Over the past 5 years many exciting things have happened in the land of metal clay. There have been exciting new products like Copper Clay, PMC Pro and now Sterling Silver Clay, but even more exciting is the incredibly high standard of the work that Artists around the world are achieving with this exciting medium. Though online & printed collections of outstanding work are common – like the PMC Annual, and Holly Gage’s Calender, there are few opportunities to view such collections in “real life”.

For some time I’ve been looking at venues with something of a dream to exhibit the finest metal clay work out there. I looked and looked, but couldnt find the right venue, at the right time……   the answer of course was so close to home it was staring me in the face. So it is to my great excitement and delight to announce that in March this year our premises will be home to a Gallery exhibiting the work of some incredibly talented and well known artists. Specifically Metal Clay Artists.

To make way for this change “The Little Bead Shop” will be no more, all of our beads are being sold.  I can’t wait to get the painting, sanding and assembling finished so I can view the phenomenal work we will have on show, all of which of course, will be available to buy. Wish us luck !!

They liked my “Wedding Rings” which I made as a gift for one of my dearest friends…..

The book sounds amazing – here are a couple of synopsis I found after I googled the title …

From Scorpio books “Gemstone Settings” is the most in-depth, technical guide to stone setting. Jewelry makers will enjoy an encyclopedic overview, which features an extensive summary of stone-setting and techniques for creating beautiful gemstone jewelry, from basic bezels and prongs to pave, carre, clusters, and numerous others–including cold joins, precious metal clay, settings for fragile stones, and settings that allow the stones to move.
You’ll also discover detailed information about stones and metals–including their suitability, gorgeous photos and illustrations for visual support, what makes a design wearable and durable, and detailed information on pre-made versus handmade settings.
Step by step, learn how to set your most beloved precious, semiprecious, and organic stones with projects that range from elegant diamond masterpieces to earthy pearl or coral everyday favorites.

From Waterstones – “A complete and practical guide to setting precious and semi-precious stones in any metal, The Jewellery-Maker’s Guide to Gemstone Settings is a detailed, technical guide to stone-setting for jewellers and jewellery students. It explores traditional, modern, and experimental approaches to stone-setting, from the purely functional to design-led solutions for securing stones. It takes the reader through the entire process of setting stones from choosing a suitable stone and designing and making the setting to seating and setting the stone. The extensive setting techniques are combined with step-by-step demonstrations, precise diagrams and images of contemporary work from international jewellers. A comprehensive reference section featuring an illustrated glossary makes this book the essential stone-setting resource for both students and professional jewellers. Demonstrations produced using 3D modelling software provide the most up-to-date reflection of current practice and technology and allow explanations of skills and techniques to be presented with expert accuracy. The perfect resource for jewellers of all levels.”

It looks pretty good too 

The book is due to be published on the  28/02/2012 – just after my birthday! Its a book I would not have hesitated to buy – so to discover I will be IN IT has simply made my day !!

If you  are a friend of mine on Face Book or a fan of Art Clay Scotland then you will have seen my new gold rings already, but its far easier for me to talk about the process here. For there was quite alot that went into making these rings – which were made from my great grandmas old gold rings which were too small for my big fingers!!! First of all then we had to melt the gold down – which we did with a hot torch ….

Then this molten gold was poured into an ingot ….

which gave us this little nugget of gold….

Which was drawn through a rolling mill to give us enough length to make two rings…

So now we have our gold. And the actual process of making the rings began. This is the first time Ive ever worked with gold metal before – Ive only ever worked with Gold Clay in the past – so this was fun for me! First of all I had to shape the ring on a mandrel ..

  And then cut it and solder the prepared tube into place

and then set the stone …

Then a little polishing, and a repeat of the process left me with these two rings!!

I have worn them everyday with pride and really did make them myself under Jareds expert eye and tuition. They feel special and full of meaning to me!

Just as soon as I can I’ll be uploading,  onto our web site,  all the details of how you can make you own wedding/civil partnership rings with Jared. With an expert guiding you every step of the way its surprisingly easy to make beautiful, professional rings – and of course there will be that extra option of using your own gold too!!

Take a look at Jared ‘s web site here to see his stunning work!

I’ve got some old gold rings that belonged to my Great Grandmother. Two 22ct Gold Rings and two 9ct rings. A quick browse of internet tells me that I could expect to get around £200 if I sold them. Here they are …..

But I dont want to sell them!! And I am lucky as, just as I did with my scrap silver, I am about to recycle my gold. I’ll be spending the day with Jared Sanders in his superb studio melting down the gold and making it into new rings. I love the idea of wearing a new ring made from gold that was worn for decades by my Great Grandmother, and then my Grandma until she died. I havent ever worked with Gold before – only Gold Clay, so I will be getting tuition from Jared himself, and am really looking forward to it. Here are some rings he recently made – and these will be within my capabilities (so he tells me…..)

