What is metal clay? A question I asked ten years ago.
Earlier this spring I had an opportunity to attend an Art Clay Silver skill up training in Japan. It was wonderful to learn new skills, while meeting old friends and making new friends. The same month marked my 10th year of working with metal clay, particularly Art Clay Silver. Art Clay itself celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2015.
Until now, I keep hearing: what is metal clay? When I saw silver clay on a website in 2006, the same question popped in my mind. I had to literally sleep over it and then the next day re-checked the website to confirm that this material did exist and I had read all the info correctly :D
Took a day for me to ‘get’ the idea of metal clay
Perhaps it’s the easiest way to explain metal clay as ‘kneadable metal’, not that the metal itself is kneadable, but the mixture of metal powder, organic non-toxic binders and water is. You can mold metal clay as you mold any other type of clays. During drying, the water will evaporate, and during firing, the binder will burn away and the metal particles will sinter, so as a result you’ll have only the metal.
How does my metal clay adventure develop
My first experience with metal clay on a silver clay class was rather interesting. Being a fan of crafts, I knew what to do when it came to working with colored clays such as air dry clay or polymer clay, but I was clueless about this metal clay stuff. After I continued to learn more at home by making different projects and reading books, I understood more, and even better, it ‘clicked’ with me and the rest flew naturally.
We all start somewhere.
My first three silver clay pieces from 2006 (there are more, I’ll add the picture if I found them).
I made ‘Chappy’, a namecard holder, in the end of 2006
‘Secret Garden’ won Semi Grand Prix of Silver Accessories Contest 2008
‘Coral’ won the Grand Prix of Silver Accessories Contest 2013
Over the years working with metal clay I’ve been learning different techniques, meeting wonderful colleagues, teachers, and fellows at classes and conferences, and creating pieces I wouldn’t even have imagined ten years ago. I’m also grateful that my jewelry has been recognized in metal clay contests.
What’s next?
Metal clay continues to develop. New materials, new techniques, and new combinations keep coming. Although I love and do a lot of types of handwork, nothing sticks with me like metal clay, perhaps because here I can endlessly incorporate other crafts such as claying, painting, drawing, resin, paper work, and more.
The newest set of metal clay technique I’ve learned is Silver Quilling. Although I wasn’t familiar with paper quilling at all, I’m now a fan of silver quilling. It’s a wonderful technique for metal clayers to add a new dimension to their creation. Take a look at my coming blog post to find out the detail.
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