KCPMCGuild

Congratulations, Pat and Susan!

2012-02-22T11:51:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Pat Kuehn - she had a beaded piece accepted for publication by Beadwork Magazine later this year. We'll look forward to seeing that. She brought a trayful of gorgeous crystal and beaded jewelry for show and tell - no photo, sorry.
Congratulations also to Susan Silvey - she's a Saul Bell 2012 Award finalist in the Metal Clay category!

We also saw Janice's amazing Leather Pendant with Zentangles, Cheryl's Polymer Clay Zentangle pendant using colored pens and gloss highlights, and more. No photos - Sorry.

If you missed the meeting, you missed a great class in Planning and Design of your work.
Gale Schlagel showed us some of her early PMC pendants and how a lack of understanding and advance planning resulted in pieces that were hard to attach, had no coordinating finishing pieces (end-caps or connectors) or had holes in the wrong places, hang crooked, etc. (note: Gale's mistakes are way above my best pieces, but still....)

tip: Rio Grande and other metal clay suppliers will buy-back your fired fine silver mistakes to recycle the metal and reduce your loss.

Carol Harder lead us in a review of the Principles and Elements of Design. (We got a 25 minute, condensed version of a 6-week design unit from her art class curriculum.)

Elements of Art

Line - the simplest form

She handed out 30 inch piece of straight, steel wire with the instructions to use the entire piece and create a pin. No photos, but Cecilia and Janice both finished very cool, wearable wire brooches.

Shape - circle, triangle, square
Form - 3 dimensional shapes, ball, pyramid, etc.
Space - positive/negative, inside/outside

Value - light, dark, shadow, cast shadow, reflection (chiarscuro)

Color - primary (red, blue, yellow), secondary (green, orange, purple), complementary, etc

Texture - important for PMC artists!! You know this one

We also looked at some online resources for inspiration and ideas.

keep a sketchbook of your ideas for future use - you WILL forget your great ideas
draw out your idea before you start
Carol made her students do 10 drawings before starting a project!
Subscribe to online blogs such as Jewelry Making Daily, Start with Sketches - Save Money, your own Idea Book, Record your Inspiration or check out the many, many books and publications aimed at jewelry artists.

February KCPMC Guild Meeting

2012-02-17T10:47:00.000-08:00

Before-meeting no-host dinner 5:00 p.m. at Zardas BBQ (just west of Quivira at 87th). Everyone is welcome!

TOPIC:
In this meeting, we begin our series of topics to help you design a complete jewelry project. Lead by Carol Harder and Gale Schlagel, they will help you start training your brain to focus on a design. Think about how you can use our next few months' topics to create something spectacular and uniquely yours.

tear-away texture technique (March) Jen will teach us the technique popularized by Celie Fago
stone setting by channel, tube, bezel and more (April)
PMC bezels around ceramic/pottery shards (May)
custom made end caps (June)
kumihimo braiding (July) --

Materials to bring:

scissors
your sketchbook (old or new)
Elements of Design from last year's design meeting, if you have one. (Carol had us finding pictures of jewelry that illustrated the various principles and elements of design.)
your ideas for the piece you want to make
your "mistake" projects

Provided:
paper, glue sticks, pencils

ALSO - bring your booboos...a piece you haven't finishd because it somehow doesn't work. We may be able to offer suggestions on how to re-do it, or alter it and make it better. You don't want to waste that precious PMC!!

Don't forget to bring your recent work to show and tell. If you won the January raffle, remember that you are responsible for bringing a new raffle item.

January 2012 Meeting

2012-01-12T14:26:00.000-08:00

The January meeting of the Kansas City Precious Metal Clay Guild will be Tuesday, January 17 at 7:00 p.m. at Harder Driving School, 10362 Mastin. Overland Park, KS 66214

The hands-on demo/topic will be lead by one of our newer members, Kim Keane. Kim is a polymer clay artist who will show us how to draw (or use our Zentangle skills learned from Susan Silvy last fall) onto pre-cured polymer clay.

Cured clay pieces will be provided. Please bring your Micron or Millennium Pen #01 and optional 005 pen. Sakura is the name brand of the pens which work best. Available at Michael's. Those who participated in the fall Zentangle meeting received a pen in their kit.

This is the first meeting of 2012 and member dues are now due. $24 per year provides our budget - which will be used to cover materials costs for more hands-on projects at our meetings. That's just $2 a month for lots of fun learning experiences. Check back here or check our website for the 2012 program schedule.

2011 Charm Exchange Workshop

2011-10-13T12:59:00.000-07:00

Ready to make charms for our annual exchange?? The October meeting is next week, Tuesday, October 18 beginning at 7 pm. Dinner at 5pm (for those who are interested) will be at Fans Tea and Dumplings (the little Asian place across the parking lot from Harder Driving School at Mastin and 103^rd).

We have 21 members committed to making charms. It’s too late to add more names, sorry. Members have received an email with the list. See below for a “what to bring” list.

Everyone will be getting a 16g pkg of PMC3 silver clay and will need to make 22 charms. (Last year we made this many from only a 9g pkg, so it should be much easier this time!) We encourage everyone to use your entire 16g pkg to make 22 similar charms so each person will be exchanging for a comparable set of charms. Use your own style and personality.

We have several new members participating who have limited (or no) experience with metal clay so this will be a great teaching experience for our group. I’m hoping those who know what you are doing will be helpful to these people. If you are not participating this year, you are still welcome to come and play or watch and learn.

You will also sign up with a volunteer who has a kiln to fire your pieces. If you finish them on Tuesday, they can take them, but it is likely you won’t have all your charms completed by the end of the evening. It will be each persons’ responsibility to get your charms to the assigned person and to pick them up when fired. Then at the November meeting we can continue adding finishes, patinas, keumboo or embellishments to complete your charms. We will exchange them at the December meeting.

What to bring:

1. Money or check (cost for your subsidized clay will be about $15 and there are several extra 9g pkgs available at market price).

2. Small flat box labeled with your name, email and phone with tissue to hold your unfired charms

3. PMC working tools – note: be sure they are very clean if you have used them for polymer or other clay!

o Silicone work mat, clear hard plastic report cover or tile work surface

o Acrylic roller

o Old playing cards

o Cutters (cookie or Kemper cutters, straws,

o Carving and smoothing tools (dental tools, sculpting tools, etc)

o Texture plates, rubber stamps

o Craft knife

o Needle tool, needle files

o Tissue blade

o Spray bottle or mister

o Air tight container and plastic wrap to keep clay moist.

o Hand balm or olive oil

o Brass brush

o cup warmer or foam block to dry pieces on

2-part silicone molding compound is available for members’ use so if you have a custom shape you have carved or found, bring it, make a mold and use it for your charms.

New to this? Check out these links online:

Art Jewelry Mag Metal Clay Tool Kit pdf – great visual that shows all the tools you may need!

Art Jewelry Magazine’s how-to videos

Questions??? Email me!

2011 Charm Exchange Deadline

2011-09-24T13:33:00.000-07:00

OK. At last week’s meeting we have decided to begin our Charm Exchange Workshop at our October meeting (Tuesday, October 18). We will then have the November meeting to receive our fired pieces and apply patinas, keumboo or other finishes you desire so that we won’t need people to drive all over the city retrieving charms in early December.

