity to show my work (not exclusively metal clay) to other talented and renowned metalsmith artists, among them, Thomas Mann. Thomas was so intrigued and interested that traded one of his pieces for one of mine.I was honored to do a trade with him !

Thomas visiting my table and looking at my work.

Another fascinating and mind opening experience that helped me expand my creativity and techniques, was when I had the pleasure to participate in a workshop and lecture by Robert Ebendorf at the Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas.
What I learned from Bob gave me a new dimension to create, incorporating traditional metalsmith  fabrication techniques with the distinctive style promoted by Bob's work but keeping my own creative voice and designs.

In case you don't know, Bob was one of the founding members of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and an inductee of the National Metalsmiths Hall of Fame.


During the workshop, when Bob saw one of my hand sculpted copper clay trees of life, he suggested to me to create a piece using what I learned from him and using the tree of life as the center component.


This piece was later featured in the front cover of the Metal Clay Artist Magazine, and many other publications.

I really want to give thanks to a lot of my metalsmiths friends and colleagues that are open to see beyond the material. I have learn a lot from all of you. 



Keep learning, keep experimenting, keep creating !


Love,
Lorena Angulo

2011 Metal Clay Design Competition

If you have not receive your latest issue of Metal Clay Artist Magazine, you may not be aware of this great opportunity to participate in a Metal Clay Competition.


Metal Clay Artist Magazine announced their annual design competition, the theme for this year is "Metal Clay Plus..." The magazine is looking for innovative combinations of metal clay and non-metal materials. Some of the non-metal materials you can use are: Resin, Polymer Clay, Glass, Porcelain, Ceramic, Fabric, Paper, etc.


This year competition is sponsored by USA-based PMC Connection.


Please, visit the magazine's website to see all the rules and requirements to participate.
This is the link: 2011 Metal Clay Design Competition

The deadline to submit your entry is by 11:59 Eastern Time on January 30th, 2012. You have lots of time to play and be creative.


Have FUN and participate !
Winning entries will be showcased in the Spring, 2012 issue of Metal Clay Artist Magazine.

How to Make Faux Spiculum Chain End Findings

A spiculum? What on earth is a spiculum? In metalsmithing terminology, it's the name for a tapered tube of metal. They are formed from a flat sheet of metal, the seam is soldered, then they can be curved and bent in a variety of attractive forms.

Metal clay lends itself to a similar technique. Because we can easily roll metal clay into a tapered form, we can make our own version of a spiculum. I make them into custom chain ending findings for unfinished chains and call it a "faux" spiculum–because it's not really a tube. At least not all the way…

Here is a tutorial on how to make these chain endings, using my faux spiculum technique. It's an easy intermediate project–I am going to assume you know basic metal clay procedures, including how to roll a metal clay "snake".

If you would like a copy of the PDF just click on the link below. It will immediately automatically download for you.

DOWNLOAD THE PDF

I hope you enjoy it!

~ Evelyn

Celebrating two great years of great articles and projects !

Metal Clay Artist Magazine is celebrating its 2nd year anniversary.

I am very happy to see how this great magazine has grown so much. Each issue is bigger and full of great articles, projects, tips and beautiful pictures of work by many artists around the world.

Thank You to Jeannette Froese LeBlanc, Carl LeBlanc, Margaret Schindel 
and all their great team of helpers for such a great job !

Thank You to all of you for supporting this wonderful magazine !!

Here are some links you can visit and join the groups.

Website

BLOG

Facebook Page

Flickr Group

Subscribe

Happy Birthday Metal Clay Artist Magazine !!!

Love,

Lorena Angulo

I found a new modeling clay to play with !

I am always in the look out to find new materials or mediums to play with and I just got a new one that I have been playing with for a couple of days. This new modeling clay is called Craft Porcelain by AMACO and I have been having lots of fun with it.


It is not as easy to textured or carved as Creative Paperclay but the finished look after it is air dry is fantastic.
The modeling clay's name, Craft porcelain, is because after it is air dry the clay looks and feels like porcelain.


Here are some of the pieces I have done playing with this material.

ROSA

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Hand sculpted with Craft Porcelain

SERENITY

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Hand sculpted with Craft Porcelain

QUEEN BIRD

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Hand sculpted with Craft Porcelain

ALCATRAZES

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Hand sculpted with Craft Porcelain

QUEEN BIRD ring

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Hand sculpted with Craft Porcelain

The clay can be painted after it is dry or you can buy it with color also. It is very simple to work with and it can be a good addition for your metal clay work. I also believe that making my designs with this clay can give me a great idea of how my piece can look like in a 3D form.


The pieces need to be sealed after they are dry and finish with a clear sealer to protect the material from getting damage.

Keep playing, Keep creating !!

Love,

Lorena Angulo

Etsy MetalClay's Charm Bracelet for the Red Cross

Just like an old-fashioned cookie swap, twenty-one members of the Etsy MetalClay Team held a charm swap last spring. Each artist designed and fabricated their own charm in metal clay. The charms where then mailed to team member Jane Font, who divided them up and sent out a set to each participating team member. It was so exciting to open up the package and unwrap each charm. Every one a work of art!


