Showing posts with label Etsy MetalClay Team. Show all posts

8/6/13

What's New

Hello everyone, this month we have 2 lovely new pieces to show you that are new from our members

Drakonaria and Chocolate and Steel, check them out in their shops!

Intergalactic Worm - statement piece

Silver HOWLING WOLF necklace

7/8/13

What's New

Hi everyone, it's a short post this month but beautiful

pieces nonetheless so here is what's new:

Heart of the fire

Mango Tango

6/3/13

What's New

Hello everyone, a short but sweet post this time around,

take a look at the new work in our members shops:

Drakonaria

Mango Tango

Anna Silvonen

Be sure to visit and check out their other awesome items!

5/8/13

What's New

Hello, Lou here with another round of 'what's new'

check out the new work from some of our members.

Check back again for more awesome new work from the EtsyMetal Clay team.

4/9/13

What's New

Hi everyone, I am back for another round of 'What's new'

Check out the awesome new items in our members Etsy shops below.

Short and sweet this month, check back again for more new items :)

3/5/13

What's New

Hello everyone, welcome to another edition of 'What's New' check out the awesome new

work below that is currently in our members Etsy shops.

Click on the shop name to view on Etsy.

2/18/13

Tips From the Team

Here are some great tips for working with metal clay, from members of the Etsy MetalClay Team…

From Glenda J. Camara-Skarie (AdoriLargento): use a double-pointed compass or divider to make ring bands and earrings. For the ring band it is very easy to change the width of it. For the earrings it will make a duplicate every time.

Team members Liad Wischnia-Nemeth (ByLiad), Anna Siivonen(Annasiivonen) and Joy Funnell (JoyFunnellEtsy) all recommend using baby wipes to remove small cracks, smooth clay, wipe away dust and clean tools. Joy says she loves them! She uses a sharp craft knife to remove any excess clay from edges and then cleans up the edges with the wipes. It gives her the smooth edges that she likes. She adds that the wipes can be recycled to reclaim the silver, or just rinsed out in a glass of water so the silver settles to the bottom to be recovered. Also, Joy says if she gets briefly interrupted while working, she simply covers her clay with a wet wipe and it keeps just fine!

Zoe Nelson (ZoeNelson) recommends: roll leftover clay into a ball and store it in plastic wrap. It won't dry out as fast as a lump because it has a smaller surface area.

Karen West (EggToothOriginals) shared this tip: I like to use Aura 22 Gold to dress up fine silver PMC3 once in awhile. I had mixed results using the kiln only to fire it. Here's what I do now for great results: Follow kiln firing directions. Once pieces are cooled, remove them from the kiln. Working with one piece at a time, heat them with a butane torch just until the piece glows red. Remove torch. While the piece is still hot, grab it with cross-locking tweezers and burnish the gold using an agate burnisher. Follow with brushing, tumbling or whatever you would normally do to burnish the rest of the piece.

Liz Hall (LizardsJewelry) suggests: I keep a candle handy in my cutting blade cup to run my blades across—keeps the clay from sticking and it’s much easier/quicker to do a quick swipe than lubing it up with some other product. Plus it doesn't seem to mess with the clay like some anti stick products do.

From Christine Street Gregg (ChocolateAndSteel) we have this tip: have lots of toothpicks handy. They are good for setting stones, for poking holes, adding Black Max to small areas, setting resin and drying bails around.

One of my (EvelynPelati) favorite tips is for when I need to cut a shape centered within a shape. If I’m using tempates that are flat, I always cut out the inner shape first. Then I center the outer shape over it and cut. Visually it’s easier to center this way. If I’m using high-walled cutters, like tubes—I take the outer shape and make a light impression in the clay. Then I cut my center shape in the middle of it. Then I cut the outer shape using my impressed guideline. I do this because I can’t see through the cutters to cut the way I described previously. And, if I cut out the outer shape all the way through first, the outer shape can become distorted when cutting the inner shape.

Last, we have a fantastic “bonus tip” from team member Catherine Witherell (HappyDayArt)! Catherine has written a tutorial about how to make custom cookie cutters for making uniform cut-out bead caps. Don’t miss this valuable lesson! Click this link or scroll down to the next blog post.

Thank you to all the team members who generously shared their knowledge with us.

~ Evelyn Pelati

2/16/13

Custom Cookie Cutters for Making Uniform Cutout Bead Caps

Here's a tip to make your life easier while making multiples in metal clay. Why multiples you ask? Multiples are the kind of piece you want to make more than one of, for earrings, for uniform pendants on one necklace, or if you're in a production cycle for a show. Bead caps can come in handy often. Here are a few shapes that look good on earrings, bracelets or pendants.

The easiest shape would be a circle. I also like the 4 pointed star.

This is a four-lobed piece that looks good bent over a bead.

I got myself a sheet of 28-gauge copper and just cut uniform strips about 1/4 inch wide with metal shears or tin snips. The copper is inexpensive and resilient and easy to form with pliers.

I spent some time making drawings and then I shaped the cutters to their outlines. I don't worry about soldering the seams. The copper is springy enough to hold it's shape if you're not too rough with it. I made my 4 pointer 1/2 inch wide and the four lobed piece almost 3/4 inch wide. You can adjust your size and style to the beads you're using.

I roll out my silver metal clay about 3 playing cards thick, then texture it. After the surface has set up a little but the clay isn't hard yet, I use my greased cookie cutter and cut out as many pieces as the rolled out sheet will hold. I'm all about having more than you need for your project, just in case you have another brilliant idea. Repeat as necessary. Remember to flip the cutter if you're making something that needs to be symmetrical or a mirror image of the other.

When completely dry, I finish the pieces and and then fire them for the maximum firing time and temperature to make sure the silver is sintered enough and will bend easily without breaking. I've never done this with any of the base metal clays so if you want to, you need to blaze your own trail.

Here's where my dapping block comes into service.

I place a piece face down in a depression that holds the entire piece inside the rim. I place the dap in the center of the metal and hit it with a hammer, firmly but not too hard.

In fact I hit it rather gently but surely about 4 or 5 times to get the piece to slowly form to the bowl of the block but careful not to punch out the texture on the other side. I move the piece to the next smaller sized depression and I do the same thing as the piece gets rounder and gets closer to the size of the bead I'm going to use.

Your cookie cutters can be as simple or as complicated as your imagination lets them be.