More books - and gifts...

That wonderful box of books from Lark Books contained a couple of others that I didn't include on the last post. They're lovely books, but not so much suited to my style so I didn't review them as thoroughly. But I know that some of you who are reading this would enjoy them very much. And in the spirit of the Holiday Season, I'd like to give these books to someone who could put them to good use. If you'd like a chance to receive one of these books, please leave a comment with the title you like to have (if you'd like a chance at either one just say that) and I'll randomly draw a name for each book next Monday and announce the winners!

Ceramic Bead Jewelry by Jennifer Heynen is a colorful adventure into the art of ceramic bead making. If I didn't have a million other things on my to-do list, I might be tempted to try my hand at this... and though I didn't review the instructions in detail, it seems the first several chapters cover the basics quite well. The step by step instructions don't have images for each step, but the preparation is so thorough that it seems unnecessary. Great photography and cheerful ceramic beads make this book fun to look through. And with the price of silver these days...

Contemporary Bead & Wire Jewelry by Nathalie Mornu & Suzanne J. E. Tourtillott is full of ideas and projects for beaded and wire wrapped jewelry. With projects from earrings to pins to necklaces, you'll surely find something fun to try. I'm not very experienced with this kind of wire wrapping, and I felt like there could have been more instruction for someone just starting out, but anyone who was familiar with the techniques could probably jump right in!

A few books (for your Holiday wish list perhaps...?)

Last week, Lark Books sent me some jewelry books for review (nice blogger fringe benefit). Lark does a wonderful job with craft books so I was thrilled to get them. The titles had been recently re-released in paperback but they were all new to me. Three of them stood out - and one of those was actually on my Amazon wish list...

I think that Joanna Gollberg's The Art & Craft of Making Jewelry is great reference book. This is a book on traditional jewelry making and includes a section on metal clay - which you know I'm always happy to see included in such a book. She covers a wide variety of essential jewelry techniques with great photographs and step by step instructions. And each section includes a beautiful gallery with inspirational images from many of the top jewelry artists working today.

As a metalsmith, I found this book very approachable and the photos clear and helpful. I think the basic instruction provides enough information for a beginner to understand the techniques, though it might be a stretch for a total beginner to complete some of the projects. The techniques have step by step photos, but the project pages only show an image of the finished piece and the steps are simply described. Since the book is not presented just for beginners, but rather a "complete guide to essential techniques," it is well suited to anyone wanting a technique overview and project ideas that will help them gain experience. Granulation is one example of a technique that is appropriate for someone with intermediate to advanced metalworking skills. I know that many who are reading this blog are metal clay artists, so if you're adding metalworking skills to your repertoire, I definitely recommend this book.

One thing that struck me about Making Metal Beads by Pauline Warg, was that some of the beads could easily have been completed in metal clay. This is another excellent book that offers thorough instruction and great step by step images of the techniques used for the beads. It also includes beautiful gallery images. As promised, it's full of "Techniques, Projects, (and) Inspiration."

Right away I noticed an image (page 10) that showed sheets of textured metal with areas cut out (presumably used for the beads), which is exactly what I often use to describe one of the advantages of metal clay. Here the author is left with textured "scrap," when that same texture could have been applied to metal clay without the waste. If metal clay were used, the excess would have been gathered up and reused... (hey, just getting in a plug for an appropriate use of metal clay!)

Of course, not all of the beads could be made as easily in metal clay. Many require the use of traditional metalworking techniques. And the basic techniques necessary to accomplish these beads are well illustrated and explained in detail - from sawing to soldering - making this book good for a beginning jewelry student. But it's not just a beginner's book, there are some rather complex beads, including intricate beads using cold connections, as well as pierced, pressed, fused beads and more. There are some beads which are cleverly designed and constructed using commercial tubing in both traditional and non-traditional ways. If you're interested in new ideas for making metal beads, this book will get you off to a great start.

