Inspiration - Textures

I am always on the hunt for textures! Any of you metal clay artists out there will totally get this obsession I seem to have! While there are a lot of lovely texture mats readily available to buy, if you want to create something more unique and unseen then making your own textures is the only way to go.

I seem to have lost my way a bit on this recently and have reverted to using a lot of the purchased texture mats. I always try to make them look different though - maybe by using a section of the texture that doesn't make it instantly recognisable, or by changing the look by adding enamels.

I have just finished this test bead made from bronze clay. I used a commercial mat, but have inlaid it with silver (that was the test part!). I'm really pleased with the results. And the bead has something different about it even though I've seen the texture used a lot elsewhere.

Part of my pledge to myself is to make much more use of my own designs in the future. I will still use the commercial mats, but I tend to use the more subtle ones for backgrounds or the reverse of pieces and I'll probably still carry on doing that.

So, the big question - where does my inspiration come from? I think my answer is probably the same as most people's answer and that's everywhere and anywhere! The fantastic thing about working with clay is that you can impress anything to make texture. Lace is fantastic (it helps that my auntie used to work in a knicker factory!!), everyday objects like bits of crumpled foil, sandpaper, bits of wire, toothpaste lids the list is endless.

I also sketch designs and turn those into texture mats, I love looking through source books for designs from around the world - I have a couple of books which I scan very regularly when I'm looking for a particular project.

I thought it'd be fun to show you some designs which I've found online that are copyright free images. I'm not sure how well they'll turn out as textures as you do need to have quite definite lines - but that's half the fun!!

So, keep checking back. As I progress through the different stages of turning these pictures into jewellery I'll update you on the progress.

Lots of New Metal Clay Classes

Now that I finally have a base, I've got my class schedule sorted for the next couple of months, as well as running full day classes, I've added some short taster classes which I've wanted to do for ages.

There are too many to list in full, but there's a ring making class, beginners classes, stone setting, and more so just email me if you're near Cheshire and fancy making some jewellery!

I thought the blog looked boring without many pictures of my jewellery! So here you go, they may be bad, mobile phone pictures, but at least you can see some of my recent metal clay work.

I'm working on some new pieces ready to launch my Etsy store. There'll be a range of these necklaces with matching earrings. They are highly polished silver pillow-shape beads, simply strung on sterling silver necklets. There are countless options for these in all sorts of different textures. They look really pretty on - in fact I'm tempted to keep the ones I've made so far!

These lentil shape beads are lampwork beads by the fantastic Claire Morris. They had a top decorative layer of glass that I decided to cover up!! I painted some silver paste onto the top, and left it fairly uneven so that it took the shape of the glass underneath. It silver has cracked in some places which I love because it adds to the texture of the glass. I think there's about 10 of these beads, so I see them being split up into a few different pieces of jewellery.

Better pictures will follow as soon as I can get my hubby to take them. We're currently looking into equipment to set up a proper lighting / photography area. This will mean much better photos and hopefully, even I will be able to point the camera and take a decent picture! Well, maybe!

Becci

xx

PMC / Art Clay Class

I spent a very lovely day yesterday teaching a beginners metal clay class. I had a lovely group that just seemed to gel, we had lots of lovely chat as well as them all making some fantastic first pieces. I think I've managed to convert more people to the world of PMC and Art Clay!!

It has got me thinking today about teaching. I've had a bit of a love/hate feeling about teaching. I've come to the conclusion today that the reason I've not enjoyed it so much in the past is that my creative time has been very limited with me being a stay at home mum. It meant that the creative time I did get was mostly spent teaching rather than creating. Now that I've got more creative time as my little girl is in pre-school, I feel like I can get a good mix of both teaching metal clay and actually working with it and making new jewellery. So, teaching is definitely part of my business plan (yep, I'm being disciplined and writing one!!), I've got lots of new class ideas which I now need to develop and of course need to come up with a class schedule!

