Class Fun

Last week I took a 2 day course on working with Copper Clay, specifically Metal Adventures Copper Clay.  What a fun 2 days! 

We were a class of 8, led by Wanaree Tanner, an amazing young woman from the US.  Wanaree is a metal clay master and not only produces some of the most stunning and fascinating jewellery and works of art.  You can find out all about Wanaree here!

Amazing product lines!  Tiny bits of metal are mixed with a special organic binder, formed into different shapes and items, textured, and then fired…heated to the point where the organic binder is burned off and the molecules of the metal bits are aligned together. 

When everything works out the final product is beautiful.  Metal Clay comes from several manufacturers and many types of metals.  I’ve been working with metal clay silver, copper and bronze.  The items made in this class are the best by far.

Here’s the bail I made for a kinetic pendant.  The gemstone captured in it is Bronzite.  Wanaree created the instructions for this bail, and I chose and made the overall shape and pattern applied to it.  The bail is made in a way that allows the gemstone to spin inside it.

The second item is a lovely bracelet.  We learned how to make all the components and how to put them together.  Unfortunately we ran out of time in class so I still have to put mine together.  First I need to do some polishing on the individual parts to remove a little bit of scale (something copper develops when it is fired) before I put it together.  A picture for this one will come soon.