Plasma Cutter Fun!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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)

1. wind the wire around a mandrel as for making jump rings, choosing the mandrel size to control the amount of wire per piece
2. cut the coil as for jump rings, the resulting rings will have a equal length of wire
3. 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...