Metal Clay World Conference 2009

The 2009 Metal Clay World Conference is next week! I will not be able to attend but my sister, Jen Lowe, will be teaching classes and is taking some of the pieces I've done to display. There will also be lots of diachroic "teardrops" for sale but there are only 2 diachroic hearts, as seen on this blog in the piece "Bleeding-Hearts". Jen can take orders for more but there is no guarantee of the size or color. I will try to keep them similar in size and shape as the one you see at the convention and on this site. For those of you going to the conference, have a great time and maybe I'll see you next time.

Mask of Leaves

This is another sample of what you can do with the mask mold. I found some leaves on a bush and applied silver paste to them. After firing the leaves and polishing them I attached them together with oil paste and fired them in a kiln.

To make the mask I rolled out the clay and pressed it into the mold, cut around the edges and cut out the eyes then removed the piece from the mold. I attached bail backs with silver paste on the outside edges on the back. After sanding the mask and firing it I attached the leaves with oil paste. When the piece was cool I sanded and polished the piece. To achieve colored leave use Mr. Clean yellow, blue or both with liver of sulfur. I apply it with a small paint brush to avoid as much repolishing as possible. The first photo is before applying liver of sulfur and the second after. You choose which method you like the most. Remember you can always sand the color off the leaves or refire it to remove the color.