Each person signed up for the exchange will need to make 20 charms (This number could still change.) One for each participant, and one extra for a bracelet which will be donated to a charity auction from us. If you have NOT yet sign up to participate, you have 48 hours to contact us to be added before we order clay on Monday, 9/26.

This moves the sign-up deadline up a week so we can order clay. Members have all been sent emails with these details.

For those who are new to our exchange: At the next two meetings, we will all bring our PMC tools, extra texture plates, stamps, cutters, etc. and make charms together. This is a great chance for those less experienced with PMC to work along-side members who know what they are doing. We share cutters, stamps, etc. and we encourage everyone to make 20 generous charms, not just cut out as many tiny pieces as possible. Once fired, charms may be embellished with other materials, beads, wire, etc. and brushed, polished or patinaed as desired. In December, each participant will receive one charm from each other person to use as desired.

Questions??? Call or email Lynette.

Our Zentangle Meeting

2011-09-24T10:09:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Kansas City PMC Guild member Susan Silvy for the Zentangle lesson at our September meeting. Susan is a certified Zentangle teacher and she proved that it is possible to bring a group of talkative, creative artist-types to a completely quiet, focused state in just a few minutes!

Some of us had already tried Zentangling on our own and both Janice and guest Kim brought samples of their work. For others, this was a completely new activity and we all jumped in. (Thanks also to Betty who - though absent - loaned us her vid-cam so we could project Susan's instruction onto the big-screen to help everyone see, and to Janice who brought the tripod.)

In a matter of minutes the room of about 15 went from a loud buzz to completely pin-drop quiet as we all focused into a right-brain creative calm.

It's amazing what simple, repetitive pen strokes can become. Here's a mosaic of all the pieces finished by the end of the evening.

Susan teaches a more complete Zentangle class. Check her page on Facebook - Kansas City Certified Zentangle Teacher, Susan Silvy for more information.

We want to see any resulting texture plates, jewelry or other items that members come up with using the Zentangle technique as a starting point. Check out our website for meeting information.

September Reminder

2011-09-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

Don't forget to RSVP if you plan to attend our Tuesday, September 20 meeting so we can be prepared for enough people. We have a video set-up planned so everyone should be able to watch Susan closely or on the big-screen. Details on the website or this post.

Annual Charm Exchange

2011-08-30T12:19:00.001-07:00

At the August meeting we discussed our2011 “charm exchange” and made some decisions:

a. Use PMC3 Silver Clay

b. Sign-up to participate (at the September meeting or by email to Lynette) so we know how many charms we each will need to make.

c. We will order 16gr pkgs for each person

d. Purchase of clay for members (who have paid their 2011 dues) will be subsidized by the guild so that we can all have enough clay to make nice charms.

e. Cost to each member will be about $10-12.

We hope to have everyone signed up by October 1 so we have plenty of time to order clay. If you sign up, you have made a commitment to make enough charms for each participating member. We will also need kiln owners willing to commit to firing everyone's charms.

We may use BOTH the October and November meetings for charm -making. This will give us time to collect our charms back and finish them before our December exchange party.

September KCPMC Guild meeting - ZENTANGLE

2011-08-30T11:48:00.000-07:00

Our September meeting will be led by Susan Silvy, who will get us started with Zentangle. She will have small "kits" with paper tiles, pen, pencil, etc. (Kits are $5 each for non-members.) Here's was Susan says about the evening:

To see some of my work in Zentangle go to my facebook business page (fan page), Zentangle Kansas City with Susan Silvy. Please "like" me, I'm in desperate need of "likes"! I will be posting information about classes there soon.

At the meeting we will be doing some simple tangles to understand the basic concepts of Zentangling. You will get a kit with a pencil, pen and some paper tiles. I will be bringing some extra supplies if anyone is interested in purchasing additional materials after the class.

Zentangling is fun, addictive and you can take your supplies with you and do it anywhere. Long plane flights just "fly" by. I originally became interested in Zentangle to increase my design capabilities in creating proprietary texture for metal clay by using them for tear-away's, photopolymer plates and carved polymer clay texture plates. I've actually used my Zentangles to create the overall jewelry design. It's an interesting technique which really opens up the right side of your brain!

Please remember to RSVP (to the meeting EVITE) because I have to be able to order and then receive the kits a couple of days before the meeting so I can put them together. I look forward to seeing everyone at the meeting!!!!!

Susan
Susan Breen Silvy, CZT
Metal Clay Master's Registry I

If you are not a KCPMC Guild member but are interested in attending the meeting please contact Lynette Fisk to RSVP.

Susan will also be teaching a 2-hour Zentangle class on Saturday, September 24 from 1-3pm at her North Kansas City classroom located at 5800 NW Prairie View Rd, Kansas City.

August KCPMC Guild Meeting - Keumboo!

2011-08-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

Gesundheit! Oops....no wait. Keumboo is a metalworking technique, not a body explosion.

Tuesday, August 16, 2011 - Keumboo How To is the topic of Kansas City's PMC Guild meeting. Member Jen Finley will demo and teach you how to apply precious bits of real gold leaf to fired PMC.

You may watch the demo or actively participate with your own work. To play along, you will need to bring

A fired, but unhandled, untumbled, unburnished, unpatina-ed, unmessed with piece of silver metal clay. A fairly flat piece will be the easiest to work on for a first piece. Pieces with low relief will turn out the nicest. (Copper and bronze won't work.)
A tiny pair of scissors like embroidery scissors (optional if you want to cut out a specific shape).
Tiny decorative paper punches. I will bring some that everybody can use.
An agate burnisher if you have one. I will bring extras.
That's it unless we want to have people who are afraid to torch fire bring a small already dried piece that we can torch at the meeting. The keum boo process is fast and easy, so people can bring as many pieces as they want to do. I'll bring a hot plate, burnishers, punches, and gloves.
Money (Jen has a $75 piece of gold leaf (about 3" square) which she's willing to share - cost will depend on how many people will divide the piece)

Info about the KC PMC Guild and directions to our meetings is on our website at http://www.kcpmcguild.org.

To view some sample from member artist Gale Schlagel click here to go to her website.

The Metal Clay Today website here has an intevriew with Gale and several more photos of her pieces using keumboo. As you can see from these sample pictures found with a Google search for keumboo, the gold application can be random or very specific.

There is a great online demo from Jewelry Artist Magazine that shows keumboo used with making hollow lentil beads...

What a Trip!

2011-07-26T11:36:00.000-07:00

A highlight of our recent KCPMC Guild July meeting was a report from a lucky trio who recently spent a week in New Orleans (great city) studying fabrication techniques with Thomas Mann (great Mann) at his new French Quarter studio.

Do NOT let these sweet faces fool you - if their report was anything close to their experience, NOLA is recovering from another hurricane!

Mazzie, Carol and Liz brought samples of the pieces they made, using a wide variety of fabrication techniques to create personal pieces like this "sandwich" pendant using an old photo of Mazzie's father as a child.

We hope they will share some of their newly acquired expertise at future meetings. We already know their stand-up routine is wonderful!

Metal Clay is HOT in KC this summer!

2011-07-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

At least, Kansas City is hot! Verrey HOT. So join the KCPMC Guild to cool off with a demonstration by member Margaret Braet on her Cold Cast Pate-de-Verre glass clay.

