A Charming Romance Class

I can tell you that the bracelet above (which is the class sample) didn’t happen in just 2 days! This bracelet belongs to Diana Frey (one of our two instructors). I have just spent the last 2 days learning soooooooooooo many techniques with Diana & Riki Schumacher. Friday Sandy, Joy & I headed to San Luis Obispo for two days of fun & creativity. EACH charm takes a lot of time to create.

Day one had Riki showing us the magic of PMC Silver Clay. The entire morning was spent with demo’s on etching metal & PMC Silver Clay. The entire afternoon was spent making out charms. Rolling the precious metal clay out & stamping the different patterns into the wet clay. Or using molds that we created (from objects that we had with us) or using one of Riki & Diana’s many molds. Everything went into the kiln for two & a half hours of HOT firing.

New tools to learn… I had seen photos of a metal saw but, the thought made me shutter. Riki made it look easy as pie! Did I do this? NO! But, I did try many different tools.

Next up… Diana showed us so many connection ideas that we were just amazed at all the choices. Rivets, screws, nails & many other new things to try.

Above is just a couple of examples. I’m sorry my photos are really not great but, most of them were taken for remembering techniques not beautiful blog photos. But, I wanted to share all the fun things we learned. Don’t you love the variety there? I LOVE the square piece that has a vintage watch face sandwiched between the 2 etched layers. I soooooooooo want to do that too.

Joy really was on a roll & actually got many of the charms she made onto her bracelet (above). Also, you can see a collection of many of all the students piecesl put together for a group photo. Some of the items were the etched sheets, cut out whether in a circle or a square, some sandwiched together, PMC charms layered onto the etched piece or just stand alone. A heart with a bale made from a 16 gauge wire, hammered into a paddle shape bent & secured through another heart with a long screw, a German porcelain doll head drilled with a diamond tip bit… the learning went on & on. Truly feeding the artful soul.

After all of this… I kind of think Maddie had the right idea…

My bed is calling my name & there is another full day of fun ahead tomorrow.

HUGS! Charlene