Featured in another Etsy Treasury

Hi, KnotChaCha was kind enough to feature one of my pieces, Pretty in Purple, in an Etsy Treasury collection today. To view it, click here. Note, it's only available until 01/20 3:45pm.

Precious Metal Clay Over Porcelain

Hi. I recently had a fun collaborative project proposed to me from a fellow Etsy member, marlasmud. She is a porcelain bisque artist who offered to send me some samples in exchange for some photos of the finished work that she could use for advertising to PMC artists on her website.

PMC-ers like myself can lay pure fine silver paste, clay and syringe clay over bisque forms and fire in a kiln to make pieces that have the look of chunky silver, withouth the weight and cost of it. (See the instructions in my previous post for making beads with this method.) I still have a few more pieces to complete when the inspiration hits me, but this is what I have done so far. Most of these will be posted in my Bead & Findings Store soon.

Featured in more Etsy Treasuries this week...Thanks!

Hello, Just learned that some of my work has been featured in a few Etsy treasuries again. A treasury is a collection of like items that are pulled together by an Etsy member and featured as a group. Sometimes they get selected for the front page of Etsy, which is great publicity and a nice honor. I keep my fingers crossed that I will be lucky enough to be on page one some day.

Thanks for selecing me PoliticalPooches. My pendant is the one on the lime green polkadot background below. See the full shot here http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=11046

And here is another one by Floralia. Mine is the crow in goggles... 2nd treasury it has been in this week. Thanks Floralia! See the full shot here http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=11517

Always a nice surprise to be picked by someone! =o) Thanks again.

Precious Metal Clay and Polymer - A new line is born

Today I released the first few pieces of the new "Rustic Roots" collection which combines fine silver metal clay bezels and hand carved faux bone & ivory polymer clay centers. They are nice an neutral and can be dressed up or down. A little bit whimsical. A little bit folksy. A little bit different than I have seen out there. I had fun creating them and will be doing more soon.

New Stuff - Fine Silver Beads and Jewelry Added to the Store!

What a blessing! I've had a few large wholesale orders lately, but they pretty much depleated my shops!

It's taking me a while to get some stock built back up. I have recently added a few new things... check 'em out! There's a sneak peak in the left column of this blog, or visit the stores.

Fine Silver Jewelry http://www.treebysea.etsy.com/

Fine Silver Beads and Findings http://www.treebysea3.etsy.com/

Thanks for looking!

New Tree By Sea 3 Fine Silver Beads and Findings Store is now OPEN!

To go along with the Fine Silver (.999 % pure) metal clay pendants and earrings I have been making for a while now, I decided to start making some of my own pure silver findings and beads to complement them. I seemed silly to make something out of pure silver and then use sterling silver findings & beads with it.

My guess was that other PMC/Metal Clay artist were thinking the same thing. Turns out there is actually a bit of a market by fellow metal clay artists for the pure silver findings for use with their own creations.

There are also many people who are alergic to the copper and alloys used in Sterling silver that find fine silver is more hypoallergenic who are interested in things like the pure silver earwires. As an added bonus, it's said that pure silver tarnishes slower than sterling. That's cool!

So, I decided to go ahead and market the findings. I'm just getting started but have sold several findings to a local bead store and a few findings and beads on line too.

I will be adding a lot more soon and updating my website to feature the beads and findings, so if this is something you are interested in, please check out the store today and come back again later to see even more of a selection. Thanks!

http://www.treebysea3.etsy.com/

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An "Oops" Turned Around - Rescuing Precious Metal Clay from Boo Boos at Any Stage

Funny story... the brown stone you see here is actually blue tanzanite. I made this pure silver pendant with a blue stone and the words "blue moon" stamped at the bottom. However, the stone is more heat sensitive than I realized...when I fired it in the kiln, it turned brown. Luckily it is a gorgeous brown stone with red & gold fire (the picture does not do it justice), but it was obviously out of place with the words "blue moon", so I thought hard about how I could salvage this pendant that I really liked and came up with the idea to cover "blue moon" with "eclipse' because the moon looks brown during an eclipse, right? So the pendant ended up being something completely different than I planned, and the "oops" turned into something that is kinda cool and different I think.

So far there is nothing that I have done with metal clay that has not been salvagable no matter how hard I try to screw it up!

Before the clay is fired...

• In the wet stage, you can always ball it up and start over or augment with more clay.
• If the clay starts to get dry before you are done forming, spritz with water.
• In the dry greenware state it can be turned right back into clay by spritzing generously with water and sealing in plastic or an airtight container for a day or so.
• If at any time you make it too wet, expose to the air until it is the right consistancy.
• If you break a piece in the leatherhard or greenware state, you can use the metal clay paste to glue things back together.
• You can refine edges and smooth flaws with a wet paintbrush or with sand paper. (If you sand the greenware, be sure to salvage the 'dust' from you sanding and add it to your paste jar. The moisture will turn the dust into more paste or slip so there is no waste.)
• If cracks form while drying, you can 'spackle' them with silver paste.

After the clay is fired...

• You can repair breaks using silver OIL paste and re-fire (Kiln only), then sand and polish until the seam is not visible.
• You can add another element made from metal clay and use paste to adhere it to the original piece then refire.
• You can enamel, paint, or collage over mistakes (as I did in the eclipse pendant) to turn the item into a mixed media piece.
• You can file off small mistakes using metal files and different grits of sand paper or if you have metalsmithing tools, you can saw off boo boos or drill, etc.
• If all else fails, the item is .999 silver and can be melted and poured into a mold or can be sold to a precious metal buyer for the going rate for pure silver.

