Designing jewelry with Precious Metal Clay

Hi everyone!  As promised here are photo's from the beginning to end of my jewelry designing process.  I work with a material called precious metal clay (pmc).  PMC is a clay-like material that consists of very small particles of fine silver mixed with an organic binder and water.

Here is what the clay looks like when I take it out of the package:

As you can see, there are stacks of playing cards next to the clay.  I use the cards to ensure that the thickness of a piece is consistent.

 The next step is to roll out the clay and either stamp or carve out your design.



In this next photo you can see a piece of jewelry that I used a rubber stamp to create.

After I create the pieces of jewelry, I let them dry on a griddle.  Next the edges of the piece needs to be filed.  I use 3 different grade sand papers to achieve a soft finish without any rough edges.  Now I apply a design to the back side of the piece.  I use PMC that is available in a paper form, hole punches in various designs, a paint brush and water to apply the cutout to the clay.

Now the pieces are ready to go into the kiln to fire.  The PMC is fired at 1650 degrees for 2 hours.  After firing the binder and water burn away, leaving pure fine silver.  Here is what the silver looks like after it gets out of the kiln.

Now the silver must be brushed with a brass brush and tumbled in a tumbler for 2 hours.  This will bring out the high shine of the silver.

The next step involves using a antiquing solution called Black Max.  Which, you guessed it turns the silver black. 

 I have to admit, the next step is my least favorite...using 6 different grades of very fine sanding paper and a polishing cloth, I bring back the shine to the raised areas.  This whole process allows the antiquing solution to highlight the design area while still having a shine to the finished piece.

At this point, all your hard work is rewarded!  

Another part of my design process includes photo transfer...but I'll save that for another day!  Here is what the finished piece of jewelry looks like using the silver square frames and a little photo transfer work:

I have to say I enjoy all the steps of the process (except maybe that 6 step polishing process!).  I find that each time I create a new piece of jewelry I grow creatively.

 Thanks for visiting!  Please let me know if you have any questions or comments about the process.

Stacie

Creating Journal Pages

My daughter and I have been working on our Creative Entrepreneur journals.  I wanted to post some photo's of what we have been up to.  This is my daughter Madison's cover for her journal.

She has been an inspiration to me, working hard on not only the artwork, but all types of great ideas about her dreams and wishes.  Believe it or not she is only 7 years old!  She is going to do some amazing things in her life, I can just tell.  She is very creative and motivated, but even more important she has the courage to be who she is and go after what she wants in life.






Here is the front cover of my journal:

We have been working with the book that I talked about in my Dec 30th blog, The Creative Entrepreneur.  There are exercises to do that help you to evaluate your business and develop new ideas.  Here is a glimpse into a few pages from my journal with questions and some ideas that I've been thinking of.

I think the greatest thing about Lisa's book is that she suggests that you not only think about creative ideas, but that you make your journal itself a work of art.  It's really been fun and enlightening to think creative and to play with creative ideas of how to express my thoughts.  I highly recommend her book.  Check out here website.  The Creative Entrepreneur

I am still working on the silver jewelry pieces that I started last week.  I have been photographing the process and will publish photos next week.  Thanks for checking in!  Have a wonderful day.

Stacie

Snowed in, but thinking Spring

So, like I said yesterday, we have about 40 inches of snow on the ground.  But, I've decided to start thinking of Spring!

This is the time of year that I stock up the stores with new designs for the spring.  I love making new pieces.  The first thing I do when I begin the jewelry designing process is to create pieces of silver from precious metal clay.  After I create my pieces, let them dry, and sand them, I put them in the Kiln to fire.  After 2 hours of firing at 1650 degrees, all the water and binder that make the silver clay pliable burn off and I am left with a piece of fine silver.

After I get the silver pieces out of the Kiln, I have to brush them and put them in a tumbler for 2 hours to bring out the shine of the silver.  Now, this next step may seem a bit crazy, but then I turn them black with antiquing solution. Now it's time for an 8 step process of light sanding papers to bring back that high shine to all the raised parts of the silver while leaving the dark color in the details of the design. Next week when I make silver again, I will take photo's of each step to show you the process.

This first piece I used Liver of Sulfur to get more of a bronze type finish:

 

Now, it's time for the fun of creating a piece of wearable art!  I did some bending, some beading, some wire work and this is what I ended up with:

 I used garnet and amethyst  to add a little sparkle to this sculptured piece of silver. 

This next piece of silver, I used Black Max to antique it and then after polishing added a swarovski crystal.

After beading, this is the necklace that I created:

 

The process of creating jewelry involves many steps, but each step of the way brings the final design closer.  Well, it's time to go up to my studio and start creating!  Thanks for checking in with me.  I will do a blog next week with more details about the precious metal clay (pmc) process.  If any of you are interested in working with pmc or have starting working with it and have questions, please feel free to ask!  I have learned a lot about the process from taking classes and trail and error, so I know what it's like to be learning a new skill and feel like you have a million questions and aren't sure where to turn.  I welcome your questions!

Stacie

Hello from the Snow!

We have been snowed in here for weeks!  I've been working hard on new jewelry pieces and promise to post some new photos this weekend.  In the meantime check out some of my new valentine pieces on etsy!

More to follow.....

My sister's blog

Check out my sister Renee's blog.  She has great decorating ideas.  Renee is very good at coming up with inexpensive, creative ways to make just about everything look great!www.wherethegrassisgreener-rz.blogspot.com

Showcase Spot on Etsy!

I did it!  I actually got a spot on not one, but two of Etsy's showcases this month. 

The first showcase will feature stacie earrings and will be on Etsy, Friday, January 22nd.  The second showcase will be on Wednesday, January 27th.  Make sure to check it out.

Had a great day crafting with friends today.  I have to say, a day like today is better than a day at the spa!

Hope you have a wonderful day.

Stacie

Signing up for Etsy showcases

Can I ask a question to all of you etsy sellers out there?  Do you feel like you are buying concert tickets when trying to buy a spot in an etsy showcase?

For those of you who aren't familar with etsy showcases, they sale advertising spots for all different categories of items.  Then the fun part, spots go on sale at 12:00 midnight EST.  So, here I am trying to stay awake so I can jump on the showcase page and buy a spot for a jewelry showcase.  I've done this before & I'm telling you if you don't buy a spot in the first 2 or 3 minutes, you might as well give up.  They go that fast.

On a good note, I've had a lot of luck with showcases.  Seems to bring a pretty good number of visitors to my shop & only cost $7 a spot.

I'll let you know if I make it until midnight & am one of those lucky few to actually get a spot. 

Anyone else out there with any good ideas about etsy showcases or other good etsy ideas?

Stacie