I put this piccie up on Frit Happens, but thought it might be fun to show it here as well - it's my work in progress.

I think it's sometimes hard to imagine how pieces are going to turn out, so seeing them part made gives you a bit of an idea

There's a mix of things on here, it'll be interesting to see what you think of the finished pieces compared to the WIP!

I'm getting my kiln repaired on Friday so watch out for lots of lovely glassy goodies, as I haven't been able to do any glass work because of the kiln ggggrrrr.

Frit Happens Challenge Piece

Well, I managed to finally get this piece finished. It's not the best photograph, but I'm so pleased with the finished piece, I couldn't wait to show it!! The challenge topic was Autumn. I also thought it would be interesting to take stage by stage photos so, here's a few of the piece in progress

This pendant is totally different to what I usually make, but I quite enjoyed if for a change, and that's what challenges are about isn't it!! What it did do for me, is make me realise how much I like enamelling work. I don't do it as often as I would like and having a play yesterday was great fun.

Must get on with "proper" jobs today though!

Here are the tags I mentioned in an earlier post. Each customer will get them custom made for them, so they can choose a font to match their existing fonts on their website etc, or they could have their logo imprinted. I think tags give a really professional finish to a piece of handmade jewellery and I hope fact that they can now tie in with the rest of the makers' image will mean that they're popular!

So, what tantalising pieces of information do I have for you today (assuming I'm actually talking to someone that is!!)

I've been working on my commission piece today, and it's had to undergo yet another repair, aaarrrggghhh. So the kiln will be on later, it's a shame to only have one piece in there, so to fill it up, I'm making components for another bracelet. It'll be a little brother or sister to the bracelet I made the other day. I've got 5 of the lampwork beads left so this is going to be mostly silver with a bit of lampwork. I can visualise it in my head, I just hope it turns out the way I see it.

I'm also going to start listing jewellery tags as part of my range of handmade beads and findings - ooh, that's a blog exclusive! Having completed a custom order of 50 tags last week, I decided to make some other samples and add them to my range. I'll post piccies here when they're ready. I think they're great - they're custom made with fonts to match the designers font or logo and add a really unique finish to the jewellery. I've made them for myself in the past but had never thought about adding them to my range before!

Right, off to put little 'un to bed and then on with more silver work!

Well, nothing much creative to report today! Today has been a pottering day - housework, bit of shopping, a few tantrums from the toddler! I'm now catching up on some paperwork -yuk.

I've got a commission that really needs to be finished. It's been hanging around for ages and for one reason or another just hasn't got done. It had another kiln firing last night, I think it's had 5 or 6 now, so a bit more sanding and polishing work tonight and I hope it'll be finished. Sometimes it's just better not to agree to these things! It turned out to be a really complicated shape to get right and it's been driving me mad because it just hasn't looked symmetrical.

The coffee machine's on the go now, so hopefully a caffeine injection will sort me out!

New Bracelet

Right, I'm going to make a big effort to keep up to date with this now - even if I do just ramble on to myself!!

I got this bracelet finished today and I love it! This one is a keeper. The lampwork beads are by the very fabulous Tania Grey (http://www.tanofcourse.co.uk). I thought the beads were just so beautiful that they didn't need much adding to them. So I just made some silver spacer beads using Art Clay Syringe, and a matching toggle clasp.

I've been determined to start making complete jewellery pieces. I spend so much of my "free" time either teaching or making commission pieces that I don't feel like I'm being very creative with my own jewellery. So, I've got a few pieces on the go, which I'm hoping will reignite my creative side! So watch out, this could be the first of many!!

Hi, well this is my first ever posting on my first blog! I'm not really sure what I'm doing with it at the moment, but hopefully I'll get the hang of it soon!

I really wanted to set this up now, as there's lots of new and exciting things in the pipeline for me at the moment and I wanted to document everything as it happens.

I'll post more over the coming days (hopefully every day!) but for now, I'm off to have a play and set things up.