November 2013 Meeting info

November meeting is November 19 beginning at 7pm. Carol Hale has been prepping all summer for her
demonstration of Faux Bone, so expect to see a variety of things she has made. She’s eager to share what she’s learned and show us stuff.  Since working with Faux Bone is a little messy (it’s basically a non-toxic PVC product which produces lots of loose white dust when cut and sanded) we won’t be working with it in Carol’s classroom.

HOWEVER, I have ordered a selection of pre-cut material – bracelet blanks, pendants, etc – for everyone to have. Each member attending will get a piece and we’ll sell any that’s left over. I will also bring some we have left from a couple years ago, which will need to be cut.

 

Bring a show-and-tell item to share –something you have recently MADE or ACQUIRED on your travels. We love to see cool stuff.

In December, our meeting is on Tuesday, Dec. 17. It will be our Christmas party, so plan to bring food to share –
we’ll start earlier and have dinner together at the classroom. Hopefully, Jules will bring her fabulous cookie platter, and we can all add to the potluck. Be working on a gift item to bring to the party – does not have to be made from Metal Clay, but DOES need to be a finished piece of something YOU have made, hopefully using your best medium. It should be gift wrapped. We will use the White Elephant Exchange method, drawing numbers, then selecting a gift, etc.

PMC Guild Trunk Show at Eclectics Gallery

Open house Saturday, September 21 from 10am - 6 pm. Exhibit runs now through October 3. Eclectics Gallery is open Monday - Saturday, 10-6 at 7015 Oak Street (at Gregory), Kansas City, Mo.

Jewelry includes earrings, necklaces (simple pendants to gemstones and more), bracelets and rings.

 Mixed metals include silver, bronze and copper from metal clay.

 KeumBoo domed pendant with gold by Saul Bell Award winner Susan Silvy.

 Sculpted porcelain flowers by Betty Chaisson.

 Bronze pendant.

Silver clay ring by Carol Harder.

Etched Bracelet - September 2013

We are switching our schedule around a bit - and Pat Kuehn is going to share her etching techniques with us.

(Pics are random samples from the web - not Pat's designs).

Tuesday, September 17, 2013 - 

5:00 pm Trunk Show Prep
Those 11 members who are exhibiting at the Saturday, Sept. 21 trunk show at Eclectics Gallery will meet to price, inventory and tag items for the exhibit. You are welcome to have a personal tag with name, website, artists' info, etc. but price tags must be removable. We'll use removable stickers and/or tiny hang tags. (in addition to your personal tags)

7:00 Make an Etched Copper Bracelet

Pat Kuehn will help us etch a copper bracelet blank. (Non-members or guests participating will be charged a $5 materials fee.) Pat is bringing everything we need - copper blanks, design transfers, etchant, etc.

Please bring:

• work surface (something to protect the table where you are working- silicone mat, newspaper or paper bag??)
• blue painters tape, 1" wide
• green scotch brite scrubby or fine steel wool

 We will be using Pat's pre-prepared designs. We'll discuss patina options, but will not have time for that step.

 The OCTOBER meeting will include two topics:

• Stenciling with Paste Techniques 

• Inlay Using Multiple Metal Clays

August Kansas City PMC guild - Cuttlebone Textures

The August meeting is Tuesday, August 20 at Harder Driving School - 7 p.m.

We will be playing with cuttlebones! (Birdlovers will have seen these in your parakeet cages...)
They have jewelry applications as well as being great sources of minerals for pets.

They also have great, organic textures and are soft enough to carve and use for metal casting.

 (Plaster of paris is probably easier to work with, however.)

There is a very good tutorial for carving cuttlebone for casting here, at Art Jewelry Magazine.

And, they can be used to polish things....as in a natural sandpaper of sorts.

We will be working with the texture aspect - making silicone molds for use with metal clays. Bracelet with cuttlebone texture.

SO, members, bring your tool kits - especially you will need . . .

• a work surface
• a roller
• oil for release if using metal clay
• clay (optional - we'll be providing silicone molding putty to make texture molds)
• small tiles to flatten and/or hold molds

Extra cuttlebones will be available for purchase - we bought a big box!

Not a member? Get onto our email list and receive our monthly meeting Evites by contacting Lynette Fisk. Send me an email with your name and email and I'll make sure you are added. * Remove the spaces in my email address before trying to send.

Note: non-members can come to 2 meetings without joining, but must pay for materials we provide for that night's demo. Membership dues help us provide materials for our hands-on activities.

June Meeting - Finish Covering our Bisque Beads

 Phase 2 - Coat our fired bisque beads with PMC silver paste. They will be fired again, giving us all silver beads! If you missed last month, don't hesitate to come this month.....we'll have extra beads for you.

What to bring:

• Metal Clay Tool Kit
• Various fingernail files for sanding bisque beads (check at Walmart or Target for nail sanding/polishing sticks)
• Toothpicks or something to hold beads (we will be providing some wire tongs)
• Something to hold the to hold the beads in place to dry
• rice or dry corn in jar/container. 
• styrofoam, etc.
• paintbrushes for slip 
• optional fired, glazed beads to add silver to...

We will be providing for members:

• PMC paste slip
• Piano wire spring tongs
• Mini dental tool applicators 

May Meeting - Making Ceramic Beads for Metal Clay

The next KCPMC guild meeting is Tuesday, May 21 beginning at 7 pm. We also have a pre-meeting no-host eating out at 5pm. Feel free to join us for  some social time before the meeting! (This month we'll eat at D'Bronx, at  D'Bronx (7070 W 105th off Metcalf).

This month we begin a two-step project -

 Making Ceramic Beads Covered with Silver  

 The possibilities are endless, and clay is much cheaper than PMC!!! So coating the outside of a ceramic or bisque bead makes for larger silver beads but less investment!

 You can also add surface embellishments, paper clay punches, or textures.

 I THINK this is silver clay around a glazed ceramic bead, but don't know for sure. Hopefully, we'll find out on Tuesday night!

 Silver-coated ceramic beads with designs.

 

Phase 1: (May meeting) At the meeting, we will be making beads by hand from dirt clay - to be fired before the next meeting.

Phase 2: (June meeting) At the meeting, we will cover our fired clay beads with PMC paste clay. After firing, these beads will look like silver, but have a clay core.

Members will be provided with both dirt clay in May and PMC silver paste in June. (Your dues at work!!!)

To the May meeting, you should bring:
Your PMC Tool Kit
Needles, oiled toothpicks, mandrels or other things to hold the formed clay beads.
Polymer clay, foam, bead rack or other things to hold your wet clay beads.

The clay MUST be completely dry, or it will explode in the kiln, so firing must take place later next week. We will have firing information or those of us with kilns will help with the firing.

Tools for Bead Making

Found some great ideas online to help with bead making and drying... Check out this blog by Sallie Bly.

Since I have over 50 handouts, I decided to share them with readers who would like to know more about how to work with clay. I have students who have come to my studio from as far away as Mexico and Maryland, and I also teach when I am traveling. However, not everyone can fly to the Dallas area or find the classes that they want locally.

A tutorial for making ceramic beads to cover with silver metal clay, by Sallie Bly.

Can you guess what these are for?

 Here's a hint...

 

And what about those straws??

They burn out! But are not strong enough to break the bead and you don't have to remove them.