Margaret is pioneering work in glass clay - similar to metal clays in that it involves use of finely ground particles in a binding medium that burns out when fired. Pate de verre is a technique used by the ancient Egyptians and French artists of a century ago. (Note: images shown are old French glass.....)

Margaret's product and techniques are different from the old methods....we'll find out all about them at the July KC PMC Guild meeting on July 19th.

She uses texture molds, the freezer and more modern equipment to update this ancient technique.

If you Google Pate de Verre you'l find that it's not a technique for the casual artist....but Verrey Glass Clay brings glass into the realm of clay, which may sound familiar to PMC users. Join us for an interesting evening.

The meeting starts at 7pm, but join us for no-host dinner ahead of time at 5 p.m. at Fan's Tea and Dumplings - just across the parking lot from Harder Driving School at 10362 Mastin in Overland Park, KS

Susan Breen Silvy

2011-05-31T18:51:00.000-07:00

Have you checked the most recent issue (July 2011) of Art Jewelry? (Received mine in today's mail.) The Artist's Profile article in this issue is about Susan Breen Silvy - member of the Kansas City Chapter of the PMC Guild.
A Conversation with Susan Breen Silvy

A multimedia artist celebrates the challenge of taking an underdog medium into new territory.

It's a terrific article and show great photos of some of her art - both glass, faux bone and metal clays. Susan joined our guild chapter this past year and is sponsoring a class by Barbara Becker Simon in August (registration is full).

If you don't subscribe to Art Jewelry, check it out at local bead shops. She's one of us!

Way to go, Gale!

2011-05-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

KCPMC Guild member Gale Schlagel recently donated one of her large PMC lentils with gold keumboo and crystal necklaces to a local charity auction - and it ended up on tv last week. Worn by NBC Action News anchor Elizabth Alex, Gale's piece caught my attention right away.

Here's the link to the story and video for a better view. Stamp Out Hunger drive brings 223,000 pounds of food to metro non-profit organizations

Gale has a website if you want to see more of her work. She has been featured or interviewed on Metal Clay Today and on REview.

Now, if only the news anchor had been wearing a sign that said "jewelry created by local artist member of KCPMC Guild"!!

May 17 Meeting

2011-05-13T12:15:00.000-07:00

Jen Finley will be demonstrating using PMC oil paste on porcelain and Art Clay overlay past on glass to add dimensional silver to porcelain or glass.

Meeting begins at 7 pm at Harder Driving School.
If you have done anything for the Kansas City Fountains Challenge, bring it to this meeting!
To work along at the meeting here is the list of tools to bring:

PMC3/Art Clay paste

paper type and/or syringe type metal clay (optional for decoration)
CZs or fireable stones (optional for decoration)
paint brush
water container
sanding supplies
work surface
pipe cleaners/chenille stems

Supplies for glass or porcelain:

Art Clay Overlay Paste
glass cab, china shards, etc.
paint brush
water container
work surface
pointy tool to scratch off metal clay for sgraffito, like a sewing needle

Jen will have some bisque bead blanks and dichroic glass cabs available for purchase.

April - Guest Speaker Jean Noren

2011-04-20T11:13:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jean Noren of Blue Springs who spent her evening with us. She shared her various methods of incorporating PMC Silver onto her porcelain pottery - from silver embellished porcelain figures (such as dragonflies) added after firing, to pieces with PMC paste or clay painted or embedded onto pieces that have been through two firings (bisque and glazed stages).

She brought samples - which we forgot to photograph! But included pit-fired and horse hair fired pieces. Her colors were muted and lovely, her pots graceful and sturdy. Wish we could show you.

Thanks again, Jean.

Plasma Cutter Fun!

2011-03-22T09:57:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Robin MacIntosh and LeAnne Doljac for their riveting demonstrations of plasma cutting and connecting metals.

Robin brought the plasma cutter - her's is a small one, but was still the size of a shop compressor - plus a small shop table, heavy duty clamps, leather aprons and gauntlets, protective eye-wear and a bag of tins to cut. Everyone got a chance to try out cutting thin tin (the type used to package cookies or popcorn ).

The cutting produces sparks but was really pretty easy to cut various rough shapes. Fine control of the cutter obviously takes practice! as seen by these rough shapes.

LeAnne uses a much larger plasma cutter and cuts heavier metal salvaged from old cars! From this, she creates pieces with amazing detail, requiring a practiced hand to control cutting small details.
She brought some dog portraits - made from layering cut metal with pop rivets.

Her dog portraits looked so amazingly real it was hard to believe they were once car hoods.

You can view more of LeAnne's work here. She demonstrated using riveting tools and pop-rivets as well as eyelets and other types of cold connections.

Robin uses smaller pieces of cut tin for making jewelry and wall art. This angel's wings were cut with the plasma cutter...

What fun we had! Thanks again to LeAnne and Robin.

Don't Forget the Meeting Tuesday March 15th

2011-03-11T07:48:00.000-08:00

If you want to use the plasma cutter wear natural fibers as much as possible, the sparks from the torch will leave holes in manmade fibers. Shoes and socks to protect your feet. LeAnne will also be rehashing gorilla cold connecting inside. Let's hope it is dry and warm Tueday!

March 2011 - Plasma Cutters!

2011-03-07T12:23:00.000-08:00

Get ready for some fun - at the March meeting Robin and LeAnne are bringing the plasma cutter! What's that??? Actually, so far I've not seen one, but plasma is a physics term referring to a physical state of mater. (solid, liquid, gas or plasma). Somehow, in a plasma cutter an inert gas is turned into plasma, and can be used to quickly and cleanly cut metal. and we're going to do it.

We'll also have some riveting tools available to try - from a demo done a couple years ago by Robin - you can cut pieces and rivet them together.

Bring something to cut (old cookie or cracker tins, metal kitchenware, etc.) and shape ideas (ovals, teardrops, circles, flowers, etc). The plasma cutter must be used outside, so we will have a cutting station outside and a riveting station inside.

Be sure to wear cotton - long pants, close-toed shoes, and no flying scarves etc. Safety first!

KCPMC Guild Dues

2011-02-10T11:35:00.000-08:00

At the January meeting if the KC PMC Chapter of the PMC Guild, we decided to make a change in our chapter dues. Previously, we asked members for $10/year - the very BEST deal in town!! However keeping track of who paid/when they paid and reminding a different bunch each month of their renewal date was cumbersome.

So, we have altered our dues thusly:
Annual dues are $24 (basically $2/month) (Still a great deal and comparable with other art guilds.)
Everyone's dues are renewable and payable in January.
New members joining mid-year will pay a pro-rated amount, renewing at full rate the next January

Here's why:

Keeping track of who paid and when will be easier. We want to be able to provide materials for our hands-on meetings and PMC is expensive! So we'll have more of a budget to use during the year for things like:

Small courtesy honorarium to engage non-member outside speakers*
Supplies for meetings
Budget to purchase PMC and supplies -we have PMC3 on hand for purchase at market price.
Reimbursements for supplies needed for our hands-on meeting topics
Chapter expenses (we don't have many)

*NOTE: We do not "pay" guild members for presenting or demonstrating at meetings. This is voluntary.