I just love a hobby with built in safety net!!

Love, Peace & Squiggles! and a Dove Rescue!

Today a kind fellow Etsy member selected my "Love, Peace and Squiggles" Pendant to be featured in a "treasury". I was honored to have my piece selected, but I admit I did not know what a treasury was in this context. I checked the Etsy Help and learned it is a member curated collection of other Etsy artists items that they publish as a small, temporary gallery for any reason they choose. Occasionally, the Etsy team selects a treasury to be featured on the front page which is a nice opportunity.

The treasury is called

"For Frankie" by "crookedlittlestudio" and is a collection of dove related art.

CLS writes "Frankie is an unlikely name for a dove, but after he survived the first night (he had fallen out of his nest and had been abandoned), I named him after St. Francis, patron saint of animals. He ate, flourished, and learned to fly. Yesterday he flew away. I miss him."

Sounds like behind the "crooked little studio" a tender hearted soul who is probably much loved by Frankie the dove. Check out her wonderful artwork at the studio link above.

TreeBySea.com - It's Alive!!

Just a quick note. Yea! It's a done deal... I know have a .com as well as my etsy store representing the silver jewelry that I have been making using art clay and my beloved kiln. Please pop in when you get a chance - www.treebysea.com. It's a pretty short and sweet site with just one page, but that's all I need for now I think.

Check back soon for more crafty how to blogs.

Silver For Sale in My New Jewelry Store... Opening Soon (I hope)

Happy Weekend! Too bad it's almost over. Well at least I finally had some time to start taking some photos of my work for my online jewelry store that I will be opening soon. I will be selling my pure fine silver metal clay jewelry, charms & beads as well as beaded & glass jewelry under the name "Tree by Sea" (I think) on Etsy.com.

In the interim, if you see something here you are interested in, please contact me direct for pricing & purchase information. Lisa@kamerakat.com THANKS!!

I will send announcements when the store is officially up and running!

Here's my store header:





Here's a few sample shots. Hope they look OK.

I think I'm gonna dig this metal clay stuff...

I have made beaded jewelry & mixed media jewelry for years, but what I really wanted to make is what I really like to wear - Silver Jewelry. I have looked into metalsmithing classes and working with Sterling silver, but it all seemed to overwhelming and time consuming, and I already am running low on time most days. So, I thought silver was out of the question.

Then a few years ago I started hearing about this stuff called "Precious Metal Clay" or "PMC". I heard you formed it just like clay & then fired it in a kiln and it turned in to 99.9% pure silver. Say what?! No metalsmithing classes required? No scary jewelers saws and bench-vises needed? No smelting & pouring of molten hot liquids? Yahoo!!

The I started checking in to it and it seemed like such a big investment to try a hobby I didn't know that I would be good at... $700 kiln, $300 for a 1-day class at my local bead store or college, $80 tumbler, $200 in misc tools, shapers & files, and then the ongoing expense of the clay in it's various forms... It's not that cheap - It is silver, ya know? And, on top of that, I heard the jewelry was really soft & semi-fragile and the clay shrunk un-predictably when firing so rings were not recommended, which is of course, what I wanted to make the most.

Another couple of years past before I took a second look at this media. There was now more choices. There was another manufacturer "Art Clay", and there was "Low-Fire clay" that cintered (became solid silver) at a temperture & speed that allowed it to be fired easily by a $40 torch vs. $800 kiln. On top of that, the shrinkage was lower and predictable. The resulting fired metal was stronger. And there was "Slow-Dry clay" that allowed more working time to make things that are more time consuming such as rings. YAHOO for real this time!

So I bought a book called "The Art of Metal Clay" by Sherri Haab. The next thing I knew, I had ordered a starter kit. And I made my first pieces. OK, not perfect, but it was silver, it was made by me, and I was hooked.

Fast forward to now... I now have invested in that $700 Paragon kiln and the aforementioned tools & tumbler because working with these items expands what I am able to do with the media & is frankly faster & easiler on the carpal-tunnel so I can make more pieces.

Little by little I am learning how to read the material and keep the moisture of the clay just right & how to work it in the fragile 'greenware' stage. I have learned what stones & types of glass can be fired in the kiln with the clay. And I am learning how to antique with Liver of Sulfer patina and bring the silver to a shine with polishing.

I really am beggining to love this media with only a few negatives...

• There is a learning curve if you want to make quality, detailed pieces.
• It is a bit costly and as the cost of silver rises, it will only get worse.
• It is not metalsmithing, but it helps to learn some basic metalsmithing techniques.
• It is takes quite a bit of time to make a highly detailed & polished piece.
• It a bit dusty and dirty. You should wear a high-quality dust mask and goggles and work in a well ventalated area.
• It's addicting
  

So far I have only made pieces for myself and family to learn this new skill, but am now working on some pendants that will be for sale through my Etsy store soon. Please keep an eye out! Thanks!

So that is my story regarding silver clay. If you would like to give it a try, all of the supplies listed above in BOLD and more are available from the links and "I recommend" shopping widget on the sidebar of this blog.