Tutorial: Diecutting and punching metal clay

Once again, you can do the same processes using Art Clay Silver paper type, Amaco Art Emboss pewter or light weight metals. I’m sure there are other metals you can use as well.

Whenever you diecut something out, there is going to be some “negative” space…the space that surrounds the diecut. You can see the shape of a rose that was cut out of this piece. What's left is the negative space



I’ve shown a piece here a little bigger than a penny and I just wanted to share how to get the most out of your metal. And I’m only doing this because of the price of paper type silver.



There are numerous micro and mini punches on the market today. There are also many punches like this where you can take a single element and punch it out.



This photo shows that from that tiny little piece of metal, I was able to punch out 9 tiny little elements, and there is still some metal left over.



Another technique is to cut a circle about ½ the size of a penny, then cut a spiral into the circle



Take a toothpick and wrap the spiral around the metal in order to fashion tiny miniature roses.



Below, on the right, is a 3” square piece of Art Clay Silver paper type. I was able to cut 7 diecuts from this piece and had quite a large amount of netagive space metal remaining.



I decided to keep the negative space from the gekko and will use it on something. For the other metal, I was able to get 36 elements cut out. These I will use to layer and create something. Remember, this is .999 fine silver when done, so I want to get the most for my money!



I decided to keep the negative space from the gekko and will use it on something. For the other metal, I was able to get 36 elements cut out. These I will use to layer and create something. Remember, this is .999 fine silver when done, so I want to get the most for my money!

Once again, pay particular attention to the embossed detail (3 D effect) that you can achieve by using Spellbinders style dies. The punches I have used here are by Craft Bunch and McGill.

And what can be done with the remaining scraps? In my next tutorial I will discuss how I reconstitute that into workable clay. If you are using pewter or metal…there are still things that can be created with this….so stay tuned!

And if you are a metal clay artist and you don’t want to go to the effort of punching out as much as you can from your scraps…feel free to send them to me! LOLOL!