We are looking into dues payment online with a Paypal account. Online payment will likely have a $1 processing fee attached.

February 2011 KC PMC Guild Meeting

2011-02-08T16:15:00.000-08:00

Our schedule says "Making PMC End Caps" to be led by Deb Weld. But her travel plans have changed (blame the weather for this, too.....she's staying in Palm Dessert until KC warms up!!) So...we will rearrange and adjust!

Elements of Design - Form, Color, Composition in Art
Color. Balance. Contrast. Texture. Shape. How do you think about these all these things and stay creative?

How to start a new design..... Do you start with a sketch? or plan your design? or just wing it?
How do you think about form - do you start with a shape? with a stone or cab? with the purpose of the piece - is it a toggle or hinge? Carol Harder (with a MFA in metalsmithing and over 30 years of high school art class teaching experience) will get us started using good design techniques.

Come to the February meeting and get some basic design help, learn to use design elements to boost your creativity, not to overwhelm it.

Do you keep a design journal or sketchbook to write down and remember your ideas? Please bring it to the meeting!! Is it decorated with PMC or beads or a hand-made clasp? something to think about!

Things to bring:
Pencil, Pen, Colored markers, etc
Paper or sketchbook (moleskin, sketchpad, or blank book - whatever you like)
Your current idea/sketch book

Challenges for 2011

2011-01-28T13:03:00.001-08:00

Challenges - we have 2!

Butterfly Pin Challenge - due in March 2011

Carol Harder has challenged members to use an enameled butterfly pin (her gift to each member as a thank - you for making her charm bracelet ,) She has a variety of butterflies to select from. The challenge: use the butterfly pin in a piece of jewelry or something.....She attached one to a beaded flower ring, above. If you missed the meeting you can stop by Harder Performance to get a butterfly or pick one up at the February meeting (Feb. 15, 2011)

KC Fountains Challenge - due in May 2011 Be inspired by one of the many Kansas City fountains to create something! Must include some PMC or other metal clay.

Making Custom Headpins and more

2011-01-20T09:52:00.000-08:00

The KC PMC Guild Chapter's January meeting was filled with new ideas and Jule's headpin demo.

What's new? Verrey Glass© Fusing (Cold Cast Pate-de-Verre)

Margaret Braet (long-time member of our guild chapter and local Kansas City artist) has been developing her own product - called Verrey Glass© - and she's now teaching classes and selling her product. The next local class is at the end of January 2011 - at Heartland Bead Marketing in Lenexa.

What's new about this? Traditonal pate-de-verre is a class casting technique layering glass (frit in a suspension medium) in a plaster mold for firing. (photo of a fabulous beaded collar by member, Betty Chaison, with a cast glass serpent in the center which she brought to show at the meeting.)

This requires working blind and backwards if using colors and leaves a plaster film which must be removed. Margaret's technique permit reusing molds (even like silicone texture stamps) and much more control of color placement. Go, Margaret! She's promised to demo this for us later this year.

Headpin Demo

Using 20ga fine silver wire and a variety of small shapes (flowers, disks and balls) Jule's created various headpins, suitable making so-simple earrings or using with beads or any way you might use a headpin. She also demonstrated how to ball the ends of the wire with a torch and to ball up scraps of wire or bits of PMC scrap. This also works with Sterling silver, but the balls turn black and need to be pickled.

Tip 1: to make uniform balls of silver (for setting onto a PMC piece or soldering to a fabricated piece)

wind the wire around a mandrel as for making jump rings, choosing the mandrel size to control the amount of wire per piece
cut the coil as for jump rings, the resulting rings will have a equal length of wire
using a small torch on a charcoal block, ball (heat with torch until it melts) up the pieces

View a Cool Tools video on Youtube.com here.

Tip 2: hold the wire straight into the flame - a tilted wire results in an off center ball or one that melts and drops off.
Tip 3: torches vary! The hotter the torch, the faster the wire melts, so know your equipment.

BE SAFE: Always work over a flame-protected area, wear eye protection and cotton clothing...

Follow Us!

2011-01-14T14:36:00.000-08:00

Want to be reminded about

KC PMC Guild Events
Blog posts
Information re local metal clay classes

Want to connect with or find others in the Kansas City metropolitan area that share your interest in precious metal clays (and related activities)?

Here's how:
Check out our website at www.kcpmcguild.org - where we post

regular (mostly) updates about meeting topics, locations, what to bring to demos, etc.
driving directions to our meeting location
pics of cools stuff people bring to meetings
links to local classes and PMC teachers
links to national PMC info
links to members' websites (IF they have given us the information...)

Read our semi-regular blog posts at www.kcpmcguild.blogspot.com . You can also click to
FOLLOW the blog (to receive an email notice when we post something new) or
SUBSCRIBE to posts (does the same thing, basically)
This eliminates the need to go check the blog unless there is new information there. We promise not to be pesky - we usually add posts before and after our monthly meetings, not every day.

On Facebook, look for PMC Guild International and like it. They post news and info about what's happening in the PMC world, such as this recent link to a cool PMC firing chart.

You can also help - if you are a shop selling PMC or jewelry supplies and /or offer classes in PMC (or other metal clays) we'd like to add you to our reference list. Please contact us. Note: you will need to edit the email address from "at" to "@" for the email to send.

We are NOT using our old Yahoo Groups to communicate and will be removing that link from our site.

January 18, 2011 Meeting Demo Info

2011-01-14T12:56:00.000-08:00

Jules Van Hoecke will demo how to make silver balls for decorating your PMC pieces and how to do the same with scrap PMC (fired). AND, we'll make decorative head pins with silver wire and clay. Sounds like an interesting evening!

Bring your own wire (20 ga FINE silver), clay and tools. Torch optional. Wire and PMC will be available to purchase at the meeting. We hope to use the on-site kiln to fire finished headpins.

Tools and Supplies needed to make your own decorative head pins

    * torch ( + firing equipment i.e. charcoal block, protective surface, etc)
    * 20 ga fine silver wire (we have some if you want to buy)
    * clay
    * wire cutters
    * tools needed to work with clay
    * scraps silver (fired pmc) or silver wire ( for making decorative balls)

If you have ever accidentally melted your silver with a torch, you know how frustrating that can be. However, you can also learn to intentionally melt silver into perfect little balls of metal - it's nearly as fun as hammering or kneading bread - a little destructive aggression can be channeled into something useful!

Jules will bring tools but bring your own set up if you really want to make some headpins during the meeting. We'll try to fire up Carol's kiln and fire what we make.

Note: Fine silver wire must be used for making headpins with PMC heads. Sterling wire may be used to make simple balled wire headpins. 20 or 22 ga is best.

Meeting starts at 7 pm.
Don't forget our first CHALLENGE - due in May 2011.

KC PMC Guild 2010 Charm Exchange

2010-12-28T19:27:00.000-08:00

This was our third annual charm exchange, where members spend the November meeting making charms to exchange with one another in December. We have done both silver and copper clay, this year returning to use PMC3 silver clay. Although more signed up, at our December meeting we had 12 people with finished charms.

This is the collection of charms I received - not everyone made their charms identical, so some of us likely have a different collection. It's always interesting to see how people decide to use their variety of charms, so in the coming months we will share finished jewelry photos.

