Catching up....

Hi everyone, 

    Well, I finally got the ok to show you all what I made when I went down to Carol Hamilton's studio to try out some polymer products with metal clay. We got these bracelet blanks from Melanie West and we wondered if they would be ok in the kiln at 1650. And they were! Yeah! I love round bangle bracelets and didn't want to make sterling supports and then cover them with the metal clay and fire at a lower temp. This way of doing bracelets is going to be great! I am way excited! (Can you tell?) I used one of the wider bracelets and laid in the textured PMC and then wrapped additional clay around the joins to help hold everything in place. It was fired at 1650 for the 10 minutes and no distortion in the bangle. The PMC didn't fare as well. You can see the shrinkage in the photos. The ends under the wraps held well and I didn't want to add more clay and re-fire, so I thought about what I could do to make it work.  I still had all me bronze and copper pieces in my purse(completely forgot I had them in there and had been lugging them around for a week) and so I pulled out the little angel that I had made out of the copper and riveted him on and riveted down the loose ends. I also have a hole drilled behind the angel for a little stone drop....just haven't gotten around to adding it on yet! I love wearing it! It is comfortable and has a nice weight and the angel is small enough that the bracelet doesn't spin and put the angel underneath.  I am planning on making a whole bunch of them! Just think how nice that will sound!

   And just a little note...I will be teaching at Coral Hamilton's studio, May 14th - 16th. I will be teaching the metal clay frames filled with with the polymer clay. The first day, we will play with copper, bronze and polymer clays to make little bits to go into our multi-bezel frames and then on the second day, we will design the frames, make and fire them and on the third day, we will assemble the frames with all the little lovelies we made on the first day. Our bronze and copper pieces will be fired on the first night so we can include them in our designs. If you have any questions, drop me a line. We will be figuring out the price as soon as Carol is done re-vamping her studio. She had a leak and then Terresa and Debbie are helping her re-organize the whole kit and kaboodle....maybe I will see it they want to come visit me for a week or three and do mine!  The pirate and the princess! What more could you want? 

    I have also started thinking about the surface techniques for the seminar for the PMC Conference. Barbara Becker Simon and I are doing a hour long demo, so it should be exciting! I am thinking up some fun things to try before so I have examples to show everyone. I hope some of you will come and cheer us on!  So, off to play...I have been in a weird mood and I think it is because I have been doing a couple of step-by-steps and I just need to play....so I am going to!  PMC or polymer?  We shall see....or rather, you will when you come back....have fun till then, Kelly