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Tool images for Beadoholique Bead Shop February jewelry class
Welcome! This articles shows images of some tools required for this upcoming class in February, in which participants will make a sterling silver pendant “with a twist”. I’m hoping posts like this will help with questions about the tools and supply list for the class. Contact information regarding such questions can be found below. Thanks for looking. These center punches are of two varieties. We’ll be using the one on the left that is used with a hammer. The one on the right is automatic and packs a strong punch, making it inappropriate for the small pieces in this project. Short and definitely sweet! I may post additions to this…
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Nothing sleepy about making hollow beads
Nothing, scary, either–we’ve left that–and Halloween–behind for this year. I’ll be teaching this class tomorrow, so come join us at Two Loose Beads in Houston! This post is about my experience making a second hollow bead to take to the class, along with the bead shown above. As sometimes happens, things didn’t turn out as expected, but that doesn’t always mean that the result negates success! Clays contain a lot of moisture that of course evaporates when meeting air, causing clay to shrink into itself and potentially stress the piece one is making. It’s definitely a consideration when building hollow forms from any clay, but the two silver clays I…
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Catching Up!
I’m getting ready for my next class, coming up just before Halloween. For quite a while now, jewelry artists in the metal clay classes have been adding many new clay skills. Along with me, they must from time to time feel the longing for the satisfaction of sawing, filing, soldering and hammering (SFSH!). As soon as I made a pair of earrings as a model for the upcoming class, ideas for other projects bubbled up. I made three more pair of earrings, two little drop pendants, and completed a drawing for a dendritic opal that would be pretty dusty if I didn’t lovingly take care of it in all the…
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A Note About Cleaning Fastfire Bronze Clay
This post is about the continuing adventures of Alone Star Jewelry with the product Fast Fire bronze clay. We love it and keep learning about it!
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New Kiln
It has been a while but an update is definitely due on the last post made regarding firing of Fast Fire bronze clay. I have gotten a new kiln that apparently has made the difference in firing this and others bronze clays, so if you are having problems, heed the read. I decided to contact Cindy Silas, the developer of the clay giving me the struggle, Aureus Bright bronze , but of course it was not the clay’s problem that it couldn’t sinter after going through the FF process. Dumb me–really. More on that later. I can’t say more than that Cindy was accessible and full of information–a truly nice…
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Our Firing Schedule for Fast Fire Bronze clay
My next class is on October 29, when we’ll make a pair of earrings using FASTfire BRONZclay and a selection of beads from Lisa’s Two Loose Beads shop. To my eye I have an unnervingly huge selection of beads, so I had to narrow down those choices and put together a rustic, end-of-summer theme. The pieces are fired as seen below, and to the right is a pre-fire pair Lisa made that’ll be fired early next week. So cute, so rustic. I love the color of this fired clay and have little desire to do much else for this project except to burnish on the petals. It will polish to…
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New adventures in silver clay
Greetings! We first engaged our curiosity about silver clay many years ago, making pieces that prompted our lovely, perennial customers at the Mary Queen Christmas Bazaar to call us “the next James Avery.” We have always loved working in other media as well, while keeping the fires burning for metal clay. Now that our kids are grown we want to step up our creative trek and have gone back to this familiar medium, taking new paths for ourselves with it, and teaching others what we have found. I want to share some of our newest pieces in silver clay. Below are two fine silver cross pendants, one (left) with a…
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Child Face in Woven Copper
Child Face in Woven Copper a setting Necklace #2 This is the second in a series of papoose-type necklace pendants designed by Alone Star Jewelry. The first was made probably three years ago, and looking at the pictures of the sarcophagus paintings at Fayum brought the idea to life again. This time copper wire was textured by use of a rolling mill, then woven to create the body of the piece. The youthful face is made from polymer clay and painted with acrylics, framed by another piece of textured copper. This piece has a nice hefty feel without being too heavy, and is just over 2.38″ tall, 1″ at its widest,…
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Polymer Clay Painted Face with Butterfly, Sterling and Fluorite Necklace This polymer clay face features a butterfly and the pretty color of an aventurine cabochon, both elements framed and highlighted by a scalloped sterling silver bezel setting. The back has a window made from mica, through which two paper butterfly cutouts float. Sterling silver wire and decorative balls add to the femininity of this piece. The light pastel greens and lavender colors of fluorite beads pick up the colors of the pendant in a perfect compliment. Strong silk cord secures the fluorite (with contrasting glass beads near the clasp) to the pendant. Necklace length is 18 inches. By Shauna.
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Sterling Silver Five Wire Ball Cluster Ring Five pieces of 18 gauge Sterling silver wire were first balled on both ends and then soldered together at the base of the band. The ring was formed using a mandrel and then the balled ends are haphazardly intertwined to form a lovely focal on top of the ring. The ring is very highly polished and shines, shines, shines! By Lisa.