Artists' names included when known. We'll try to identify and add names.

The tab-style charm with musical not design was by Cheryl Coleman.

Some of her charms were stamped with a sun-face motif.

Jules Van Hoecke (sweet heart imprint with darkened detail)

Lynette Fisk (used 2-part silicone molding putty to create a mold from an old spoon handle, then added LOS patina.)

Darkly patina-ed flower from

This one looks a bit like an ancient coin.

(square charm with added chrystal)

Great patina on this 4-pointed star by Linda Maloney. She used stamps on both sides, cut the charm freehand and heavily oxydized it.

Dainty textured star

Leafy cutout from a textured round charm by Liz Willis. Liz enameled most of her charms but this is one of several on which she experimented using different hole punches.

Floral imprint, perhaps from an old button?

Jen Finley (Man in the moon charm with crystals)

Carol Harder (leaf charm to which she added a variety of colored glass beads)

Thanks, Carol Harder

2010-12-27T20:54:00.000-08:00

At our December meeting and Christmas party, the members of the Kansas City Chapter of the PMC Guild surprised our host Carol with a thank you gift - we pulled off the surprise! Members were all invited to make a charm (or two) in their favorite medium (PMC or other) to add to a bracelet for Carol Harder.

Since our first meeting several years ago, Carol has generously hosted our meetings in her driving school's classroom space. She makes us coffee, offers treats, bottled water and we use her paper supplies. She frequently is a presenter, sharing her many years of teaching experience and jewelry-making skills as well as her supplies. We have done pewter casting, glass enameling on copper, and many other things thanks to her sharing of supplies and equipment. Carol has an MFA in metalsmithing and taught high school art in the KC area for over 30 years.

She has also battled cancer more than once, including now, and yet never complains and always attends our meetings or makes sure we have access to the room if she is ill or out of town.

So....here is the nearly finished bracelet....

Some of the charms are PMC and others are beaded, fabricated, woven, felted, wired, found or sculpted.

Janice Lemasters created three charms, using wire, beads and found objects.

Leanne Doljac created a sparkler from PMC and a rhinestone bead ball.

This amazing charm was made by Betty Chaisson by painting a leaf with PMC paste and adding a pearl.

Robin MacIntosh created a large (1 1/8" long) PMC charm with a bead.

Jules Van Hoecke created a sculptural layered flower with a topaz colored CZ fired in the center.

Jen Finley's creation features PMC paste fired onto a large round lava rock bead.

Joyce Reed knows Carol's love of color, and combined beads with a silver headpin to create this charm.

Carol Hale used her fabricating skills to create this tree or arrowhead shape from sheet silver and added gold and silver beadwork.

Pat Kuehn used a variety of techniques to make charms from a felted bead and wire, press glass beads and a doll's eye with a seed beaded bezel.

Liz Willis (also a beader) created a beaded bead, weaving a hollow bead from tiny seed beads and using it to create her charm.

Lynette Fisk's charm is faux antique coral bead, created from polymer clay, sterling and brass wire and acrylic paint.

Linda Maloney created a PMC coin which she embellished with dice and heart charms.

Mindy McLaughlin made a charm using pearls, turquoise and Bali silver on wire.

Cheryl Coleman's charm has symbolism, representing her nickname (Pooh bear), her company (Angel Stamps) on a yin yang bead.

Janie Clark's adorable bird charm was lost in my Christmas card pile! It will soon be added to Carol's bracelet.

We were pleased with the results...

Our guild chapter has nearly 50 names on our roster, though not all are currently active. However, if other members want to add to Carol's bracelet, they still may. She's a jeweler, after all - she can add them herself!

We did print a 4x6 photo of each charm to be signed by the artist and presented to Carol so she can remember each of us by our charm.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-21T12:48:00.001-08:00

Tonight is our annual members charm exchange - watch for pictures later this week of the great items we expect to see tonight. Guests are welcome - we'll start at 7:00 p.m. Bring a snack to share.

Directions on our website at www.kcpmcguild.org

November Charm Workshop

2010-11-11T08:47:00.000-08:00

Time for our annual Charm Workshop! Get ready for our Charm Exchange in December by attending our Charm-making Workshop, Tuesday, November 16. Address and directions on our website.

Bring your PMC, tools, textures, etc. We'll all work on making charms (and making arrangements for firing if you do not have a kiln.) Make as many charms as you can or want to trade in December. You'll end up with a wide variety of charms to use any way you want.

If you ordered PMC clay through Jules last month, you should have received her email about your order and how much you owe. Please remember your checkbook or cash to reimburse her for this purchase. If you did NOT order clay, please bring your own.

October Swap and Shop

2010-10-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

The October 19 meeting of the KC PMC Chapter of the PMC Guild will be a
SWAP & SHOP Night.

It is also the deadline for ordering PMC3 clay for our November Charm Workshop.Click here to print out the order form.

Cheryl will be our Swap Organizer with a system of colored stickers to indicate relative value of items. You may want to swap 3 red items for 1 blue, etc.

Bring items to swap for other good stuff! Here's a sample list of items

Extra art supplies

metal clay (unopened, please)
inks, dyes, markers
chemicals - in original containers, marked and sealed
kiln supplies (blanks, mits, shelves, cones, tongs, etc.)

Duplicates of books, magazines, craft supplies
Tools
Carrying cases
Storage items
Containers of all shapes and sizes
Rubber stamps
Findings, beads, wire, etc

You may also

bring and use cash
bring finished items to swap or sell
just come and shop

We will also have a brief demo and report on mini-firebrick copper clay firing boxes. These are easy to carve from soft firebrick - Hadar Jacobsen has recommended them for more consistent sintering of copper and bronze clay firing.

Don't forget to bring your Show and Tell - we love to see what you are doing.

August Meeting Followup

2010-09-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

Janie showed us how to coat a leaf (geranium leaf shown) with PMC3 paste. Many layers are applied, dried thoroughly between each layer. When fired, the leaf burns away leaving a perfect silver leaf.

Be sure to apply the clay to the back side of the leaf only.

Carol and Lynette showed a few variations on using wire to make a ring.

Some show and tell items - not all are PMC, obviously!!

September 21, 2010 Meeting

2010-09-10T08:04:00.000-07:00

Next meeting is Tuesday, September 21. Jennifer and Jules will give us a report on the many demos and new techniques they learned at the PMC Conference last summer. Check the website for map links and directions.

Show and Tell: Bring your recent creations to share with us!

Jules will demo using Water Resist - to create textures on PMC. I'm not sure what that means, but sounds very interesting. This will be a "watch and learn" only demo due to the drying time needed between steps.

We will be taking orders for the Silver Paper Clay for our charm-making workshop in November and planning for the October Swap and Shop!

Silver Paper Clay: At the August meeting we decided to change our November charms from BRONZE clay to Paper clay mostly because we do not have enough members who are willing to fire bronze or copper pieces for everyone. The firing process is complex and dirty (for the kiln) so most are reluctant to do it.
Note: There may be a breakthrough coming - but for now we don't have many options.

Swap and Shop: Here's a chance to unload some of those extra items you may have in your studio (duplicate books, extra findings or materials or beads or???, tools, or things you no longer use). Cheryl is setting up a color-coded value system so have an idea what your things are worth - for trading purposes. This is NOT a "dump your junk" event but a chance to swap usable things. Remember, we have a lot of new members who may need basic items. You may also want to bring finished jewelry or things you sell, but mostly this will be a barter night.

