Tuesday, January 24, 2012

PMC Silver Clay Hydrangea Pendant

Best Over All Shot


I wanted to share with you the PMC Silver Clay hydrangea pendant I made for my friend Susan. I made this when I went to visit my sweet friend Janise in Austin last fall. This piece is sooooooooooo hard to photograph because without a flash (the photo up above) the photo is yellow.


DSC05444



With a flash… there is a burn or bright spot on the piece. If any of you are experts in photographing jewelry please give me some tips. But, on with the story of the pendant.


Best Close Up  #1


The clay is a mixture of FINE particles of silver mixed with a binding compound & water. You manipulate the clay to create the piece which is a green ware, fragile, ugly piece placed into a kiln for firing. What comes out is 99% pure silver. I used a stamp (found at Michaels) to create the flower part. I pressed the stamp into the clay & then went outside on Janise’s patio to pick the 2 leaves off her bushes. She showed me how to create the leaves for this pendant. Don’t you love the veins & how they showed up so clearly? Next came the stone…which started out as a beautiful blueish/purple color… Janise made that incredible bezel for the stone & I LOVE the way that turned out. But, this is where it took another turn. In the firing of the piece the stone turned that amber/red color (yes, the stones are CZ’s that are supposed to be fire safe). Was this the piece I thought it would be? NO! I had this more in mind…


DSC02130


With Art/Jewelry sometimes the piece will have a mind of it’s own & you just have to GO WITH IT~


Best Close Up #2



While at the Gem Show in downtown Ft Worth (a couple of weeks ago) Cindy & I looked for just the right beads to go with the new pendant. I am very pleased with the ones I found & then made the decision that for all the jewelry classes I have taken NO ONE has covered stringing beads or the design process of putting all the pieces together with strung beads. Once in the very beginning I had asked Diana Frey & she had shown me quickly how to finish the piece I was playing with but, since then I had strung beads & had “ISSUE’S” with the crimp bead/wire slacking up & creating an ugly space. I went into Ft Worth & visited the gals at The Artful Bead (where I buy a lot of supplies) & had a class on stringing. I was so happy to learn that my biggest problem was using the cheap “base metal” crimp beads from Michaels & that the sterling silver crimps really to mold to the wire & HOLD it much better. And ya gotta LOVE the sterling crimp covers for a much better finish on a piece. So, with it all complete I gave to to my friend Susan (a belated Christmas present) when she was up here for a visit from Houston. SHE LOVED IT! And I had so much fun making it for her. THANK YOU JANISE! YOU ROCK!


Charming Romance


And IF you are interested in learning about PMC Silver Clay my amazing friends Diana Frey & Riki Shumacher are teaching the bracelet shown above. The class will be in Riki’s studio February 18 & 19 in San Luis Obispo, CA. Girls, I can’t tell you how amazing these two teachers are. And how can you resist that bracelet???? Come JOIN US! Click HERE or HERE to go to the link for signing up. YOU WON’T BE SORRY!!!! I can’t wait as my gal pals SANDY NAVARRO & JOY CAMPBELL will be joining me & we are going to have such a great time creating this Valentine Beauty. So, tell YOUR VALENTINE this is what you want & COME PLAY WITH US!


Hugs! Charlene

15 comments:

Diana said...

Absolutely beautiful piece Charlene. The ruby quartz stones you selected to compliment your focal are perfect!!! What a lucky friend Susan is. Look forward to seeing you soon.
Hugs
Diana

oldgreymare said...

OH MY! what a lucky Susan! wish it was a Suzan :D
This piece is gorgeous, simply gorgeous. You have been busy..Now to go catch up with you.....
xx
z

Unknown said...

Gorgeous Charlene! I love the hydrangea pattern and the sparkly!
xxoo Heidi

Karen Valentine said...

Hey girlfriend! I think it turned out gorgeous even though it was not what you originally envisioned. I'm sure Susan thinks it's gorgeous too! I wish I could join y'all at Ricki's house, but alas, that is not in the cards for right now. I am excited that I will be seeing you in March though!!! Well, off to do much needed grocery shopping! Talk soon!!!!
xo,
Karen

Sandy Navarro said...

Oooh, I LOVE it and those red stones are perfect! Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!
Hugs

Maggie said...

love how your necklace turned out...your friend is one lucky gal!! So wish I could go to the bracelet class and learn from those masters!

maggie

Riki Schumacher said...

Oh pretty, pretty Charlene!! I love what you did, great job. Yes, firing even safe stones can be a surprise. But it all turned out great in the end. PMC is amazing stuff! Love working with it. Can't wait to see you girls in class, we will have so much fun. Thanks for the wonderful shout out.

Sorry to hear about Elle's haircut, she will grow out like you say. Poor baby! Give her kisses from us.
xoxo
Riki

Lily's Lace said...

It turned out beautiful Char, you have such a talent and a good eye for these things!! And, I love the charm bracelet, good choice for Susan, I know she loves it! You're the best in so many ways, love ya,xox-cin

Sandy said...

The necklace turned out fabulous! Love all the detail you put into it. What a fun process to learn too.

Susan Shull said...

I love your necklace! It is just beautiful and I am so impressed that you made it yourself. Wow. And that bracelet is gorgeous too!

Jill Marcott-McCall ~Feathers & Flight~ said...

Oh My Gosh Charlene!! Its Gorgeous! Absolutely Beautiful! I wish I could do a Class!!!! It would be so Fun to Learn take a Class with Diana and Riki!
Have a Wonderful Evening my Friend!
Hugs
Jill

Robin Thomas said...

Well done Charlene. Those three strands of blood red beads with it??

Delicious. My friends works with PMC and it seems like such magic.

Diane said...

Yes, the stones are a beautiful compliment to the PMC pendant you designed....very nice indeed!
Yes, I can help you with photographing your jewelry, but it all begins with the camera and the zoom capability. And, photographing in natural light. So very important....not bright direct light mind you =) That is why you will often see photographers taking pictures during the golden hour, just before dusk!

MJ Ornaments said...

So pretty Charlene! Someday I want to learn how to make those. Try taking your photo without flash, because I know it's really hard to get pictures of jewelry. I always use a tri pod too, because I'm usually to shaky, filled up with coffee!
Take care,
Martha

LuLu Kellogg said...

What a stunning piece!! You did a fantastic job. You should submit a photo of this for publication. It's just amazing.

Love,
LuLu~*xoxo

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