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!!!

Sherry "the stalker" Stone!!!!

LOLOL! Oh Sherry! I told you I was going to blog this! So here's "my" story and I'm sticking to it! I went to Canon City to play with mom. Didn't tell a soul I was going down there. But Sherry - she reads my blog - and saw that I was in town and showed up at mom's retirement center this morning for a surprise visit! I accused her of "stalking" me and threatened to blog that I have an official "stalker" now! LOLOL!



Sherry is another fabulous artist who just completed here senior level certification classes in Art Clay Silver with my sis, Colleen. She's opening her own studio and will be offering classes in metal clay in Canon City. She doesn't have her website up yet, but her business is Paper Silver Stone, LLC, on south 8th Street in Canon City. You can reach her at 719-269-2713 if you want to take classes from her!

Well, who wouldn't want to go play with Sherry? Just look at the fun she and mom were having here!!!



And then we need to talk about analysis paralysis!!! Sherry said that she and my sis both have it - they analyze everything until it paralyzes them and they don't get anything done! Well, I'd have to completely disagree with that. Just this summer, Sherry has gone out on her own, opened up her studio and is just going gung ho with all this fun! She so brightened my day by stopping by!



So, Sherry "the stalker" Stone - just keep reading my blog and any time you see me in town, come play with us!!!

oh, if you look in the lower middle you might be able to see some of the bookmarks we made this morning. Just so much fun!!!