This was the book on my Amazon wish list - The Complete book of Glass Beadmaking by Kimberley Adams. What a nice surprise to find it in the box! I like making enameled beads with a torch and playing with molten glass... and once I made a true lampworked bead with instruction from a friend - it was a little wobbly - but I've always wanted to try again. After looking online and comparing reviews for several glass bead making books, I put this on my wish list because it clearly came out on top.

Now that I've had a chance to look it over, I know I would have been happy if I had ordered it. The instruction and photography are so clear I feel like I could really be successful by following along. There are loads of inspiring photos in the galleries too - and I even found beads made by people I know which is always fun (but more likely in the metals books). This review may be of limited use because I'm not a glass bead maker, but from what I could see it had everything I might need to know. It covered not only materials and safety, but lots of variations on beads - enough to keep you interested for a while. Plenty of experienced people have given this book favorable reviews and confirmed that it's great for beginners. Sometimes a book that claims to be the "complete book of" really isn't... but as far as I can tell, this is the real McCoy.

The Heights Arts Holiday Store

Cleveland has a real treasure... last night I worked a shift at the Heights Arts Holiday Store and had the opportunity to see all the wonderful work for sale (and yes, I was inspired to shop too). Heights Arts is a wonderful organization promoting the arts, artists, and arts education in our area. The non-profit organization is celebrating its 10th anniversary - and I remember just 10 years ago when it was merely a vision of the Executive Director, Peggy Spaeth - an artist and tireless champion of the arts.

The Holiday Store features works by dozens of regional artists. It's like having a fine craft show available when you are - it's open Mondays 6:30-9:30 pm
Tuesdays-Saturdays 1:30-9:30 pm and even Christmas Eve: noon-4 pm. And there are post-holiday hours as well - for that Christmas cash burning a hole in your pocket!

So spread a little cheer and support the arts and artists in Cleveland this Holiday Season! 

Playing with PMC Pro...

Well, I think I'm hooked... I actually didn't want PMC Pro to work so well because I've never been a fan of the whole carbon business... but it does. This stuff is soooo tough! This ring has a band as thick as a nickel and it won't bend - I tried to twist it and it didn't budge.

Not that I think Pro will replace my other silver clays, but for some applications it's going to be great. Again, not a fan of the carbon, but for making tough rings or delicate parts, I can get around that...

This ring is only 3 cards thick - and with the shrinkage rate being greater than PMC3, the resulting ring is even thinner than you'd expect. C'mon, who would make a PMC ring only 3 cards thick? Not me - till now. I tried to squeeze and crush it and... nothing.

Since that went so well, I made another one like it with some really skinny snakes around the edges (they worked beautifully) - also 3 cards thick and it won't crush either. I've asked students to try to squeeze the rings and they were impressed with the strength too. All the rings were fired in carbon for 1 hour. They were constucted @ 3.5-4 sizes larger. I didn't put any ring plugs in them. I figured if they got too small I'd just stretch them. I did end up stretching the wider band, but that worked just fine. 

And I wondered about making hollow forms - how small and thin could I make them? These tiny lentils (yep, that's a dime) are for earrings. They are only 2 cards thick. They could have been domed more, but I got caught up in the excitement of making them and didn't look for a better dome... 

And now the question you've been waiting for (OK, I was), how well does it WATER ETCH? 

The answer is (after a couple of tries) great! The best result so far is with my favorite wax (Mayco wax resist - on the heart shown here).

I did try my new kistka on this clay because it has worked well on PMC+, but with Pro I had some blistering issues. I shelf fired the all the water etched pieces prior to carbon firing to burn off the wax. 

after carbon firing

after shelf firing

In firing the first piece done with the kistka, I got distracted when I programmed the kiln for the shelf firing and accidently set it for 1400F (firing temp) instead of the recommended shelf firing temp of 1000F (not shown here). I thought the resulting blistering was from shelf firing too hot. So I tried it again with another piece (above right), this time at 1000F - but still got the blistering. Then I decided to try the Mayco wax. This time, after the shelf firing there was no blistering. It did shelf fire for an hour - I intended to stop the kiln after 30 mins but got busy and it ran the whole hour. But I don't think that was the difference. Just to be sure, I'm going to do another piece with the the Mayco wax shelf fired for 30 mins, and one with the kistka wax shelf fired for 1 hour to see if that affects the blistering. All the water etched pieces were then carbon fired (after shelf firing) for an hour. I just wanted to be sure they were fully sintered.