August Meeting Plans

2010-08-13T15:15:00.000-07:00

The August 2010 KC PMC Guild meeting will feature a DEMO plus a Hands-on Make and Take project.

Janie will demo what she's learned in her certification classes about using PMC paste on real leaves to create super-realistic looking leaves (or pods or flowers....you get the idea). She'll be showing us samples and detailing the steps, but the process to too slow to have us all join in.

And since watching PMC paste dry isn't the way our lively group likes to roll we're going to add a hands-on project - making a ring with wire. Carol and Lynette will guide you and we call all make at least one ring to take home. See the tools list below.

We also plan to discuss our annual fall Charm Making and Christmas Exchange and start to get ideas from you about what you'd like to learn in 2011. This means taking some time for discussion. Bring your ideas!

Tool list:

Ring mandrel or dowel rod or ring forms (to shape wire)
Rawhide Mallet or Nylon Mallet
Hammers
Chain nose pliers
Round nose pliers
Wire Cutter
File or emery board

Materials:

Wire (we'll have some copper, BYO if you want to use Sterling or other wire)
Beads (large holed, flat like coins or buttons, or other interesting items)
Headpins and crystals or smaller beads (if you want to have dangles)

To receive our monthly meeting notices by email (we use EVITE to send out details) please send me an email at "bylynette @ gmail.com" . See information on our website or meeting info here.

July Meeting Projects and Demos

2010-07-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, July 20 - 7:00 p.m.

Carving Textures - Janie Clark and Jen Finley

How to make your own texture plates and designs for using with your PMC and Art Clay silver and copper and bronze. Learn to use carving tools on eraser or soft carving medium to create your own custom texture plates. Photo-polymer plates are another way to make complex plates. PPP plates and supplies available online.

Prep PPP your art:

1. Original line drawing or copyright free design, copied onto transparency film at Kinko's. Staples, Office Max, etc. Make sure to have your copies made on the very dark setting. The lines need to be really black so you can't see any light through them. Plan to use a 2 X 2" image for your plate.

You can also draw directly onto transparency film with a black opaque marker or paint pen, or use black stick on decals on transparency film. If you do this with letter stickers, they will be backwards. Auto striping tape works well, too.

If you are advanced and want to try to use a non-line art image, make sure that it is done in half tones. No guarantees on how well this will work.

If you use any writing or other images that are directional, they need to be made as a mirror image.

We will have some extra line art in case you don't bring your own, and some 2X2" PPPs plates available for purchase for around $3 each.

2. A UV light like is used on artificial nails if you have one. We'll have one or two at the meeting.
3. A medium stiff fingernail brush. Dollar Tree has these for $1
4. A cheap plastic bowl or tub to scrub your plate in.

Carving Blocks

Speedball Speedy-cut carving block, or similar- available at Hobby Lobby and other craft stores or at Whole Lotta Whimsey
(or) erasers, soap, wax blocks
linoleum carving tools
tracing paper
soft lead pencil

More Faux Bone

2010-06-21T11:50:00.000-07:00

Photos coming in from folks who finished their faux bone project after last week's meeting.

From Chari Peak - a doll body. (His head is paper clay, body (with bird) is faux bone.)

From Cheryl Colman, a sample of faux bone stamped with ink and rubber stamp. She heat-set with a heat gun and the color stays just fine.

From Linda Maloney - a button ring, held together with a long mini nut and bolt.

A few of the demo samples:

KC PMC Guild Explore Faux Bone

2010-06-16T15:32:00.000-07:00

The June meeting was a hive of activity, with participants buzzing with idea as we explored Faux Bone, the carvable medium developed by Robert Dancik. Armed with files, hammers, and other tools each person received a 5/8 x 4" piece of 1/16th inch faux bone. There were also some various sizes of round scrap blocks (thankyou, Judy) to experiment on.

Some people designed, some carved and drilled, gouged and colored with ink and shoe polish.

Some people got their first hands-experience with using a jeweler's saw - remember, don't hold it too tightly, gently move the blade vertically, up and down, and SMILE. It helps you relax.

And don't forget to use your bench pin!

Carol Hale had been working ahead and brought several finished pieces using faux bone and copper, brass, rivets and beads. Her flower pendant is mounted on a textured copper backing. The stem is "sewn" on using fine brass wire and the back is protected with fine suede.

Her collar neckpiece uses brass, beads, jump rings, and rivets. She scribed words and designs, which were stained before riveting them to the piece.

This bird necklace uses copper, rivets and beads.

My favorite piece was a bracelet, each link of faux bone different. The small, pewter figure lashed to the center bead was from one of her very first casting projects.

Great job experimenting, Carol!! Lynette made a mess, as usual, but we all had fun.

If you were there, send me photos of your finished rings and we will add them here.

Don't miss our next demos. Check our website meeting schedule for upcoming demo topics.

Upcoming KC PMC Guild Meeting topics

2010-06-16T12:27:00.000-07:00

Summer at KC PMC Guild is fun! We had a blast last night, sanding, carving and experimenting with Robert Dancik's Faux Bone. Photos to be posted soon!

Coming up:

July: Make your own texture plates for use with PMC

Janie and Jennifer will help you make plates 2 ways:

carving in eraser rubber (using carving tools)
using photo polymer plates (uses UV light and light-sensitive materials)

August
Janie will share what she's learning in Chicago about using paste PMC painted onto leaves or organic matter

September
Leanne and Robin will bring a plasma cutter! You'll have a chance to use the cutter to make shapes and rivet them together using a variety of riveting tools and techinques. Here's what they have told us about the evening:

For plasma cutting you need to wear long pants (preferably nothing polyester), closed toed shoes and socks. If you have long hair, it needs to be pulled back...LeAnne and Robin will bring leather gauntlets, protective aprons and eye gear. We need to do it outside, close to a three prong electrical outlet...I have an extension cord. It will take a while for everyone to try it. Riveting can be done inside. Bring an old tin (decorative tin boxes or tin cans) to cut up. Also bring riveting hammer, bench block, etc. for riveting.

Faux Bone - June 2010 Meeting Demo

2010-05-24T15:09:00.000-07:00

Get ready for a hands-on night of learning about Faux Bone, developed by artist Robert Dancik. We'll be learning to saw, drill, file, shape and manipulate this new product. Demo will be led by Lynette Fisk, who has been experimenting already. Those who attended our April or May meetings may have seen these samples.

Learn more about her experiments on her blog. Those who ordered in advance will have plenty to play with. We ordered extra, so if you missed the order, we WILL HAVE pieces available for you to purchase to make a ring at the meeting. There will be some extra scrap pieces to experiment with. Rivets and long tiny nuts and bolts will also be on hand.

Tools to bring: jeweler's saw, files, rotary drill, scribe, riveting hammer, bench block or hammering surface,
Materials: metal or glass beads, washers, coins, spacers, charms, wire (various gauges).

Additional things you could use: curling iron, toaster oven (we will bring), linoleum block carving tools, alcohol inks, shoe polish, UV resin (we will bring UV light), metal scraps or tubing, found objects

Sample shown here illustrates some of the techniques you will experiment with in June.

