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)

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

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

Gilders Paste - A new way to add color to your metal work

Gilders Paste is a wonderful medium to use if you are looking for a way to add color to your metal work. It is very easy to apply and I am sure you will have great fun doing it.


Gilders paste is a wax based medium used to highlight wood, porcelain, plastic, resin, metal, wax, etc. It comes in different colors and you can apply it directly with your fingers, sponge, cloth or use some mineral spirits to make the paste more creamy and easy to apply with a small paint brush.


Before applying the paste to the metal piece, we need to be sure it is free of dust and oil. If the surface is smooth you may have to use a fine sanding paper to create some texture in the metal. The paste will apply better if the metal has some kind of texture in it.


The paste dries to the touch in about 10 minutes and takes 12 hours to fully dry.
You have enough time to take the color out if you are not happy with it. You can use a cloth to take the color out or mineral spirit.


After your piece is totally dry, you have to finish the piece with a clear lacquer.

©Lorena Angulo
PMC3 and Gilders paste color Patina

SPRING MASK
©2009 Lorena Angulo
Copprclay and Gilders Paste ( African Bronze, Inca Gold and Silver)

OAXACA
©2011 Lorena Angulo
Bronzclay with Gilders paste (African bronze and Silver)

Keep Playing, keep creating !!

Love,

Lorena Angulo

Alien Artists

Well friends--we've been very busy here at Metal Clay Artist Magazine (our second birthday is coming up in July and we put a lot into our special issue!) so we've fallen a bit behind on making a weekly contribution to our blog.  Fortunately, our last two posts had enough "meat" in them for us to chew on for a long time! Evelyn's how-to project was a wonderful surprise to find our blog--and she's received rave reviews!  I hope she'll do up another tutorials for our blog soon!  An Vickie's article about metal clay sintering--was thoughtfully composed and answered so many questions metal clay artists have wondered about.

My ring from Lorrene's class.

I started this blog post in March--with the great intention of posting it--but each issue of the magazine seems to take more of my time--as I learn more about design and layout, and we enter new markets...I have less "down time".  But I did manage to slip in a few classes this spring!  (One with Lorrene Baum-Davis,  and another with Celie Fago--both of which would make for great blog posts!)  And I was in Washington in April for the Smithsonian Craft Show--another outing I should report on!  AND if that were not enough--I have two or three blog posts that have been sent to me to post.  OY!

So I'll start from where I left off in March and promise to try and keep our blog more up to date!

As most of us know--we often give others the gifts we'd like to receive.  And I think that holds true with things we write about.  The following is a blog post I started to write in March--which seems to have turned into a "note to self".

Finding your own artistic voice is often a journey that takes a true artist a lifetime, since we evolve and grow and learn new things.  Many metal clay artists have jumped on board learning about the new clays, joining groups or have found like minded individuals in a guild.  Even with all of these opportunities, some artists struggle with finding their unique style and more importantly to feel that what they are working on has a purpose.  Other artists are over-whelmed with the amount of ideas and things they want to try and all of the medias and ways to express themselves--and so they bounce from one thing to the next, all the while amassing (a.k.a. hording) huge amounts of materials and tools along the way.  Added to this is the need to keep costs down in our studios, seeing ideas to fruition and throw in the twisted fact that some of us seem to need to be given permission to enjoy and explore our art on a regular basis.

Adopt An Alien, Creatures by Lindsey Banker

[Then there are others who stride along--showing off new works almost daily--and while I'm sure that some of these people are just aliens among us--as it is just not possible to be so prolific within a 24 hour day---or is it?]

Now while we all love new things, and our community has seen it's share of new things in the past few years, are we having too many new clays, tools, techniques come our way?  I had an interesting conversation last week with the owner of one of the bigger metal clay distributors.  This person expressed the opinion that with so many new clays that some people are jumping "off the band wagon" and sticking with one or two clays.  This is of course a logical step as people find their niche and focus on their own artwork.  But for many of us--learning about the properties and experimenting with the new metal clays and techniques is not only a part of our studio practice--learning and sharing what we have tried is exhilarating.  A tiny chance for us to participate in jewellery making history.

