Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Working with Precious Metal Clay

This is my process of working with metal clay. I don't go into the detailed step-by-step of how it's done because there are so many great books out there (listed below) that do it so much better than I ever could. The purpose of this post is to share with clients how their jewelry is made.

One of my favorite mediums to work with, Precious Metal Clay, is a clay-like substance that is made of small particles of pure metal (such as silver) mixed with an organic binder and water. Metal clay can be shaped or cut just like any soft clay, by hand or using molds. After the clay dries, it can be fired in a kiln where the binder burns away, leaving the pure metal.






When working with Precious Metal Clay, or PMC, I use a large number of tools to mold, cut or shape the clay into the piece I'm trying to create. I've worked with rubber stamps, steel lettering stamps, cookie cutters, PMC molds and impression templates. One of the great features of PMC is that you can use simple household objects as tools. Really, anything that will make an impression in the clay can be used, but avoid aluminum tools as they cause chemical comtamination.



My favorite technique is to make impressions from objects that have special meaning. You may have seen the Antique Flower Impression Necklace where I used an antique silver sugar bowl my grandmother gave me.











(TIP) When I find an object I want to take an impression of, I use Playdough to test if the object will leave the desired impression before attempting it with the clay. For example, I tried many times to take an impression from antique flatware only to discover the markings in the flatware were not deep enough to make an impression in the clay.



Once I am ready to work with the clay, I lay out all the tools I'm going to need on my work space. PMC can dry out on you fairly quickly. (Esp in the the winter when I'm blasting the heater to keep warm) So I want all my tools within reach.






(TIP) I always talk through a 'plan of action' before I begin.



"1. roll out the clay with this rolling pen (touch the pen),


2. cut the clay with this cutter (touch the cutter), etc..."



This mental check list helps me determine if all of my tools are ready. If I'm really feeling obsessive, I will even make a mockup of the pieces I'm about to create with Playdough first.






Once everything is in place, I open the clay and get to work cutting, shaping, molding, whatever the piece calls for.


As you work, the clay becomes dry and leathery. Keep a spray bottle of water close by to remoisten the clay. I keep my scraps in an airtight container with a tiny damp sponge at the bottom.




Once I'm finished, I prefer to allow my pieces to air dry overnight. Some people use hotplates to speed up the process.



Once dry, the clay pieces have the consistency of chalk. If they aren't handled gently, they could easily crack or crumble. At this stage, I use fine grit sandpaper to smooth out the edges and create a smooth surface. (TIP) Fingernail files also work great to gently sand thicker pieces.




Next, the pieces are placed into a kiln where they are fired at a temp of 1100 degrees for 20-30 minutes. The firing process can take several hours as the kiln takes time to warm up to that high temp, maintain that temp for half and hour, then cool back down.





Once the pieces have cooled completely, they still aren't finished. They come out of the firing process hard as metal but with a dull, white, ashy finish. This is because the firing process has caused the surface of the silver to become crystalline which must be smoothed down and polished. A quick 'bath' with soapy water and a stainless steel brush does the trick.









Afterwards, you are left with a pieces that shines like a mirror.

This mirror finish is fine for some pieces, like this simple ring. But to make those impression pieces stand out, I usually oxidize my designs in a solution called Liver of Sulfur (which smells like rotten eggs). This solution causes the silver to artificially tarnish. Simply polish off the tarnish from the areas you don't want it and you're left with the contrasting black on silver.





There you have it!




That's my process of working with metal clay. I know I didn't go into the detailed step-by-step of how it's done, but there are so many great books out there that do it so much better than I ever could. Some of my favorites include:




The Art of Metal Clay by Sherri Haab



and


Magical Metal Clay Jewelry by Sue Heaser





If you are interested in learning more about working with Precious Metal Clay, I suggest taking a class at your local jewelry supply or bead shop. PMC can be a pricey medium to work with, so make sure you love it before making an investment in the tools.

