Embracing the Failure...

I just realized this is my last post here at AJE for 2014!  Looking forward to a new year of designing, making, experimentation, and yes, failing!  It seems that 2014 has actually been full of those last 2 for me!  I jumped in and tried some new things...polymer clay, kiln enameling, metal clay are the stand outs in my mind.  I am excited to say, I had lots of success.  All those mediums have learning curves.

There were failures, though...remember these?

Ugh...I haven't tried kiln enameling since, but it is definitely on my list to play with again soon!

Sometimes, failures just happen.  They are a surprise and we have to go back and think of what we could have done to prevent it.  The above enameling debacle was really no surprise, it was just my novice approach after my torch-firing successes.

This one came as a total surprise to me.  I made 2, one came out perfectly, but this one had a big old crack. :(  What did I do differently with it?  Hindsight made me remember there was a tiny scratch as my file slipped while cleaning it up.  Had that weakened the piece?  Possibly.

Some of you remember this from my FB page...

I was so bummed!  I felt really stoked about carving the cross stamp and was so happy with it.  As it dried, something bumped it, or knocked it, and it just snapped.  I almost cried.  I set out to repair it, though and several layers of slip, drying & sanding later I was satisfied that I was going to succeed.

The back side of repaired piece...just one more bit of cleanup!

Fast forward to after firing.  I took it out of the kiln and inspected it.  It looked good, albeit a  bit curved.  No problem, after clean up, I will flatten with my rubber mallet and steel block.   Which I did!

Hmm, yeah.  Well, obviously, all that tender love and repair care had not worked.  I had smoothed the outside over cosmetically, but the fatal flaw was not fixed.  Lesson learned.

Not to be defeated, I am already trying to come up with a mixed-media design to incorporate the pieces...maybe riveted to copper with beaded wire around the break? Maybe a bezel with resin?

A little E-6000 will hold it together long enough for me to trace a backplate and decide what to do next!

So from me, Happy New Year.  I hope 2015 brings lots of joy, happiness and peace....and just enough failure to keep you striving to do better ;)!

Birds of a Feather...

Last fall, when I first started playing with polymer clay, I played around and created a few little birdies.  Just experiments, didn't even finish them.  I thought they were cute, but not really sure how I would pursue them.

My 1st attempt!

Fast forward to this week...I found some polymer clay on sale at Michael's and bought a bit and played a little and decided to revisit the birdies.  My 1st ones were a bit flat, although I love the addition of the flowers.  This time I tried to keep them a bit rounder, made the flowers a bit smaller and started out with a neutral base.

Here is sort of a flow chart collage of their evolution!

I wasn't sure where to go from there, but stumbled on a tutorial from an artist I admire, Staci Louise Smith, on a crackle glaze technique.  Note to self, make sure you have the correct materials before you start a process!  I had everything but the crackle glaze, but since I am impatient and want to do everything when I want to do it, used a different type than the tutorial stated that I found at Michael's...I will be ordering the kind Staci recommended. My version didn't actually crackle!

Here is where I am now...aside from the "no-crackle" finish, I am smitten by their shabby folk-art look.  I definitely see more polymer clay birds in my future!

Melissa Meman

Melismatic Art Jewelry

Art. Life. Love.

Saturday Share - Playing with Precious Metal Clay

If someone asked me to choose one new jewelry medium to learn, no matter what the expense, it would be a toss up, I think between lampworking and precious metal clay...both require extensive tools, kilns, materials.  Since I torch-fire enamel,  I happen to have some of the supplies needed for lampwork...torch, mandrels, glass rods, but no kiln.  I took a class ages ago and pick a glass rod up occasionally when I am sitting at my enameling station and make the odd bead here and there.  But since I have no kiln, it really isn't feasible for me to invest much time in that.

I figured precious metal clay would be out of the question as well, but, lo and behold I discovered PMC3, which can be cured with a torch...no kiln!

I wanted to try it, but it took some gumption!  This stuff is not cheap.  I finally dove in after getting a newsletter from a site that was offering a free texture sheet with any purchase.  I splurged on a 16g package..not the smallest, but definitely not a huge amount!

The meager contents - 16g

After receiving it and before playing, I watched a few You Tube videos to make sure I had the rules down...keep your clay well covered so that it doesn't dry out, make sure to keep all your tiny scraps. So, I got all my stuff together, made do with what I didn't have and held my breath!

I chose a small mold I had made for my polymer clay and made 2 small pieces.  Boy, this stuff is sticky...I know there is a special cream to keep it from sticking to your hands....if I keep at it, I will have to get some.  I used just a tad of olive oil like the videos suggested.  I went ahead and put small holes in the pieces, them left them to dry.

Here they are all dried out...now is the time to sand them or clean them up in any way.

Since these pieces were small, they didn't take very long to sinter at all.  The binder burns off really quickly, then you need to hold the piece at a glowing pink, but not glassy, for about 2 minutes.  After that, quench in cold water.  The pieces will be a matte, white color at this point, but after buffing/polishing with a brass brush, this is what you will get:

 Bright and Shiny!

After LOS...cool!

I thought they turned out great, so I decided to make some more!  Using some more molds I bought for polymer clay, and did small layered pieces.  

After drying and about to be torched!

All cleaned up and patina'ed!

After the patina, I put them in the tumbler for about an hour, which really softened the edges a bit and and enhanced the design.

These 4 pieces took about 2/3 of that chunk of clay shown earlier, so that amount is just enough for someone to decide it really isn't the medium for them, or really open new doors for a designer.  In my case, I was really happy with how these turned out and want to buy more clay so I can play some more, at least until something new catches my fancy!

Go play!

Melissa Meman

Melismatic Art Jewelry

Art. Life. Love.