Precious Metal Clay ~ Making a chain

PMC Pendant

 
I made the chain by hammering sterling silver, drilling holes at each end and attaching the jump rings.  The chain links are textured and oxidized.  The pendant was fired with a handheld torch for 7 minutes.  The pendant is thick and heavy giving the necklace a nice weight.  Heavy enough to not slide off center and light enough to wear everyday.  

Flower on Opposite Side

I've been doing some research about jewelry photography and read a tip from a jewelry show judge that you should never include the clasp in your photo.  Not sure I agree.  Maybe this is best for publication.  As a customer, I want to see what I am buying and as a seller, I'd like all the details to be up front for a customer.  

My goal is to enter my PMC jewelry into some competitions and book projects.   My next pieces will be layered and three dimensional. 

These photos are a bit darker than I'd like.  I had time in the morning to take photos and did not want to run around the house to find the right spot of sun.  My natural light photography should improve soon.  This weekend I'm headed to a photography class in Washington, D.C.   I expect to learn many things that will help with my business. I'll post more detail about my class on Wednesday.  

Flower PMC Pendant
Two holes for jump rings

This necklace is a teaser, because I am keeping it for myself.  Sorry!  I will make another someday.  In the meantime I'm ready to make some noise and hammer my silver.  Everybody is at school and work so I'm free to experiment. 

My steel block and yard sale hammer.
1 inch sterling silver  read for shaping

Simple and Pretty ~ Silver ~

Butterfly and poetry.
Precious Metal Clay.
Garnet.

Long charm holder.
Precious Metal Clay.
Textures.

Oxidized sterling silver.
Purple Czech crystals. 

One of the funnest parts about creating jewelry is the actual crafting including pounding silver with multiple hammers on a steel block, melting silver until it balls up and firing silver clay to a bright orange glow with a hand held torch.  All therapeutic. Once I was making a collection of hammered silver necklaces and my neighbor walked by and heard all the pounding.  Later she told me she thought I was getting my kitchen remodeled (I wish!)  My kids often yell, "mom, you are too loud!"

The jewelry in these three photos are the products of what I love to do with silver.  With manipulation it transforms into something pretty to wear.  Sometimes I have a plan, but often I create as I pound, bend, and melt. 

This summer I purchased a real jewelers tool (real, as in real necessary) called a flexshaft after I nearly took off a finger with a handheld rotary tool.  Have I used it yet?  No. Waiting for a day to myself to bring out the big guns.  The kids will be in school soon enough.  The flexshaft is powered by a foot pedal, like a swing machine, and looks a lot like the machine the ladies use when you get your nails done.  My flexshaft came with a how-to DVD and beginners kit of attachments. 

I found my rotary tool kit at Costco.  It was a helpful beginners tool. One year, I held it up to my husband and said this is all I want for Christmas.  He said, "really?"  I assume he could not believe his luck.  For years I handed him the little blue Tiffany catalog and said "all I want for Christmas (birthday, Valentines Day, anniversary and Mother's Day) can be found here, and I circled my favorites."

On my blog I will also explore jewelry photography.  Jewelry photography has been a challenge for me.  As you can see I played with a brick and marble round.  This weathered marble is my favorite.  I dug it out of the garden this week and washed it off.  I've been hauling it around for 10 years.  Antiquing one day near Middleburg, Virginia, my mother saw two marble rounds and said that I should buy them because they may be useful someday.   Thanks, mom!  Both the marble and brick give the photo a nice texture and keep the jewelry from washing out.  My photographs on white turns the jewelry dull or washed out and the black shows every single piece of lint. 

Funny story:  My kids got to meet their teachers today and see their classrooms.  I put on a simple skirt and my daughters exclaimed "mom, you have not dressed up since your twenties! Let me get you some high heels!"  No thanks, flip flops will do.  

I will post my favorite tools someday and keep posting about jewelry photography as I learn more.

Have a good one!

Wendy