Metal Clay Class

Oh, I had so much fun at my class on Saturday. There were two other ladies there, both from Wisconsin, who drove down from Green Bay to take a couple of classes. They were a hoot!

Susan, our instructor, was very good. She makes some gorgeous jewelry.

We had all day, so we ended up making multiple pieces out of silver clay. Silver clay is purer than sterling silver clay. I made one ring, two pendants, and two pairs of earring charms.



Sorry, the photos aren't that great. I decided to keep all the pieces for myself so I didn't take the time to photoshop them.



Since I have a love of dogwood trees, I decided to free-hand this dogwood blossom onto a disc pendant. I deliberately did not burnish the inside of the blossom so as to give it the appearance of being a separate layer.



I like these earrings! I used a modern pattern on the surface, and made separate discs to give it a feminine, tinkly, sound when they move.



This pendant was of my own design, but patterned after the one we used as a template. I liked the earthy feel of it. I used a "tree bark" pattern mold to give it texture, and then used the syringe to freehand the "vines". I also used a peridot gemstone as a focal piece. After the firing, I dipped the piece in liver of sulfer for an antique effect and then burnished it to bring out the silver highlights.



This ring was my worst piece. It came out rather egg-shaped instead of round. LOL But it came out a little nicer than I expected after I added some free-hand syringe work and then antiqued it as well.

I have many ideas for making jewelry out of the silver clay. I plan on more dogwood blossom pendants, acorns, pine cones, etc... The possibilities are endless!