But the swap was about much more than that—because the team also decided to make two extra charms each, assemble them into bracelets, and donate those two bracelets for charitable causes. Last fall the first bracelet was successfully auctioned for the benefit of Autism Speaks. Now, the team has the second bracelet up for auction on EBay, and 100 percent of the proceeds will go to the Red Cross. The auction ends Thursday, May 12 at 9 p.m PDT.

The charms are made by metal clay artists Lorena Angulo, Milica Bubanja, Carrie Benvenuti, Cherylyn Gnadt Bredemann, Nicola Callow, Christine Childress, Lis-el Crowley, Evelyn Pelati Dombkowski, Janice Doner, Kelly Fehr, Jane Font, Beverly Gallerani, Judy Gordon, Kristi Bowman Gruel, Lucia Gulino, Louise Hunter, Rachel Kranzberg Miller, Heidi Stinson, Kathy Voss, Catherine Witherell and Tiffany Zadi.

Team member Christine Childress kindly volunteered to assemble the bracelet. She chose a beautiful 7.5 inch sterling cable chain with a toggle clasp. Fine silver, bronze and copper metal clays have been used for the charms. This is the last time this set of charms will be available.

The Etsy MetalClay Team is an international group of metal clay artists, sharing experiences with working in the metal clay medium and selling on Etsy.

~ Evelyn P. Dombkowski

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

We are on Flickr !!

Metal Clay Artist Magazine has open a group in Flickr (Flickr is an image and video hosting website and online community). 
In this group you can share pictures of your work and get inspired by all the images we will be posting.


Come and join us in this new adventure !
We will love to see what you are creating !


Click in this link to join us: Metal Clay Artist Magazine .

Valentine's Day is coming !!!

Valentine's day is coming and it can be a big motivator to create and design hearts. 
I love to design hearts all year round in my work, hearts for me have a strong meaning in my life. I grew up in Mexico surrounded by them, mostly the "Milagro style hearts".

©2010 Lorena Angulo

The heart symbolizes how we love, who we love and why. It also means how we love ourselves and how we take care of ourselves and our health. A heart is a symbol of passion, passion for what we do and for life. 

Live your life to the fullest!

Do you like to create hearts? Why do you like them?

Show us some pictures of your hearts ! We will love to see them !

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

New MCAM review and giveaway on CraftGossip.com!

We were absolutely thrilled when Stacie Hooder, the fantastic jewelry making editor at CraftGossip.com, let us know about her new review of Metal Clay Artist Magazine, and even more excited once we had a chance to read what she's written. Stacie has gone into detail about the things that make our magazine special, and about why she feels it's worth subscribing to even if you don't have room for one more metal clay book or magazine (in which case she recommends subscribing to our digital edition).

We're extremely proud of and grateful for Stacie's superb review of MCAM, and we're also excited about the giveaway she's doing. If you'd like to win a free copy of the current issue of the magazine, visit http://jewelrymaking.craftgossip.com/giveaway/metal-clay-artist-magazine/ to read Stacie's review and leave a comment on her post before midnight CST on February 16th. And if you already have the current issue, we hope you'll leave a comment about what you think of it! :)

Thanks again, Stacie, for this fabulous review of MCAM!

Margaret

Beauty is everywhere, it all depends in how we look at it !

After reading the wonderful post by Kelly Russell, "Thinking outside the box", I remembered a class I took last year with a wonderful German artist, Anemone Tontsch.
Her class was about making jewelry with perishable items. Some of my friends did not understand why I wanted to take a class like this. I feel sorry for some of them that missed taking this class because it really change me in a lot of ways.
This artist gave me a different perspective in how to see things and create my work. She is such a lover for life and our surroundings, that she sees inspiration in everything around her.
Her class was incredible, I managed to make some pieces with plantains, radishes, carrots, dry peppers, acorn and much more. At the beginning it was not easy to come out with an idea because the only thing I saw was the fruit or vegetable, it was until I broke my own limitations that the ideas started to flow and I just could not stop!! 
You can visit my post in my blog to see what I made during the class.
Beauty in Transience: Creating Perishable Jewelry with Anemone Tontsch

After the class I was so inspired that I started to make rings out of things I will never thought, like these:

I made this ring with Papaya.

 Acorns with copper wire and some coral beads.

I challenge you to play with fruits, vegetables, dry seeds, etc. You will be surprise to see how many ideas will pop up in your head. 

If you make something with perishable items, we will love to see them in our Facebook page, Metal Clay Artist Magazine. Post a picture of your master piece !! I will love to see them!

Remember, "Beauty is everywhere, it all depends in how we look at it!"

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

My first Metal Clay Book

Hola !!

Good Morning my friends !!

I want to share with you the first book I got about metal clay.

My first book was : PMC Decade by Tim McCreight.

My wonderful teacher and mentor, Claire Holliday (who is the artist in the front cover of the book!) talked to me about the book and I had to have it. I was just being introduced to this wonderful medium and I was impress to see such incredible pieces of art in the book.


I felt in love with the work of a lot of artists in this book, they gave more inspiration to keep on playing with metal clay.


What was your first metal clay book ???

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 ~