Uninvited guests

Hey Gordon!!! Ya gotta come to Colorado to do metal clay!!! Gordon lives in Hawaii - he seems to always find unusual things - wonder if he see's this out his back window?

That was one of 2 twin babies that wandered right up outside the window during our Art Clay Society meeting last Saturday. And here's the other twin.

The mamma was on the other side of the fence and the babies were crying out for her.

And look at pappa. Wow! Less than 30 feet away from the window!

While we were inside and they were outside, I think she heard our every move!

Never fear, she gathered her babies up and walked them around the fence before she took off . That's an orchard laden with ripe apples and I'm sure they were having a harvest feast all day long!

If you come to play in Colorado.....you just never know what you're going to find!

enameling on silver and copper

Well.....not everything in life is a huge success. Her lips came out black, not red. The pupils of her eyes slid. But I like what it did for the hair problem. Now to see if I can "fix" the errors!

So, on the copper, we painted scalex where we didn't put enamels. Since this was our first attempt - I have way more scalex than enamel.


and we didn't bother to counterenamel any of this. But what a glorious surprise when we took the copper out of the kiln. Don't know if you can see, but the scalex peeled rigtht off and left the most wonderful pink/peach pearlized surface you can imagine - absolutely gorgeous!

Maybe this one shows it better:

I learned that I like transluscent enamels on pieces - not real fond of opaque, but can see their uses as well.

Rhonda took the time to completely enamel an embossed, diecut piece of copper and it turned out wonderful!

So tomorrow, I'll share more successes and failures. I am now completely convinced that you can read all the books you want, take all the classes you want, re-read all your notes....and the best way to learn something is still to just do it!

I'm happy to report that a fun time was had by all! And I think we all learned something "new" while spending a day playing in our jammies!!!

A metal clay pajama party?

Yesterday, we had our Art Clay Society meeting in Canon City and it was "pajama day". Well - I don't know about you, but I do some of my best work in my jammies!



And yes.....not everyone wore them - but we sure had fun!!!



we were experimenting with some lead-based enamels that are probably from the 70s. So we all brought "junk" silver - pieces that had flaws or flops in them. I "inherited" these enamels and had no clue if they would even work or not

Sherry Stone was our hostess in her lovely store: Paper Silver Stone and let me tell you, she pulled out the stops with "breakfast in bed" all day long!!!

fresh fruit, cheeese and crackers, loads of carbs and sugar to keep us pumped up all day long! Now usually, our meetings are just a few hours....but today was a total free play day. OK, can you imagine? FREE enamels???

so it was an endless supply of food and enamels! What more could a girl want???


Here's my first piece ready for the kiln. I'll post the results tomorrow. On the original silver, her hair hadn't been stamped deep enough and I wanted to "fix" that problem.

Because these enamels are from the 70s, and lead based, everyone wore face masks. We experimented a lot on copper so that we didn't really care if we ruined our pieces or not. And with these older enamels, you just never know if the color will hold true....or if it will all come out brown.

So, stay tuned for our results. But I can report here - we had a blast!!!

Live in Colorado? Want to know more about Art Clay Silver?

Then come join us for our August Art Clay Society meeting as a guest!

It's going to be so much fun! We're hosting a daytime pajama party! That's right!

Well, what the heck! If you are like me, you have more fun when you are creating and designing in your jammies! We'll show you what you can do with metal clay and how to turn it into fine silver!!!

If you are an experienced metal clay artist...you will love this! FREE enamels! Yep....bring your fired, polished pieces and you can enamel your hearts away. I inherited a gadzillion jars of enamels. I'm pretty sure they are lead based so bring a face mask. I have no idea if they will work or not, so bring pieces that you can experiment on! OK, I KNOW you have tons of pieces that are broken, trashed, scrap....bring them all! Who knows what we might get by adding some enamels!

This is not just for Art Clay Silver lovers....we love Precious Metal Clay artists as well! Everyone is welcome! Just know if it's your first time....it won't be your last time! LOL!!!

Saturday, August 29

10:00 am - 3:00 pm

Paper Silver Stone (Sherry Stone's store)

707 South 8th St, Unit A

Canon City CO 81212

Oh - bring your checkbook or credit card because you are just going to love all the new toys Sherry got in right before MCWC!!! You will want them all!!!

and you know what? If you don't live in Colorado and you want to fly in for the pajama party, just email me! I'll pick you up at the airport, take you to Sherry's and get you back to the airport!!! You now we're going to have so much fun - you won't want to miss it!!!

Colorado Chapter of Art Clay Society

We had our June meeting at Colleen's house this past weekend. What a fun, fun group of ladies! All so incredibly talented. It was fun to see all their latest jewelry designs.



Our topic was "Blogging your Art" so there were lots of laptops in the room!



And then we tried quilling with paper type metal clay



Sherry brought her "kids" who were having just a bit too much fun!



We had "show and share" where you bring your creations, show them off, and share your techniques



And we shared the latest books we've found



Well, I guess I should confess that we shared food, drinks, and wonderful home made cookies as well!



You're looking at Colleen's studio - I do think she has more jewelry making stuff than I'll ever have! One whole huge room just for jewelry! How fun is that?

It was a great day on Saturday, and the drive back to Denver was just perfect. More snow at Eisenhower tunnel. I wonder if it will be there all year long!

Colorado Chapter of Art Clay Society

We had our first meeting Saturday and I am so proud of this group!!!

They all voted that 75% of our membership dues will go to charity! They voted that our goal is to give back to our membership and to our community. What a great group of women! There were 6 of us at the first meeting with 5 unable to attend, so a great start to a great group!



Our next meeting will be April 12 here in Denver. If you are a metal clay artist, or interested in learning more about Art Clay Silver or Precious Metal Clay, email me and I will get you information on our future meetings.

Some of our upcoming agendas will include things like

website design
blogs and how to make money blogging
wire wrapping
clouddome.com
making polymer clay stones and rocks

I think it's going to be a fun group. I can hardly wait for the next meeting!