Custom Orders: I Pick Dharma

Being a huge, HUGE, LOST fan, I was pumped about this order!!


And a guitar pic necklace charm:


The backside:

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Have a Little Faith

A custom order this week: a sweet little charm that will be incorporated into a bracelet.


Business is Going to the Dogs

My Pet ID Tags are quickly becoming my biggest seller. I sold 4 yesterday alone and I had another one ordered this morning. The backside is engraved with their owners phone number (no shown for security reasons).



Sunday, February 14, 2010

My New Corner of the World

My friend, Rachel, of SoHaus Interior Design posed an interesting question this week on her blog:

"Do you have a design dilemma?
Submit your questions to me and be featured on my blog!"

So I challenged her to turn my dining room into a studio for my jewelry design, but still be able to use it as a dining room when the occasion calls for it. She had some brilliant ideas - you can read the full article
here.


As my husband and I began discussing her suggestions it dawned on us:

why do we need a formal dining room anyway?!?!

In the 5 + years we've been living in this house, we've used our dining room maybe twice. Why are we hording all that space?!?! After taking some measurements and discussing the logistics, we decided to dismantle the dining room completely and use that space as husband's office (he works full time from home). Currently, his office is in a spare bedroom. Once that bedroom was cleared out, I could use it as my office/DESIGN STUDIO!! YIPEE!

Wanna See?

So here is the dining room before.
(See, even before we weren't using it as a dining room.)
And After
And now, his old office is mine!!


All the china has been put into storage (I know, my mother almost disowned me) and my china cabinet is now holding all my designs.




The whole move took only 1 afternoon, but in the process I was also organizing, cleaning out and throwing away as much as I could. Over the past year, I have collect quite a lot of jewelry supplies, beads, and findings. So as part of my clean out efforts I have opened a second Etsy shop


Where I will be selling my extra beads, vintage buttons, and misc jewelry supplies that I don't want or need! Cause one man's trash, is another man's treasure!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Custom Order - K+M

Here is a custom order I worked on this week. Double stack pendants with "K+M" above the date "7-17-10".


Thursday, February 11, 2010

Custom Order - Always and Forever

A personalized Guitar Pic Necklace

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

A Stroke of Genius Weekly Artist Spotlight

I'm so excited to be featured, with my husband, on this weeks
A Stroke of Genius Artist Spotlight!!

Jen, from Simply Inviting Cards & Keepsakes has included us in a double feature article about our Etsy Shops and hobbies.

Check out the full interview here


Friday, January 29, 2010

Custom Orders - Dogs, Guitars and a Sunset

It's been a busy week around the studio (aka my dining room). I have a few minutes before the chocolate chip cookies come out of the oven, so I thought I'd share a few pics of what I've been working on.


Maddie & Max : Pet ID tags!


The backside has their humans phone number.








You Rock My World: Guitar Pick Charm


(this little baby is on it's way to Denmark)







Sunset Blvd: Bangle Bracelet


This bracelet was a collaboration from a repeat customer. The bracelet I made her before (shown below) I named 'Ocean Water'.



This time she wanted something inspired by the colors of a sunset. She sent me this amazing photo for inspiration.


The front of the disc is engraved with "listen with your heart" and the backside (which I forgot to photograph) says "you will understand".



(also an international order, this one is on it's way to Australia)

Monday, January 25, 2010

Custom Orders - Anam Cara Oval Necklace

A custom variation of the Anam Cara necklace in the shop, this design is stamped on a oval dics with a second engraving on the backside. This way, the necklace can be worn 2 ways!




Thursday, January 21, 2010

My 2009 Google Analytics Stats

July 2009, I signed up for a Google Analytics account to track website traffic to my Etsy store and determine how effective my internet marketing was. I thought I would share some of my stats with you, cause I think it's pretty neat:
This data was collected from
July 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009

From July 1, 2009 - December 31, 2009 (a 6 month period) there were:

  • 8,746 visits, or hits, on my etsy store. An averages of 47 visits / day.