If you are getting married, or having a civil partnership soon, then it may interest you to know that we shall be offering a service where you and your partner can come to the studio at Art Clay Scotland, and make your own wedding bands with Jared guiding you every step of the way. As an option you can choose to recycle your own gold to make your rings from, or you can specify other materials including platinum.   We are really very excited about this, and full details will be up on the Art Clay Scotland web site very soon.

So, I need to pack my camera, and my gold rings and wade through the tourists to get to Jared’s Studio!! I’m so looking forward to making a gold ring….. now all I need is a nice man to marry

First of all the silver is melted down……..

Then its poured into the ingot ……

Which gave us one of these ……

Which was rolled through the rolling mill a few times – annealing every now and then …..

and then this was drawn through the plates until I had my pure silver wire!

Then yesterday I received the exciting news that my work has been accepted into the next PMC Annual! To say that its a huge honor to be amongst such incredible talent is an understatement.   I was in a celebratory mood as I arrived at the Axolotl Gallery on Dundas Street in Edinburgh to meet Elmo the 5 year old Owl who was on an outing from Edinburgh Zoo. The handler had the patience of a saint as everyone invariably asked him the same questions over and over again…… Elmo was amazing to watch and was there becuase the paintings  in the current exhibition feature Owls. Apparently Elmo did not know that they were only paintings (as far as he was concerned they were real), and he was very much on high alert, keeping his amazing eyes on every painting in the room!!

Finally Elmo was taken home and I got my second piece of good news for the day – my work has been accepted into the gallery. I’m very VERY chuffed

I am looking forward to setting aside a little more time to spend on my lampwork beads, which I’ll use to make my favorite style – DOTTY beads!!!

Ive also got a rather long tube of silver which needs to be put to good use! So I think I  shall also be making more of these

Now the only thing left for me to figure out is what on earth to wear. I am wondering if I would have been able to get away with any of the incredible head gear that was on show in today’s Royal Wedding …… my guess is probably not…….    but it would have been fun trying My bag will be packed with tissues – as after welling up today I’m not confident I’ll keep the tears at bay tomorrow!!

These rings will be added to the Flickr Ring A Week pool – which if you havent seen you really should check out ! I was a late joiner – but am so glad I joined the pool. My last ring was my first attempt at playing with Resin after wanting to play with it for so long ! Here it is (please excuse the blue tack)

I need to thank Deanne Holden for finally taking the plunge into resin as she had been playing with it for a while…..  and if you haven’t checked out the stunning work on the Ring a Week Pool you can do so here.

On the 25th & 26th of August she will be teaching her Repousse Effects in Metal Clay. Ever since I’ve been working with  metal clay I have been a huge admirer of Holly’s work, and I remember marveling at her stunning pieces of jewellery and thinking “how did she do that?”.  In this course Holly will share exactly how she transforms a picture of photograph into stunning focal pieces like these……….

Then on the 27th & 28th of August she will teach her “Elegant Meadow Pods” course, showing us how to make  beautiful silver pods like this one….

Its become something of a tradition now to have a guest Artist come and teach for Art Clay Scotland. Back in 2008 Sherri Haab visited us teaching her Image Transfer Techniques. She returned later to teach the UK’s first ever workshop in BronzClay

Then in August 2009 Robert Dancik came to teach how to use his Faux Bone…

and in the December Hattie Sanderson came to teach her first ever workshops in the UK to a full house…

returning to us last July …….

and then last October the fabulous Gordon Uyehara came all the way from Hawaii just for us . Here he is with one of our team – Deanne Holden.

I am so excited that Holly accepted our invitation to come to Edinburgh, and cant wait to meet her again.  Four days of learning new techniques with one of the most highly regarded artists in the field…… roll on August !!!

If  you follow my Art Clay Scotland face book page then you will know that quite a lot has been going on, but if you haven’t then I think the most exciting news I have to share is that “30 Minute Rings” by Lark Jewelry Books was finally posted through my letter box a little while ago.  Not so exciting I suppose, until you consider that one of the projects in the book IS MINE !! I ripped open the package filled with nervous excitement and was thrilled to see my rings! Of the 60 projects there are two featuring metal clay – here are mine ….

and the other by Lora Hart…. 

Both Tonya Davidson and Lorena Angulo have posted book reviews, and I am really proud to be in such a great publication! 

There I did it! First blog post in a long time!! Now back to my day, which will be spent  trying to ignore the wind and horrible rain as I finish off a wedding ring commission….

Second place in the metal clay category went to Melissa Lee and third place to Karen Irwin. All the details can be seen here.

I believe that Issue 24 of Bead Magazine will feature all the winners. Congratulations to everyone who won an award, and to those who entered!!