The biggest reason I love making jewelry so much is that there is so much to learn and so many opportunities to grow as a maker. I am interested in many things, and some may be forever out of reach for various reasons, but torch fire-able fine silver clay has been on my list since I first started incorporating sheet metal into my projects. I’ve been intimidated by it though, mostly because my only previous experience using clay in jewelry making has been Apoxie Sculpt, and I frankly was not good at it and did not enjoy it.
Normally I just jump into things and don’t worry so much about mistakes or wasting money. I learn by doing, and that means trial and error. Lots of error! However, the cost of a tiny package of fine silver clay, even the cheapest, is quite high. I felt queasy just thinking about wasting 100’s of dollars on clay before even making one presentable piece, and my bank account isn’t getting any bigger, so what to do?
Well, I decided I should practice first using a less expensive type of clay, so after some research, I picked up some DAS air dry clay. I initially bought the stone colored because I would have had to order the white, and I wanted to get started right away. I felt impatient, already having read and watched videos for several weeks, and didn’t want to wait any longer. Besides, it isn’t like I was going make anything real with it, right? This is just for practice!
Well, guess what, it is super fun! Now, there is no instant gratification with this. You have to work the clay, roll it out, cut, smooth, cut again if you mess it up. After that, it takes DAYS to dry, then IF (big if as a newbie) it dries well with no cracks, there is the sanding, and the painting, and the glossing. And if you mess up, well, you have to start from step one. I’ve tossed a lot of copper into my recycle drawer, but even if I have to cut a new piece, it is nothing like having to shape new clay and wait another half a week to move forward.
But it is so fun that I am going to add it as a new medium. I can make jewelry with it, not to mention trinket dishes, home decor, I’m thinking about props for my photos! I actually have an abstract bowl in the drying stage now that I plan to use for photos. It is marbled because I mixed stone and white clay together. Yes, of course I did buy some white clay too! I’ve seen some interesting videos on how to color clay while wet, and it doesn’t work well with the stone colored clay. I haven’t done much experimenting with that yet, but looking forward to it.
Here is the link to the tutorial I watched to make the bowl:
https://euniceathome.com/ruffled-bowl/
Here are photos of practice projects with captions:
I hope to make some video soon! The last couple of videos I attempted ended up completely unusable due to poor camera placement. I was working almost entirely out of frame. Sigh, that’s the way it goes sometimes.
Anyway, please stay tuned for more to come!