Hello! It's been the most beautiful fall day. The temperature was cool and breezy and the sun was shining. The trees here in Kansas City are the prettiest they've been in years!
I went to a friends house to work on a commissioned piece of jewelry and her home smelled like the great outdoors. She was burning a "Sage Stick". My goodness, it smelled like spices, roasting marshmallows, bonfires, and cedar. Yum! Somebody break out the cider!
My friend Dana and I had lots of work to do so we didn't get to play outside or really enjoy it much but just the view through the windows of her kitchen was enough to fuel the soul.
Dana is a PMC - Precious Metal Clay - Instructor and Artisan. If you aren't familiar with it...it's organic clay impregnated with Fine Silver. You shape it, mold it, sculpt it into whatever design you can come up with
and after a short drying process you fire it in a kiln at very high temperatures.
The piece I needed to make was small and had a very rustic feel so I didn't have to spend a lot of time on the design - just a small rectangle stamped with a clean rubber stamp. The rubber stamp presses the design into the clay scupture. Mine happened to be the Hebrew
word "Sing".
It's an amazing process. When the PMC sculpture is fired in the kiln, all of the organic material burns away and the piece becomes a 99.9% Fine Silver piece of jewelry. It appears to be a snowy white at first but that soon disappears when you start brushing away the outer layer. Suddenly you discover this gorgeous piece of .glossy silver. There are all kinds of options you can utilize to accomplish any number of finishes. I just needed mine to look like a rustic little sign. That was easy!
Now I need to cook up a pot of Liver of Sulpher to blacken the letter depressions in my sign. This will make the letters of the Hebrew word really stand out.
Once I'd pretty much prepared my piece for antiquing in LOS I noticed there were lines and whorls on the sign. As it turns out, it was my signature....my fingerprints. I guess that takes care of any question about the identity of the artist huh?
It was just a great day. Fun, beautiful weather, learning a craft from an expert who happens to be a great friend and teacher. I realize just how lucky I am to have access to those things that make me happy and how very fortunate I am to be able to pursue my art.
It was a blessed day. Thanks Dana.
Note: I posted several pieces of jewelry here today. Most of them are available in my store: www.adriennedesigns.etsy.com. If you don't see them give me a call and I'll be happy to assist you in locating the piece.
Thanks for taking the time to read this little blog.
1 comment:
Veery thoughtful blog
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