  • 21% (2,095) of the 8,746 were from people viewing my store for the first time.

  • 31,536 pages were viewed. An average of 3.61 pages /visit.

  • People spent and average of 2:41 in my store.

  • 57% left the store without taking further action (ex. moving on to explore the rest of the shop).

  • Tuesday September 22, 2009 had the greatest amount of visits in a single day with 188 hits.

What does it all mean?

Well, the 3.61 pages per visit is good. Typical websites average 3-5 pages per visit, so I'm happy with this for now.

The bounce rate of 57% - eh - probably need to do something about that. Need to get more people exploring the store instead of moving on somewhere else. Digging deeper into Analytics, I can see the keywords that typically brought people to my site and if those keywords failed. Meaning they searched Google for "bible verse charm" and ended up on an unrelated pair of earrings. Instances like that can cause someone to leave the shop asap and thereby increasing the Bounce Rate.
So where did all these visits come from?


  • 41.6% were Direct Traffic visits, meaning they typed in the URL or clicked a bookmark that brought them straight to the store.
  • 33% found my store thru referring sites like links I post on Twitter or Facebook
  • 19% were search engine results like Google or Yahoo.

Who are all these people?

Google Analytics allows me to dive deep into who my visitors are and where they come from. My 8,746 visits came from 72 different countries!

Most are from the US, but did you know I'm big in the UK?!?! (me either!)

Rounding out the top 10 are:


What was happening Tuesday September 22, 2009?

On Tuesday September 22, 2009, I had the greatest amount of visits in a single day with 188 hits. I dug around to learn that 163 pages of my shop were viewed a total of 613 times. Although these visitors were all over the shop, the hot item seems to be the Copper Braille Necklace with 103 views (which sold that day). I can't seem to figure out what caused the sudden spike in interest. Any ideas? Maybe I was in a treasury and didn't know it?!?!


I think this info is so cool to look at. Hopefully I can learn more about what Google Analytics can do and how to use this data to better my store. I'm also tracking data on this blog that I haven't looked thru yet. Maybe there will be some intersting info there too!

Tokens of Affection

Here is another custom order i've been working on for a few days. Made from 99.9% pure silver, these tokens hold special meaning to my customer that designed them.


(These shiny little suckers were hard to photograph b/c the mirror finish wanted to reflect everything in sight!)


I documented the entire process of how they were made for an upcoming blog post I'm working on which will outline how I create jewelry with Metal Clay!

Stay Tuned!

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

My #1 Fans!

Tonight I started a Facebook Fan page for Precious Metals. I had been thinking about doing it for awhile now, but wondered if I really needed it. With the Etsy shop, this blog, and twitter to keep updated I figured - what's one more?!?!
(Actually, I'll probably be better about updating the Fan Page than twitter)

Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Custom Orders

Here are a few of the custom orders I have been working on lately.




Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Say Hello To My Little Friend

Santa must have thought I was super good this year because on Christmas morning I found a VULCAN JK-1 KILN
tucked into my stocking!!
Have I been to the grocery store since? NO
Have I cleaned the house since? NO
Have I fired this baby up everyday since Christmas? HECK YEAH!!
With a max temp of 2250 degrees, this hot little number is sure to light a fire in my jewelry line. (Ok, ok enough kiln jokes)

(husband keeping warm. the exterior of the kiln could reach a temp of 350 degrees, but so far the temps i've used have kept the exterior just warm to the touch)


My first few pieces...
Made from PMC3 which becomes 99.9% fine silver once fired.

The tulip pendants were made from impressions taken from these "fashionable" earrings.

And the floral pattern is an impression of an antique sugar bowl


I'm sure you'll start to see several of these pendants in my shop in the near future. Now my shop will be able to live up to it's name ~ Precious Metals!!


Visitors

The online website design guide.

Followers

 

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