Play with Clay!
I cannot say enough great things about my three day PMC Connection course, (Precious Metal Clay), taught by artist, Vera Lightstone in her NYC loft studio. Every minute of the days was filled with learning, doing, and laughing! And you get to go home with 8 - 10 finished pieces! If three days is too much, she offers a two day course as well. I guarantee you will be hooked, like me. It is good to know she offers lots of advanced courses, as well.
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| W.39th Street |
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| Carla, Vera's Assistant and a Student's Best Friend |
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| Blob of Clay - Not Very Exciting |
Here is a piece I made on the first day! Very exciting!
There are many more pieces to come! I have been busy playing with clay, now I have to get new pieces photographed to show you
About PMC, from http://www.pmcguild.com/
- PMC is an amazingly plastic and versatile material. It can be shaped by hand, folded, molded, extruded and painted on another surface.
- PMC can be endlessly textured and takes on microscopically fine definition.
- PMC can be mixed with ceramic powders and oxides to assume new shades of color and a rougher texture.
- PMC can be fired with stones and ceramics. It can be glazed and enameled.
- PMC fits a wide range of artistic visions but not all. It compliments but does not displace traditional jewelry methods.
Basically, you have this little lump of clay that you can shape and mold in a million ways. The clay is fine particles of recycled silver mixed with a binder that turns it into clay. The binder burns off and you are left with shining, strong, almost pure silver. The final result is 99.9% pure, recycled silver, as compared to sterling which is 92.5% pure. So far, I have only used Silver, but the clay comes in brass, copper, and gold formations too.
You can play with your hands; you can use all of your clay-making tools on it, and then finish it with all of your silversmithing tools. You can combine it with your beading, wireworking, and many beautiful gemstones.
It can be fired in a kiln, but before making that investment, you can torch it with a simple kitchen torch. You know, the kind you use for Creme Brulee. You will not believe your beginner results!
Feel free to ask me any questions you have and check back here and at my Etsy Shops, Rustic Rock Jewelry and Your Daily Jewels, for more creations.
(Did I mention that PJClarke retired and is now Rustic Rock Jewelry)
Thanks for reading,
Norah
14 comments :
Beautiful piece. Great blog post.
Norah, that flower ring is amazing. Great write up!
N, you are starting to make even ME excited about this process. THANK YOU for bringing this down to "my" level--makes me want to take a trip to NY just for that. GREAT post. Beautiful new jewels...I can see you will never be bored! :-)
Lovely post, and yes PMC is fun to work with, love that ring also!!!
Glad you hd such fun - I loved the class I did in PMC too - just wish I had more time to play with it!
How fun! I'm so interested in PMC and this post makes me more intrigued! I may have to make a trip ti NYC and take this course too!
Thanks for sharing!
Wow, I can't believe you make that pendant the first day - Spectacular! Makes me want to take the course.
I love working with pmc! and want to learn about adding enamel - loved reading about your fun experience : )
Can't wait to start playing with my PMC. Great post.
REALLY gorgeous pendant! I have always wanted to try PMC, but then again there are a million things I want to try and if my skills with poly clay tell me anything, I would suck at this! LOL You are a natural Norah. Thanks for sharing!
I enjoyed your fun and informative post! Great new piece too:)
Cool to see where you took your PMC class and what you made!
Thank you all for your positive feedback! I really appreciate it. I am really looking forward to a PMC adventure!
xo
Norah
Looking forward to trying my hand at PMC. Thanks for the inspiring article.
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