Speaking of jewellery making history, as most artists in the metal clay community now know, Lisa Cain and her staff at the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery have worked out a way for us to make sterling silver metal clay. (See our current issue for her recipe Vol. 2 #2.) This innovation will undoubtedly change the course of work for many metal clay artists in the UK and Europe and those in other places looking to be able to add the universally recognized stamp of "approval" .925 to their creations.  It will be very interesting to see how artists embrace and add to the recipe and techniques developed by Lisa and her team.

And of course we are all aware of the rising price of silver and we are looking for ways to stretch our studio dollars.  This is pushing artists be more creative with their materials.  I am seeing more artists incorporating glass, polymer clay, resin, faux bone...and more into their metal clay creations.  A blog post by Celie Fago really turned a lot of heads. She talked about ways to incorporate or even substitute polymer clay into her metal clay designs as a way to stretch her studio budget. See May's post by Margaret Schindel (Our Senior Editor) for more photos and details. Photos from Celie's Blog:

"For many years I've made this toggle clasp out of carved solid snakes of PMC." 

"I remade it out of polymer then embellished it with little bits of PMC."       

Just yesterday an artist friend of mine--(and someone who should have gone to her class) was asking me "what I learned" in Celie's class.  Immediately I blurted out that I learned ways to economize my materials.  Celie didn't make this part of her lesson--but it's something I observed.  When she cut out a shape--if it was a series--she wouldn't make one at a time--she rolled out enough clay to make several pieces and therefore waste less material and kept her clay at the optimum freshness since it wasn't rolled out and rolled out and re-hydrated.  Seeing some of her beads and pieces filled or backed with polymer gave me so many ideas on how to keep on developing my ideas and minimizing the use of silver clay. Also check out Kelly Russell's work as she is also known for mixing her media and has posted some of her beauties on our blog.

Besides the amount of materials we have to choose from, keeping costs down in our studios, the next biggest struggle in studio life is actually getting down to business in our studios.  Ok...that should be "MY" studio. Oh yes, the truth is out--I'm behind on the blog and in working at my own bench on my own little ideas.  I wonder why I feel I need to have permission to freely create?  I see others online talking about this, so I'm relieved to know that I'm not alone.  But I'm sure many who struggle to balance family life and a studio business also find it hard to  justify  the time away from family or from pushing their business further along.  I know it is for me.  I have two young children, who I adore.  I also have the magazine--and all the stresses that go along with investing house and home to produce something that I feel is valuable and has a purpose.  Maybe I should be content with the magazine as my creative outlet--and not beat myself up for not "making stuff".  Or--is the bigger question--"why do I feel so darn creative, when I have to do the bookkeeping?"

Hmmm--something to ponder once I finish checking on what people have posted on Facebook today.  I'm curious to see what new pieces of art those "alien artists" who have more than 24 hours a day have made today!

~Jeannette Froese LeBlanc
Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

P.S. If you'd like to see what we've been up to--our new issue is due out very soon!  Great articles, and great work again team!!  And it's our second birthday in July!!!  Check out what's in our new issue...

Cover Artist: Jen Kahn

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

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

The real cover!

On March 6th, I wrote a blog post about our cover artist, which was tricky to do given that our cover had a top secret exclusive article.  So we deleted the headline and posted the cover without it so that I could talk about Joy Funnell's beautiful fine silver mask that is our highlighted art piece.

Here is the cover we posted on March 6th

And here is the cover that you will see on our next issue!!

So now you know our big secret--STERLING SILVER METAL CLAY! I can't tell you how excited we are at Metal Clay Artist Magazine to be a part of this chapter in jewellery making history. (And not to mention how hard it was to keep the secret!)  The article will feature the recipes that Lisa Cain and the teachers at the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery made, tested and hallmarked!l The recipes to make Sterling Silver metal clay using PMC or Art Clay, comments and samples from the testers will be in our next issue, due out in April.

Thank you Lisa for being so generous with this information!!

