craftgrrl | precious metal clay

A friend of mine got certified to teach precious metal clay techniques. (Precious metal clay is where silver particles (or gold) are infused into a neutral binder. You shape it just like clay, and then fire it in a kiln or with a small torch and the finished piece turns into pure silver.) She wanted to teach a couple of friends before doing an official class, so she had a few of us over this past weekend. We used the slip/paste version (she showed us the paper-like version, the clay, and the syringe stuff, all very neat). We painted leaves with about ten coats of the thick slip, and then let it dry on a hot plate. I added a small garnet to mine and used the syringe to coil around it to keep it on (and then to draw a personal symbol on it). After everything dried, we fired our pieces in a kiln for a little while, and then they were done! They shrunk about 10% in the process. Afterwards, we brushed them to give them the correct finish, and I dipped mine in black salt to create a slightly tarnished look.

Here it is! The picture isn't great, but you can see the detail pretty well. It's about an inch from the very bottom of the leaf to the stem.

Also, to pimp my friend, if you're in California and anywhere near Marin county, my friend