My tests were mostly designed for learning about the strength of this new version of PMC. The shrinkage rate is shown at left with the fired piece and the cutter used to make it. The clay is good and sticky with long working time, though snakes were still subject to cracking if you weren't careful. It made the smoothest slip - letting it rest after mixing is important.

The bails on the water etched pendants are only 2 cards thick and very strong! This two-card bail can't be crushed (with my hands), nor did it snap when I put some pressure on the joint - which was not reinforced from the back.

So I'm impressed. I can see using it for ring bands and more delicate bails and findings. I have many more tests in mind, but so far, so good. I'd love to hear what others think if they've tried it.

PMC Pro - Here we go...

It's finally here! After hearing about this new metal clay product at the PMC Conference this summer, PMC Pro is now available - and my own order is probably somewhere in the middle of the US right now...

Tuesday night I had the opportunity to learn more about this delicious* (OK, not literally) new product. Alison Lee presented one of her fabulous craftcast classes featuring Tim McCreight, with guest comments by Celie Fago, Barbara Becker Simon, and Jeanette Landenwitch. They shared their experiences which provided a lot of insight into using the new material.

Taking a class, (online or otherwise) is a great way to cut your learning curve. I learned some great tips. For some reason, people thought this class was going to be some kind of "infomercial." It was anything but... nobody was selling anything - just sharing their experiences with the material. And we all got the info we needed to get rolling...

Celie Fago's carved ring

Barbara Simon's carved bangle 

One of the things I was thrilled to learn about was how wonderful it is for carving. Both Celie and Barbara commented on how well it worked. I have carved original PMC and loved it. Plus and 3 just don't carve as well. COPPRclay and BRONZclay are good for carving, but when all is said and done, I'm really a silver girl...

Celie Fago tear-away ring

So now I'll get to carve this new stuff and I can't wait! (Hurry UPS!) It takes texture just as beautifully as other versions of PMC - and can accept Keum-boo, though it may be a little more challenging to apply than the fine silver. Celie mentioned that this ring required a little patching... still, it works well enough - and as Celie said "it sticks" which, after all, is the bottom line.

For an hour and thirty minutes we got to hear all about PRO - and ask questions too... there were a lot of questions with about 100 attendees in the class!

Some of the notes from the class are now available on the PMC Guild website.

Just a quick synopsis:

• This stuff is STRONG! The various strength tests show it to be far superior to any previous PMC formula. You can work thinner without sacrificing strength. 
• Fired in carbon - 1400ºF for 1 hour (or more, depends on several variables - see the notes). Pieces should be about 1/2" apart (10 cm) and have that much carbon on top and below. Too much carbon will inhibit sintering.
• Shrinkage is about 15-20%. A bit more than PMC 3 or PMC +
• Hattie Sanderson added that she sizes rings 3.5 sizes larger to accommodate the shrinkage.
• Can't be directly mixed with the other clays, but can be joined with the other clays and fired. Requires a shelf firing/carbon firing combo (30 mins shelf 1000ºF; 30 mins 1400ºF carbon).
• The slip is easy to make - just add water (and lavender oil too - Tim has used this on the greenware as well as the fired clay).
• As noted above, will accept Keum-boo, no prep necessary.
• Can be enameled. Using the two-stage shelf firing/carbon firing method is best (per Jeanette Landenwitch). This is not unlike the experience I found with the COPPRclay. Enamel adhered best when it was shelf fired prior to carbon firing.
• Wash tools between using for other silver clays, just as you would for base metal clays. Do not share sanding tools, as these can load up with material and contaminate your regular clay.
• The melting point is lower (typical of an alloy) so you have to be sure not to fire with original clay (requiring 1650ºF firing) or use hard solder (flows above the melting point). 