Our website: www.metalclayartistmag.com has a few more details about what is coming.    

As well here is our press release:

Friday, March 18, 2011

Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery Director Creates Hallmark-Quality Sterling Silver Metal Clay

Details to be revealed in the upcoming issue of Metal Clay Artist Magazine.

Lisa Cain, Director of the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery (MCSJ) in England, announced today that she and her staff have developed methods, recipes and firing schedules for com­bining existing commercial silver and copper clay formulas into hallmark-quality sterling silver clay. A fired sample of the clay was first hallmarked by the London Assay Office on January 25, 2011. The step-by-step method, recipes and firing schedule will be published in the Spring 2011 issue (Vol. 2, Issue #2) of Metal Clay Artist Magazine, which will launch in early April. 

Staff at MCSJ developed two successful recipes, one using Art Clay™ brand metal clays and another using PMC® clays. Well-known UK artists Julia Rai (also a staff instructor at MCSJ), Lesley Messam and Chris Pate tested and refined the process to ensure that it could be reproduced easily and reliably in a home studio. Detailed reports from all three testers will be included in the nine-page article in the upcoming issue of Metal Clay Artist Magazine devoted to this breakthrough metal clay discovery.

Ms. Cain explains, “My motivation for developing this new option was the very real need for this type of clay, especially here in the UK where hallmarking laws influence the materials we artists can use credibly in our commercial work. Sterling silver clay of hallmark quality is a crucial next step in the evolution of metal clay.”

Once Ms. Cain had proven that sterling silver clay was achievable and practical, she shared her discovery with a small number of colleagues and close friends, some of whom encouraged her to manufacture the sterling silver clay or try to benefit financially from the recipes in some way. “I have no interest in doing either. My focus is set firmly on innovation, artistry in metal clay, teaching and running the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery. I share it willingly with the metal clay community.” 

Ms. Cain chose to reveal her method, recipes, firing schedules and detailed test results in Metal Clay Artist Magazine because “they were willing and excited to allocate the effort and space needed to really do justice to the story and give the metal clay community all the detailed information I wanted to share.” Metal Clay Artist Magazine is available for purchase at more than 12,000 locations worldwide. To purchase a copy of the Vol. 2, Issue #2, which contains the article on Lisa Cain’s sterling silver metal clay, visit www.metalclayartistmag.com. This issue will be available in April.

---

Jeannette Froese LeBlanc

Publisher/Editor-in-Chief

February RAW rings

This month was a big challenge for me because I spent most of the month sick and taking care of my sick daughter. What really kept me going and gave me great energy was to keep making and creating what I love to do, jewelry.
Even though I was not able to make some pieces that I had in progress, making my rings for RAW was a nice way to make me feel better during my very sick days.
In this month I experimented with a new material and it was invigorating and excited to see my creativity in a different way.
This material gave the opportunity to add a lot of color to my creations, which I love !  Color to me is very important and the brighter the better ! Color can make you happy!

Here are the rings I made for the month of February.

©2011 Lorena Angulo

The top two rings were made with Creative paperclay. I hand sculpted and carved the pieces with the paperclay. After they were dry I colored them with colored pencils and acrylics.

The bottom ring on the right was made with a cork, brass and copper. You can see more about this ring in this post, "My first RAW ring for February."

The bottom ring of the left was made with steel wire and brass wire, I got inspired after reading a wonderful book, Steel wire jewelry.

Because I was so energized with this material, Creative paperclay, I just could not stop and I made already two more rings for the month of March!

VIRGEN DE GUADALUPE

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Creative paperclay, colored pencils and acrylics.

3.11 inches by 1.45 inches

CATRINA

©2011 Lorena Angulo

Creative paperclay, colored pencils, acrylics, beads,

PMC and a CZ.

I had a great time exploring this new materials and I am sure you will love to play with it too.
Have you played with Creative paperclay? I will love to see what you have made.

Here you have all the pieces I made with my first package of Creative paperclay.

Keep playing, keep creating !

Love,

Lorena Angulo