Magical Metal Clay Jewellery by Sue Heaser

Paperback: 128 pages
Published: 2008
ISBN-10: 071532765
ISBN-13: 9780715327654

To buy a copy of this book, click here

The first part of the book contains useful information on equipment and materials, including the different types of metal clay. 

Chapter 1 - Basic techniques
Includes information on shaping soft clay, drying the clay, pre-finishing techniques, firing the clay, finishing techniques and adding findings.

I like the fact that the book discusses all the different drying and firing techniques and there are photographs for each method, but the instructions might be a bit too brief for an absolute beginner.

Chapter 2 - Basic Projects
There are eight projects in this section and although they are described as basic, I would not have attempted some of them when I was a beginner (maybe that's just me).  They are quite pretty projects and I would try at least three of them.

Chapter 3 - Moulding
There is a double page spread on mould-making and then three projects to make.  I think I would practise these techniques with polymer clay first as they use a lot of clay and you could end up making expensive mistakes.
 
Chapter 4 - Beads and Rings
This is my favourite chapter.  There are three bead projects and three ring projects.  The beads are particularly cute and I will definitely have a go at these.

Chapter 5 - Filigree and Embellishments
There are three filigree projects, two on embellishing with gold and two on embellishing with resin.  Some of these techniques look quite tricky.  I have had a go at filigree work with a syringe and I really enjoyed it.

Chapter 6 - Using a Kiln
It is a shame that there is no information about kilns at all in this section, which seems odd.  There is a project on making glass cabochons and a couple that use paper clay.


Each project in the book has a comprehensive list of equipment and materials needed and nice step-by-step instructions with photographs. 

In my experience, a beginner would be able to attempt some of the projects in this book, but others are definitely for someone who has either attended a few courses or who has practised the basic techniques.  However, the projects have not been graded, so you just have to pick the projects that you think you could manage and have a go.

I picked this book up because I liked the look of the majority of the projects (there are 27 altogether) and because of the step-by-step photographs.

I would say that this is a good overview book for those who are interested in metal clay.  It gives a taste of what can be done with the materials and there is a good range of techniques and projects.  However, I am not sure it goes into enough detail for an absolute beginner.  I would suggest doing a beginners metal clay course and then picking up this book.

 

Now selling on eBay

Wow, I've just realised that I've not posted for ages - I've been sooooooooo busy at school.  Anyway, I have put a few Sparkly Sparrow Designs items on eBay, so check out my eBay page to grab yourself a bargain!

Click here to go to my eBay page

Come and see our etchings!

Last week during my school's Arts Festival, the Biology department (where I work) and the Art department got together so that our pupils could do some etching from cells.  The results were superb.  Here's how they did it:

Firstly they selected a pre-prepared microscope slide and did some drawings:

Then, they scratched their design onto an etching plate.  This is a piece of steel covered in black stop-out varnish:

These where then immersed in nitric acid.  The acid 'eats away' the metal in the places where the varnish has been scratched off:

 Then we inked the plates (very messy) and used them to create prints:

 Here are some of the fabulous prints that our pupils created:

The pupils had a brilliant time and their inner artists were definitely brought out.  Using slides as a basis for the prints focussed their minds and allowed them to explore the world in microscopic detail.  Time off-timetable to do things like this is priceless.  It allows us to see our pupils in a different light and lets our minds wander, allowing our brains to recuperate during such a frenetic term.  Our stress levels definitely dropped and we all learnt something new.

I can't wait until Arts Festival part II in the summer term

Bead hoarder - moi?

I saw this and had to post it.  My boyfriend keeps telling me to stop buying beads and use up the one I already have, but he doesn't understand - it doesn't work like that.

I also had to post these:

 

 

Biology is Art

In October, my school is running a two day arts festival where we are all stop 'normal' lessons and get involved in arty stuff.  As you can imagine, this is right up my street, so, together with another biology teacher and an art teacher, we are planning to combine biology with art.

First off, the students are going to select microscope slides and make some drawing of cells.  They are then going to etch the cells onto metal plates.  This is something that I have been wanting to learn for ages and Lizzy (the art teacher) is brilliant at it.  Lastly, we are going to make pendants with metal clay and use the etchings to create a texture in the clay.

Sometime next week, we plan to have a go and see what they turn out like, so I will post some photos.  I love cross-curricular teaching and I love that my school allows us to be free to experiment.  It is nice for the kids to see us out of our boxes and for them to be out of their's too.

Craft fairs

I have been running my Etsy shop since March and not much has been happening.  The Etsy market seems to be saturated with people selling jewellery and it is difficult to get noticed.  I have over 250 likees on my Facebook page and they seem to like what I make but I'm still not getting many sales.

I am not sure that the photographs of my jewellery do it justice and so I am thinking about trying a few craft fairs so that people can see what my jewellery is really like.

I am going to visit a local craft fair next weekend to get an idea of stall size, cost and what else is on sale.

I am really interested to hear from people who have tried craft fairs and what degree of success they had.

Jewellery experimentation

I have just finished teaching my first metal clay lesson.  It was a one-to one lesson with my friend Fleur (so nothing too taxing) and she made a leaf with metal clay paste.  I think she made a lovely pendant:

 

We also did some Kumihimo bracelets, collage pendants and some shrink plastic earrings.  We have had a fab two days of jewellery experimentation.