craftgrrl | "By the liiiiight....of the silvery mooooon...."

I crafted these early this morning by the light of the full moon. They are pure silver, made from Precious Metal Clay.

Once your work-space is ready and your hands are greased:

1. Roll out your PMC3 to 5 cards (playing cards) thick*,
2. Rub a bit of olive oil or hand balm (I used Badger Balm) on the flattened circle of clay,
3. Place the flattened clay, greased side down, on top of the stamp,
4. Remove two of the cards from your stacks, leaving you with 2 stacks of 3 cards each, and then roll the clay again only this time on top of the stamp,
5. Carefully peel the stamped clay off of the stamp, and then repeat because you want to make 2 earrings,
6. Cut away any excess clay from around the images,
7. Dry thoroughly (I placed on top of a cup warmer so it only took 20 minutes),
8. Use 400 grit wet/dry sand paper to clean up and smooth the edges,
9. Use a hand-drill to make holes from which to hang the moons,
10. Now is the time to sign and date the back with a sharp pointy tool,
11. Fire in a kiln at the PMC3 firing schedule OR torch fire for 5 minutes OR you can fire on a gas stove (though you'll have to research how to do this on your own because I've never tried it). I used a torch.
12. Burnish how you wish. I used a steel brush and an agate burnisher.
13. Add jump rings, hang from french wires, and you're done!

* Rolling PMC to "x cards thick" means that you: make two stacks of playing cards with x amount of cards in each, place a ball of PMC between the 2 stacks, and then roll out the clay using the card stacks to rest your "rolling pin" (PVC pipe works great) on. This leaves you with a perfectly flat and even sheet of clay.