A good time was had by all

Yes I think I can speak for us all, we had a great time!!! And I for one learned lots of stuff, just watching somebody who has worked with PMC for some time is a learning experience for me.

There were 4 of us from the PreciousMetalClay, group. Myself, Sandee (the hostess, thank you so much!) Evie and Deb. Deb graciously shared her wisdom with us and we happily soaked it up. She showed us how to put a fine silver post on pmc earrings without soldering, actually quite simple. I'll be trying that one soon.

She also showed us something I knew would be easy but was afraid to try it, how to make a mold. She used Sculpey Mold Maker and Sandee showed us using Amazing Mold Putty. I stopped at Michaels on the way home and found Amazing Mold Putty which I made several molds with last night and I have 2 pieces drying right now from those molds. I plan on firing them later today.

We learned many more bits and pieces you just pick up by observation.

Sandee's place is amazing, it's a huge bright room with tons of space in a beautiful setting. She has offered to have more meetings and even classes. I'm very excited about it. We're hoping to have a meeting about 2 months from now.

Here are a couple of pictures. Unfortunately I forgot my camera so these were taken with my cell phone. Not too bad really.





Kristi

DreamSome Designs

Let's get together

I'm excitedly getting ready to get together this weekend with other Metal Clay Artisans from the Puget Sound Area, more specifically a yahoo group "PugetSoundMetalClay". We've all talked online often and many of the members have met as they normally meet monthly if possible. I, of course, joined just before the holidays and I've found most groups took the month off, which they also did. So this will be my first meeting.

One of the members graciously volunteered for us to meet at her house, more specifically in her studio. We'll all bring our clay and tools and whatever else and work on it all together. The more experienced members will help those of us who are still new to the world of Precious Metal Clay. I'm really excited both to meet others with my interests and to learn new stuff.

We're going to learn how to make molds, which I could probably do on my own but I've kept putting it off. We'll be learning how to use fine silver posts that can be fired right on the PMC which is fabulous. I haven't done anything so far that I couldn't use a wire on. I actually prefer to wear wires myself but I need to broaden my skills because there are those out there who feel exactly the opposite, who prefer studs.

I got a fishing tackle box recently specifically for this purpose, so far it's working nicely. I might have to get another one specifically to put my BronzClay tools in since I've heard the tools should not be intermixed between Bronze and Silver clay.

I'll tell you all about the fun we had and post some pictures asap. We're going to have a blast!

Kristi

DreamSome Designs

Changes

As I wear my most recent big bold piece of jewelry today I paused for a moment and thought...I have never been one to wear big bold jewelry before, but I sure am now! I was never much of a jewelry wearer in general (though I've always loved silver), other than earrings much of the time, but they were always small and simple.

I suppose a big part of that was the fact that I grew up around horses and spent most of my time at the barn in my boots, jeans and flannel shirts, up well in to my 30's. The jobs I've had up until the last 10 years or so also were not the type of jobs you would wear lots of jewelry.

My lifestyle has changed so much over the last decade but it wasn't until I started to make jewelry that I also started wearing it. I guess I haven't got much choice, I do have to wear it to show it off publicize myself....right? :) There is that but I am also really enjoying it, wearing it AND making it.

That's the end of my musings, please take a look at my jewelry at my Etsy site http:DreamSome.Etsy.com DreamSome.Etsy and more specifically my newest piece Hearts and Rubies!

Kristi

DreamSome.Etsy

A learning experience

Yesterday, New Years Day, I had my first trial (ya trial is a good word) with my kiln. My kiln is not a top of the line kiln, it's a tiny little starter kiln and I have to watch it very carefully to get it up to temperature and then slowly turn it down to keep the temperature until finally the last hour or so I can let it cook somewhat on it's own. Well...yesterday I wasn't diligent with my timer and I got distracted playing our new Wii game (really fun btw!), suddenly I realized it had been way too long since I checked the kiln and I ran down to the garage and it was nearly 2000 degrees (should be about 1600). I knew I'd probably fried all the pieces that were in it, I grabbed my monsterous welding gloves and opened the top and sure enough all my beautiful pieces were now big lumps. I guess I'm lucky it's the first time it's happened, I've had this kiln for a couple of months and managed to be successful with every firing. I look forward to upgrading my kiln some time in the next few years. Chalk it up to a learning experience.

I decided to throw the lumps in the tumbler and try to re-create what I'd lost. I thought who knows what these lumps of silver might look like when they are polished so why not. It would be fun to find a use for them and create lemonade out of lemons. They've tumbled all night now, what do you think?

