Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Precious Metal Clay, what fun!


At my first Arts and Soul in Portland adventure I took a class with Louise Duhamel to try out PMC. For those of you not familiar with this fun medium: PMC is a clay-like medium used to make jewelry and small sculptures. It consists of very small particles of precious metals mixed with an organic binder and water. Metal clay can be shaped just like any soft clay, by hand or using moulds. After drying, it can be fired in a variety of ways including in a kiln, with a handheld gas torch, or on a gas stove. The binder burns away, leaving the pure, sintered metal. At the time I said that I would never take this on as a hobby because of the costs associated with the clay and kiln. Guess what, yes, I caved and now love PMC. One of the artists I really admire is Kate McKinnon. Herw ork is beautiful and in addition she is just a lovely person! She is coming to Toronto for some workshops which unfortunately I am unable to attend. So I decided to buy her book "Structured Metal Clay" availalble from her website: http://www.katemckinnon.com/
IT IS AMAZING!! It is clear, fiun and full of excellent instructions. Here are 2 rings I made after having been inspired by her and her book.


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