Summertime Madness!

 

I'm having a sale!!!

 

I've never had a sale before! Must be the combination of the heat and the thunderstorms ;-)

 

I am offering a whopping 20% OFF the items listed in my Etsy shop until 1st August. The mask above is included!!

 

Don't miss out :)

 

Have fun!

 

Joy

WCC 8/52 - Bronze Jalien Alpha

 

This weeks critter is another Jalien!! He is Bronze Jalien Alpha and is a Goldie Bronze pendant set with a 3mm lab ruby.

 

When I fired him and took him out of the kiln he came out with the most wonderful kiln patina, in the photo below. I did debate keeping this finish but when I put a sealer on it the colours dulled a bit, and also I worry that the high spots will wear smooth anyway and ruin the look. So he was duly polished and with a heat patina applied came out as above - and I really like him! )

 

Here is his poem - short but sweet!! lol

 

An alien face

From outer space
A Jalien race

 

Have fun!! :)

 

Joyx

 

Ooooh now I'm Online!

If you missed the article about my Carnevale Venezia Mask pendant in Making Jewellery Magazine you can now read it online! Just click this link to the Making Jewellery website :)

Finished At Last!!!

Maschera da Clown

Well you will be pleased to know I have finished enamelling the latest mask at last!!

Blimey that has taken me a while from start to finish. I much prefer projects where I can find the time and just keep at it until the end. It is a nice feeling to actually have it all completed. I finished it yesterday but had to wait until this morning to photograph it in some decent light.

Anyway here it is. I was after a clown look I had seen in my lovely book of Venetian Carnival Masks. I think I have captured that so am quite pleased with the outcome.

As it is the second in my series of carnival masks inspired by the Ventian Carnevale I am sticking with the Italian names so this is called "Maschera da Clown". The mask measures 42mm high by 32mm wide.

The Enamelling Mask Go On!!!!!

OK that was dreadful!

So this week I have a bit more free time and the good news is I have started on the mask again. If you don't know what I am talking about then you need to read some of my earlier blog posts about the latest mask I am making, but above is a picture of it before I started enamelling just to give you an idea (or remind you where we were as this has been a bit drawn out!!). Don't worry about all those reflections they will be gone by the end. It is all going well and I am off back to my workshop in a mo to carry on.

Last week I taught the most lovely person Level One in Art Clay Silver. Keay has lived in Ireland for the last few years but is soon off home to her native New Zealand to live. We had a great week and she did really well. Here is a photo of all the pieces she made. Well done Keay. Have a good journey home.

I am now teaching both Level One and Level Two as well as all my other workshop subjects (or anything else related to Art Clay you can think of possibly : )) on either a two to one or one to one basis from Hastings. If you are interested just email me to see what we can sort out. You can find more details on my website here - Art Clay Courses.

How Exciting (part two)!

So finally .......

it arrived in the post this morning......

the Art Clay Society USA Quarterly Journal.

My piece won the cover page competition for Summer Journal and here it is!!!!

How exciting is that.

I knew a month or so ago that it had won and couldn't wait to see the printed version.

I have had a good look at this issue of the journal and I think it should be renamed as

THE BRITS ARE COMING!!!!! ;-)

As well as my cover piece inside on the Gallery pages are 10 more pieces by UK artists including my friends Lynne Glazzard, Emma Baird, another by me (!) and Lesley Messam who also has her great tutorial on making a three dimensional pieces which was also in Making Jewellery magazine. Oh and the advert for the Art Clay UK conference is in there as well with my mask on , and then on the news page is a bit about me being made a Craftsman of the Guild of Enamellers and another bit about Lesley's project being published..... phew. The USA will definitely know we Brits are on Art Clay map!!!

Well done to all.

To be able to download the Quarterly Art Clay Society USA Journals just join the Art Clay World UK Guild and you will also get access to the members section of the USA site. Great value for money!

Update

Gosh... sorry I just realised I haven't posted anything for several days now. Very remiss of me.


I have been busy with various things. The mask is not yet finished but I expect to get to that next week so keep checking back.


This week I am teaching. I have only had small amounts of time in my workshop and have been working on my enamelling workshop I am teaching at the Art Clay conference in October. I'll post some photos of examples when I get a few more pieces done. All very exciting though. If you are coming to the conference I do hope you are going to join me.

How exciting (part one)!

This is exciting - my carnival mask is being used to advertise the Art Clay Conference which is being held in Jersey this October. Here is the advert in the latest edition of Making Jewellery magazine.

If you want to know more about the conference you can find it on the Art Clay World UK Guild website. Do try to come to conference. It is such fun. It does not matter if you are a beginner or have been using Art Clay for years. Everyone is made very welcome and you will learn loads, and I am teaching the enamelling workshop!

Why is this part one? Watch this space......

Super Shiny

So.... the mask is now polished up and all bright and shiny. Bear with me on this one. I know the reflections make it look a bit iffy! Next comes the enamelling and then patination.

While I was making the mask I had several other things on the go including using up some of my excess of Art Clay Silver paste to make a bead. By using thick paste and heat drying it you get sort of a reticulated effect in the silver which I think has a sort of a lunar landscape look to it. I added a few dots and a couple of stars around the holes just to finish it off. It is quite heavy and tactile and I rather like it. I am think of teaming it up with a few lampworked beads to make a nice necklace.

Freshly Fired

Mask after firing - you can see the shrinkage compared with the last photo (no the penny didn't get bigger, the mask got smaller ;) )

You know there is something really nice about the look of a piece of Art Clay Silver when it comes out the kiln after firing. It has a lovely soft white frosty finish to it where the surface of the silver has a raised crystalline structure. I thought I would post a photo of it like this before I polish it. If you do not work with silver clay you probably may not have seen pieces like this before. It is possible to leave the surface like this but in time anywhere it rubs will start to smooth and go silver so I never do. Anyway this is destined for enamelling so it is off for polishing to a nice shiny finish next. Watch this space.......