And there's more... when I actually get a chance to play with it, I'll be happy to share what I learn too. Cutting edge stuff - literally, Tim showed a knife he'd made that actually held an edge - pretty cool!

* Barbara Becker Simon's description 

Capturing detail in water etching

As we were planning a water etching demo for class this last session, Maria Hartland (a new student), mentioned that she had done Ukrainian egg painting (Pysanky). It's a beautiful traditional wax resist and dye method of decorating eggs (like batik for fabric). She asked about using the beeswax and stylus (kistka) for water etching. I told her I'd seen it discussed as a possibility a few times on the Yahoo Metal Clay group over the years, but didn't know if anyone ever really pursued it - and I'd never had the chance to try it myself. We were all excited when Maria generously offered to bring her stylus to class for us to try.

The following week, Maria not only brought in the stylus, but some of her beautiful eggs as well. These large ones are ostrich eggs, they're amazingly detailed.

The wax is melted until it flows and is applied with the kistka (stylus). Different size tips give different lines. The painting and dying process builds the colors and takes a great deal of time. She also brought several of her smaller eggs as well, also beautifully done.

Maria brought in two electric kistkas and showed us a traditional one too. The traditional ones are heated with a candle flame to melt the wax. We played a little bit with the electric ones in class, but didn't really have time to do much. She kindly offered to let me borrow one for the week.

Well, darn if the week didn't fly by (as usual)... but the night before I had to return the kistka, I grabbed a couple of dry pieces of clay and played. Let me first say that I've always really loved the brush painting and the flow of the liquid wax (and still do), but after using this handy-dandy little wax application device, all I can say is "wow."

Now, these examples were just tests... but what really impressed me was the control and level of detail I was able to get. The images above are two sides of the same piece. It's PMC+ which is the best for water etching and especially for fine lines. It's only one inch tall after firing and just look at the tiny lines - which dried immediately!  These lines withstood the etching process much better than similar fine lines painted with the liquid wax would have. Unfortunately, I didn't have a lot of time to play - so I only tried the one size tip - but there are several sizes available.

This example was the first piece I tried when I was getting the hang of using the kistka and melted wax (hardly a work of art) it's even smaller - only 1/2" tall!

Yes, of course I ordered myself one of these amazing electric kistkas... (now if I could just order some time to play with it!). Will it change the way I water etch? Guess we'll just wait and see.

If you're interested in more info on water etching, Here are some resources. I wrote an article in Art Jewelry Magazine in September 2006. You can also find the instructions I contributed to Sherri Haab's revised and expanded edition of The Art of Metal Clay. And then there's my own little book... The Little Book of Water Etching and Enameling for Metal Clay. Water etching instruction by CeCe Wire can be found in PMC Technic.

If you're interested in getting in touch with Maria about her eggs, you can contact me via comments and I'll pass along your info to her (I won't publish any comment with an email address). 

Old is new, and new is old

Our local chapter of the PMC Guild brought Robert Dancik into town last weekend for a workshop using "Faux Bone," a PVC material he developed. The workshop was a blast. Robert is a wonderful teacher and our group had a great time working with him. Lots of creativity in the air. It was great to spend a weekend just playing...

I have always loved saw-piercing metal and wondered how it would work with the Faux Bone. I decided to give it a try by sawing a cuff bracelet that was inspired by one I'd made 30 years ago as a metals student.

Gail Lannum caught me in the act of sawing...

Alcohol inks were used to color the material. I like the way the white shows around the openings when the color was sanded to tone down the intensity. It's a little rough, but it was a test. I'll probably go back in and finish it a little more one of these days.

Here is my original bracelet. And after all these years, it's still one of my favorite projects from my school days. The section set in the center was my first piece of Mokume-gane.

Many of the pieces made in the workshop took advantage of the possibilities of making Faux Bone look like an ancient relic. Gail made this one in the workshop. It was cool to take this shiny white PVC - something very new - and make it look very old. There are so many things you can do with this material.

We had some serious fun!