More Faux Bone images at Judith Freyer Thompson's site and on Flickr's Faux Bone group.

April Meeting - Viking Knit

2010-05-21T12:52:00.000-07:00

In case you missed the Viking Knit demo in April, here are some pics from the meeting and some finished jewelry people shared in May. Thanks to Pat Kuehn for teaching us this technique!

Cheryl works on straightening her knitted wire.

Pat assists Kana in getting started.

Betty works on her wire knitting.

Pulling the finished knitted wire through a wood drawplate - Thank you Pat for making drawplates for everyone.

Some finished jewelry...this is Carol Hale's bracelet, using fabulous glass end caps she found at a Bead Blast vendor.

Finished necklaces from Janice LeMasters.

Did you finish yours? We would love to see it.

Results of Tumble Polishers Comparison

2010-05-21T12:31:00.000-07:00

For those who missed our May meeting and tumble polishing demo, here is a quick overview. Betty Chaisson brought her Magnetic tumble polisher. At $500, it's a great option for those wanting to polish a lot of small items quickly. It looks like a mini food processor and work by whirling very tiny stainless steel pins in a solution of tumbling medium. Check out various other magnetic tumblers and mediums at Otto Frei.

Betty warned us not to mix metals when polishing silver. Tumbling work hardens fired PMC items as well as polishes....the longer you process, the shinier the piece gets.

Jennifer Finley brought 2 Rotary Tumblers - one a Lortone and one an economy model from Harbour Freight. Janie also brought her HF model - which had disappointed her by leaving a dark patina on a silver piece. (The Lortone small jewelry model retails for about $85 while the Harbor Freight model is under $40.) This type of tumbler also uses stainless steel shot, which will cost about $30/lb and is not carried by Harbor Freight.

Some rotary tumbler barrels are constructed from black rubber, and should be cleaned by running without jewelry....be sure to check the instructions! Even the magnetic tumbler info says to clean the tumbling medium/shot before using with jewelry.

TIP: Clean the shot by tumbling in flat Coca Cola.
TIP: Shot must be cleaned and dried after use, and stored dry to prevent rust!

Look before you buy! and know what use you will be making of your tumbler. Read How to Choose a Tumbler, Tumbling instructions, and know what you need before you purchase.

May 2010 Meeting - Tumble Polishers!

2010-05-12T16:15:00.000-07:00

Member Betty Chaisson will help us learn about tumblers. She's bringing her magnetic tumbler, which operates differently than the rotary tumblers. (Janie is bringing one of those to compare.) View some types at Otto Frei online.

If you have SILVER pieces you want polished, bring them to the meeting. Betty will explain about the need for keeping separate tumbling mediums for various metals.

If you have a tumbler and want to add to the discussion, feel free to bring it. OR if you have had problems with using your tumbler, bring your questions and results.

We also invite everyone to bring your recent project for our Show & Tell.

I Would Like To Know What Everyone Thinks About this

2010-04-12T11:41:00.000-07:00

http://www.katemckinnon.com/ Please go to Kate's blog and read the April 12, 2010 post and the responses. I would like to know how you feel about what she has to say. I have thought for some time that there was a sort of cult/pyramid like attitude surrounding PMC. I think PMC is a spectacular product and have not understood why it is not more popular.

Learn Viking Knit in April

2010-03-26T13:54:00.000-07:00

In April 2010 we'll have a Viking Knit Class given by Pat Kuehn. Viking knit looks complex but is not complicated - according to Pat! Once you've "knit" the wire around a mandrel, you pull it through a draw plate to gradually reduce the chain, work hardening in the process. Great for making bracelets or necklaces from which to hang your PMC pendants.

You've likely seen Viking knit in projects many places. Now you'll know how to do it!

Materials list:

24 gauge wire A spool of copper wire, purchased at any craft store, is perfect. Any artistic wire will do-any color(other gauges of wire can be used-24, 26 or 28 are easiest for beginners)

chainnose pliers
roundnose pliers
nylon-jaw pliers (if you have them - don't buy just for this)
flush cutters or something to cut your wire
end caps (we can also just use your wire to create a wrapped end cap)
clasp for closure

Work Surface Tip

2010-03-26T13:31:00.000-07:00

You know those great little 4" x 4" non-stick work surface sheets that are recommended for holding metal clay pieces as they dry?

They are expensive - 4 of them for $4.50 at Metal Clay Supply. That works out to 74 square inches at $.07 per square inch.

Whole Lotta Whimsy has 2 6" x 6" pieces for $4.60 (That's 72 square inches, at $.064 per square inch.)

Compare that to this bargain - a 23" x 16.25" sheet (which you can cut into whatever sizes you need) for $9.99! That's almost 374 square inches - at less than $.03/ square inch.

I found mine at Bed, Bath & Beyond, but they are also available online at Target, Amazon.com, Sears and probably at many other kitchen supply stores. They are all oven friendly, but not for use inside kilns.

More Charm Exchange Jewelry

2010-03-21T14:27:00.000-07:00

Here's another great necklace, made by Cheryl Colman, from the charms she collected at our December 2009 copper charm exchange.

Cheryl used some copper chains from the local hobby store to display her large collection of charms dramatically. (Note: not everyone got this many charms - the more you made to trade, the more you took home.) Great job, Cheryl.

Making Focal Toggles

2010-03-21T10:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Jules for her demo about large toggles that can be a focal point of your jewelry. A great meeting - lots of people attended and there was a generally happy hum throughout the room all evening.

Jules (Julie Van Hoecke) demonstrated while some watched and others worked along. She shared lots of great information about pre-finishing, tools she likes and tips. She kindly created a page of website references where she finds her various tools and supplies. View it here.

My favorite tip was how much pre-polishing is possible - check out the shine on these pieces which have not yet been fired.

Jules demonstrated her home-made lavendar oil paste, sanding and pre-finishing, using various syringe techniques and inserting "up eyes" into toggle pieces. Up Eyes can be purchased pre-made or fabrication using fine silver wire.

Pat Kuehn - proud owner of a new jump ring cutting tool - showed off a wonderful copper and crystal necklace made with jump rings.

Cheryl Colman wore her finished charm necklace, using several copper chains and the copper charms from our Christmas copper clay charm exchange.

Lynette wore a pendant made with copper wire and resin.

Other things shared at this meeting included a set of great dichroic cabs made by Jennifer, resin cabs made by Betty, felt food made by Lynette and a needle felted silk scarf (by who??).

March 2010 Meeting Demo

2010-03-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

KC PMC Guild member Julie Van Hoecke will be doing our March 2010 meeting demo on Tuesday, March 16. (Check our website for meeting details.) Julie makes a LOT of PMC silver jewelry which she sells at shows in the area and that night she will be demonstrating how she makes one of her signature pieces - a large, embellished toggle clasp meant to be worn in the front, not the back, of your neck. She incorporates her clasps into the design of the necklace, making the clasp the focal point of her pieces.

This sample shows some of her embellishments - she uses CZs and glass cabochons in bezels, lots of textures and other interest to make her toggles way more than a device to provide closure. Don't miss this demo - it should be great.

