Sunshine n Sky Pendant

If you have never added glass to your Art Clay Silver pieces then maybe I can inspire you to give it a go. The pendant above is reversible and the different colours on the glass give a great effect either way round.

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You do need to have a kiln for this as you have to start off from cold and allow the piece to cool slowly in the kiln afterwards or your glass will crack.

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For this pendant I have used a small round cabochon of dichroic glass. I fused my own but you can buy ready made cabochons of dichroic glass (just Google it and you will find lots of suppliers).

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I made a shape out of Art Clay silver using a texture plate for the design and rolled to 1.5mm (6 cards) thick. I used a round cutter slightly smaller than the cabochon to make a hole in the centre. While the clay was still wet I pushed the glass into the hole and allowed the piece to dry. I decorated the back, added the bail and finished the piece ready for firing.

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I fired from cold to 520cc and held for 10mins (this allows the glass get an even temperature) then up to 800c and held for 10mins then reduced the temperature to 520c and held for 1 hour to anneal the glass (which gives it strength) and then switched the kiln off and left it until it was back to room temperature. At 800c the glass and silver will fuse together and the glass will soften again and settle into the hole in the silver.

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Polish the piece up in your normal way and add a chain. Voila!!

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Note - annealed glass is very strong but never sell pieces for children to wear. Broken glass should always be discarded safely.