There are 2 sets or earrings and a pendant. The pendant was my second try at using Water Etching, I wonder if it would have been a successful try. Maybe it can still be a pendant, a silver nugget pendant...a very interesting and definitely one of a kind pendant :)

I had yet another go at it after I ruined this one, it's in the kiln right now and it looks like it will be a nicer piece than this one might have been, I used nail polish this time rather than masking tape which I used the first time. I have it in the kiln now, very early this morning, before I have to go to work. I just have enough time for it to cook then I'll throw it in the tumbler and head off to work.

Here are the earring charms I re-created and listed on Etsy this morning. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=19229206

Here is a picture of my newest (re-created) Water Etching experiment. Having trouble getting a pic I'm happy with but it's a much better effort than the one I fried, I'm quite happy with it.

The joys of Jewelry making. Off to exercise on my Wii, don't worry, I have the timer set and I'm getting lots of added exercise running up and down the stairs every 10-15 minutes.

Happy New Year EVERYBODY!!

Kristi

http://dreamsome.etsy.com/

Another Christmas Passed/Past

And a wonderful Christmas it was. My second Christmas with my honey and an absolutely beautiful piece of Pink Sapphire jewelry for me. I don't normally shop at the big jewelry stores but it was fun and we made sure I could wear it every day and it would look good with my hand crafted jewelry. He recently got a BluRay player so of course I helped him stock up on BluRay discs for his Christmas presents.

Here's a picture of my ring by request.

We braved the snow and went out and visited both his and my families, we had a wonderful time!!! Ate too much, exchanged gifts and spent good times with loved ones, it's what Christmas is all about.

We've had snow every day for a week or so I think, must be well over 12 inches total. It is warming up and I'm afraid it might start raining which will most likely mean flooding. I'm hoping the rain holds out a day or 2 and gives these mountains of snow some time to thaw, that'll give us plenty of water to cope with for now.

So....I've been out of PMC for about a week, hoping to get a fresh order today. I've also ordered some silicone mold making compound, cork clay and PMC syringe. I'm anxious to try some more new techniques I read about in the book PMC Technic I've mentioned in a previous post, but I'm also a little nervous to try without somebody to guide me. Precious Metal Clay is not cheap so I hate to waste it. In the interum I'm doing some beading and listing a couple non-pmc items on my etsy site. http://www.dreamsome.etsy.com/

For the new year my goal is to take more classes and start working towards certification, join the PMC Team on Etsy http://www.etsymetalclay.com/ , I've already been working hard to meet the criteria necessary to be considered for membership. I will continue working on ways to promote my jewelry such as this Blog, Twitter https://twitter.com/DreamSomeDesign , Flickr http://www.flickr.com/ screen name DreamSomeDesigns. I'm quite happy with what I've accomplished in a few short months so I'll continue in that direction. And of course I plan to continue having fun at the same time!

2008 was a very good year for me and 2009 will be even better!! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Kristi
http://dreamsome.etsy.com/

What to do on a Snow Day...

Today is one of those days when I only went out when absolutely necessary. It's possible to get around but I'm happy to putter around the house and play with clay and do some holiday cooking. Pumpkin pie just about ready to come out of the oven.


With this freezing weather I've been working hard to keep my hummingbird feeder thawed out. I have at least 2 hummers feeding on it and I worry about them, how can they find enough to eat in this frigid weather. Here's one of my cuties taking a sip. Why these particular birds didn't migrate I don't know. I'm happy to watch them.





Other than my park ranger duties and cooking, I've been working with my PMC. I just received a fresh packet of clay and a wonderful new book that has inspired me to continue to try new things and learn on my own until my next workshop some time in the new year. It's called PMC Technic Edited by Tim McCreight with 10 wonderful chapters each by a different PMC Artisan. Some very fun ideas I can't wait to try!!!



Here are a few of today's pieces, in dry clay form, still lots of perfecting before they will be ready to fire. A couple of pendants and a pair of earring charms.



I feel like they are going to turn out very nice. I hope to get a few more done today and tomorrow and fire up the kiln again soon. I can't tell you how much fun I'm having with this stuff, it's a fantastic outlet for my creativity that I haven't had in a long long time. And silver has always been one of my favorites so what could be better!

Thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings!

Here is one of the clay pieces show above as a finished product.
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18920254


Kristi

http://dreamsome.etsy.com/

Abalone Inspiration

I managed to get every piece I had ready for the kiln in to it, it was a tight fit.

I think my Abalone Inspiration was a great success, you can barely see the 2 pieces when they are laying on the inside of the shell they were molded from.

I gave them a slight patina and polished them up and I think they are gorgeous.



Now I'll either drill holes or add a bail and they will be ready to list on my Etsy site.

And here it is!! http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=18749157

Kristi


http://www.dreamsome.etsy.com>