If you would like to play along, be sure to bring your clay working tools, surface mat, textures and a cab or two.You will need a couple sterling silver "up eye" or 20 gauge sterling silver wire to make one. Up eyes are a ring with a post which is inserted into the clay and fired, providing a sturdy connecting ring to attach items to a fired PMC piece. Julie will have some of the silver up-eyes people can buy for $2.00 each. They are available at Fire mountain # H20-4211FY at Fire Mountain.com.

Guests are welcome - you can visit our meetings twice before we ask you to join and pay our membership dues.

Jewelry Created from 2009 Charm Exchange Charms

2010-02-21T15:36:00.000-08:00

Creative uses of copper charms were on display at the February meeting where several people wore jewelry created from their copper charms. Shown here is how Carol Hale used her charms. She was disappointed that some of the charms she received were not completely sintered, and subsequently broke. But she made this wonderful necklace using her charms with turquoise and copper beads.

We will show more of these creations as photos are received.

February 16, 2010 - KC PMC Guild meeting

2010-02-01T07:33:00.000-08:00

Tuesday, February 16, is the next meeting. This month's topic will be Soldering - What's the Difference?
Led by Janie Clark and Lynette Fisk, they will demonstrate the tools and techniques for two common types of soldering used in jewelry making. The goal: how to attach earring posts to fired PMC earring pieces.

Janie will demo the soldering iron - used in "tinning" copper around glass. This process uses flux, copper foil tape, solder and a soldering iron. But can it attach silver to silver? We don't think so, but we'll see...

Lynette will show other types of solder and flux used on silver (PMC or wire or sheet), using a torch. We know this works to attach items together, but requires more equipment, safety setup, and additional processes, like pickling and cleanup.

If you have a small torch (the creme brulee, butane type) feel free to bring it along, especially if you have never tried it out.

For more info about our location and directions, go to our website at www.kcpmcguild.org.

Kansas City PMC Guild Chapter - 2010

2010-01-15T12:23:00.000-08:00

The first meeting of the KCPCG will be Tuesday, January 19 at Harder Performance Driving School,
10362 Mastin. Overland Park, KS 66214. Meeting time is 7 p.m. to about 9:30, although sometimes we have so much fun, we stay later. Doors open at 6:30.

Our demo topic will be Using a Light Box to Photograph Your Art. We will demo both a professional quality portable light box and a simple, home-made cardboard one. Bring your camera to practice changing its settings to help you get better photos. Bring something to photograph, too! We'll use the images to update our website, which is http://www.kcpmcguild.org. (More about that at the meeting.)

The program committee will be meeting at 5 p.m. at Jose Pepper's (103th & Mastin) to work on the 2010 demo schedule. If you would like to join us there for (no-host) dinner, you can sit at the table next to us while we work!

Charmed, I'm Sure

2009-12-19T20:57:00.000-08:00

Okay - I just couldn't wait. So instead of baking cookies or making those gifts for my Mom and my brother-in-law that are still unfinished, I spent yesterday making myself a charming necklace from my KCPMC Guild Copper Christmas Exchange Charms. It's a little over the top, but just hanging them onto a copper chain wasn't working for me. So, I added a few things: part of a watchband, a couple stone beads, a copper stamped filigree, a few blue glass beads, a cream-colored fossil from a friend and some Harbor Freight copper washers. I pounded the heck out of some 14 gauge wire and the washers, then annealed them with my torch before drilling a couple holes and some hammered texture. (That torch sure adds great color to copper!) Before using 20gauge copper wire to work wrapped loops, I darkened it in LOS to remove the shine a bit. Finished length is about 36" so it can be worn doubled or long.

I can't wait to see what everyone else does with their charms.

December Copper Charm Exchange 2009

2009-12-16T15:00:00.000-08:00

What fun! What a variety! Last night 15 intrepid KCPMC Guild members came to our December meeting to share copper clay stories, nibble a snack buffet and swap charms. We felt bad for those who couldn't be there to share with us, but that didn't stop us from a great charm swap.

Here's a glimpse at the loot I brought home - can't wait to make something from all these great charms. Since not everyone made the same number of charms, some people got multiples of some and none of some, but we all got a great stash. (Be thinking about how to do this swap next year - our drawing numbers format got rather complicated toward the end and we are open to a better way to make charm selecting easy and equitable.

As you can see, some people polished, some did not. Some used patina, some tumble-polished, and one person made PMC Silver charms instead (Thanks, Carol!)

To see more pictures and most of the charms up close, go to my online web album or click on the rotating image cloud at top right.

It was very interesting to compare notes about firing the copper clay. Robin didn't know how black the stainless steel box would become and panicked that she had ruined her kiln. (She didn't - it's normal.) Some reports of cintering problems were shared as well as various resources and information about firing schedules. Clearly, there are a lot of variables with this process. Jennifer has had consistent good results with the procedures outline by Hadar Jacobson in her books and website. Check out her information about firing - click on How to Talk to your Kiln on this page.

Hopefully, we'll publish more photos here showing how we use our charms. KCPMC Guild members - please join me and comment, post or send me a pic of your finished project.

November Charm-making Meeting/Workshop

2009-11-18T13:13:00.000-08:00

Wow! Last Tuesday night was a blast! 16 members and a guest gathered to work on making charms from copper clay. Charter member Debra Weld was on hand and shared some basic information on working with and firing copper clay. (She's an expert, after all!)

Most of the evening was spent intently focusing on making charms, which will be fired by several volunteer kiln owners before the December meeting when we will exchange charms with one another.

Carol and Betty got their heads together in one corner. They came prepared with previously created silicone molds. Janice and others brought plastic shape molds and stamps to use for textures.

Tools ranging from brushes and sculpting tools to mini-cutters and fingers all were useful. Everyone was working so intently even the normal conversation was minimal as we all got "charming."

Our brave, lone male attendee Jeff really knows what he's doing and jumped right in making his sculpted charms, while Carol pressed clay into a mold.

Carol preps a mold with a bit of Badger Balm for easy release.

Kana uses a rubber texture plate for impressing her design.

Char getting ready to roll out her clay.

We found out how the copper clay is messy, and requires a good clean up. Don't forget to soap and water wash your tools, work surfaces, textures, etc. before using them again with PMC or ArtClay Silver. Debra explained how copper clay contamination will cause black spots (similar to fire scale) in the silver that cannot be removed. Best to avoid it!

Making PMC Rings in July

2009-07-08T10:09:00.000-07:00

At our July 2009 meeting, member Betty Chaisson will show us how to make RING from PMC3. (That's the clay that shrinks the LEAST when firing.)

If you plan to participate and make a ring at the meeting, you will need to bring your clay-working tools and have at least 12-15 grams of clay in order to have enough to do more than make a small plain band. You will also need access to a pot of PMC paste.

Betty will be making a bulk order for clay. Members, if you want to order with us, we need to hear from you by Thursday, July 9.

Testing, 1, 2, 3

2008-06-28T15:36:00.000-07:00

KC PMC Guild is trying out a blog, to help us share info and updates about our group. Blogger allows multiple contributors and if you are a KCPMC Guild member you could be one of our topic contributors. Currently, anyone may comment on a posting.

This blog is an experiment to see if we use it - but we'll keep the topics to guild-related subjects, tutorials, PMC, and other artists topics. Subscribe to the RSS feed to receive posts and comments.