Back in the saddle again!

I’m back in the saddle and making art again! What joy…what fun!
I enrolled in 2 classes at a local bead store. One was for a beginning needlework and beading class. We made a nice little Victorian looking bracelet.

The other was a class using PMC (Precious Metal Clay). What a wonderful material! The possibilities are endless with this neat medium. In the class we made a pendant with an inset stone.

For those of you unfamiliar with PMC…it is wonderful material that looks like silly putty, but once it is fired…becomes silver! It is a combination of water, binders, and small particles of silver. It can then be molded into a desired shape, then heated in a kiln to remove the binder and fuse the metal powder into a solid form. The item looks exactly as it was in clay form, except that it is now silver and is very durable. So, you can create all of these wonderful things with it without knowing the slightest bit about silver making. I’m completely enamored with this new medium. I hope to take a couple more classes with it and then I will have to see where I go from there with it.

I may incorporate it into some sort of multi-media pieces? Who knows. Dave and I are currently talking about switching gears with our art and taking a step back from printmaking and beginning to delve into some different multi-media pieces. I love printmaking but I feel right now it is a bit restrictive in the direction I want to go with it. I still plan to do printmaking, but maybe just for galleries? Who knows…

Also, David and I signed up for a glass fusing and slumping class together! What fun. A local art college offers continuing education classes for non-students. This is an 8-Week long class, for 4 hours every Sunday. It’s pretty extensive. We will be learning the methods of glass slumping as well as the creation of molds and other forms. We can’t wait. Not only will it give us a nice break from the little one, but it will give us a chance to work on art together…which we haven’t been able to do in awhile.

What is glass fusing and slumping you might ask?
Glass fusing is the process of using a kiln to join together pieces of glass. When you apply heat to glass, it obviously softens. If you continue to apply heat, the glass will become more fluid and flow together. Two or more pieces of glass will stick (or "fuse") to each other. When the right kind of glass is heated and then cooled properly, the resulting fused glass piece will be solid and unbroken.
Glass slumping is where a mold is used to cause already fused glass to take on the shape of a bowl, a plate, or similar object. Sounds cool huh? Class starts September 10th and we can’t wait!