Elaine Luther, of All Things Metal Clay, sent me her goals for this summer, along with an image that illustrates what she hopes to accomplish!

Hi Cyndi,

Here are my summer jewelry goals:

To complete the first 10 projects of the Metal Clay Master’s Registry

To submit images to ganoksin.com for my own gallery

To finally have my website up for my own jewelry

That’s all! Nothing big!

Well, I don’t know about you all, but that seems kind of big to me! Elaine is a whiz at metal clay techniques, and I’ve shared her work and her posts here before. What great goals, to be working towards both new work and a way to showcase your talents. Best wishes for success, Elaine!

A seasoned journalist with a degree in studio art, Mary Lyon is chock full of many wonderful craft ideas ranging from recycling household items to making beautiful holiday keepsakes, with an emphasis on crafts that parents can do with their children.

But Mary’s other love is designing what she calls faux jewelry, which are simulations of semi-precious stones such as turquoise, coral, jade and ivory from polymer clay and wire jewelry where the wire itself is bent around various kinds of furnace glass beads and turned into magnificent design elements that are both whimsical and totally unique. She works with dichroic glass that can be layered, blended and fused in many ways to create her own “jewels.” Mary’s jewelry designs have been exhibited around the country and her original “Gold Nugget” bead design is part of the permanent collection of the Bead Museum in Prescott, Arizona.

Tomorrow for Technique Tuesday, we’ll be sharing Mary’s directions for making a long single strand lapis necklace like this one:

As the economy continues to be in a bit of a slump, many of us are looking for ways to cut our costs without sacrificing taste and artistic merit.  For several years now, I’ve been mixing copper, brass, and pewter into my designs…at first because I liked the look, and in addition now because they are more affordable.

I have a list of metal bead suppliers that has links to many fine companies, but I notice that most of them specialize in silver and gold.  Vintaj is listed, a wholesaler of brass beads and findings, and also Green Girl Studios, which has pewter delights as well as silver.

Here are some additional sources of copper, pewter, and brass:

Rings & Things
Fire Mountain Gems
HHH Enterprises
Auntie’s Beads

And for metal clays, including the new BronzClay and CopprClay, don’t forget about Rio Grande!

Jean Campbell, at Beading Daily, has provided a wonderful chart which gives you the low down on copper, brass, and pewter, including how to care for them.

I received word recently that Autumn Arbor has made the first cut in the Fire Mountain Gems 2009 beading contest. Now I have to send it in for the next round of judging.

Sometime later this summer I’ll see if I can write up a basic tutorial for the piece.  I didn’t take process shots like I normally do, so it’ll be a little sketchy.  Still, those who have some bead weaving experience will probably find it easy enough to follow.

Last year, my over-the-top piece called Andromeda’s Pearls won first place in the pearls category. I don’t really think I’m going to have a repeat with Autumn Arbor in the seed beads category, but I guess you never know!

What are your jewelry goals this summer?  I think you already know some of mine…I’ve been working with CopprClay and am growing to love it love it love it!

My goals for the summer are to see how I can integrate this exciting new medium into the work that I’m already doing.  I figure that by autumn, I’ll be looking to stretch my basic skill set with it and explore even more possibilities.

So what about you?  Come on, tell us!  We want to know 

You can leave a comment below if you’d like, but if you’d like to share a piece with other readers, email me at cyndi @ b5Media.com (remove the spaces) with your statement, a link to your site, and your image (72 dpi please). Please use “Jewelry Goals” as your subject line. Thanks!

Cindy Gimbrone aka Lampwork Diva:
Cindy learns to make murrini and deals with mud.

Earthenwood Studio Chronicles
Even without a lot of time on her hands, Melanie finishes a clockwork themed bracelet using Swarovski faceted rings from ArtBeads.com

Humblebeads
Bead & Button stash and Heather’s inspired creations

Jean Campbell
Jean gives a sneak peek of her next Beadwork magazine piece

Lorelei’s Blog: Inside the Studio
Instead of continuing on with the tried and true techniques of jewelry design, Lorelei is finally ready to take the leap and try something new.

Snap out of it, Jean! There’s beading to be done!
Jean gets her cool stash from Use the Muse II, and muses about it

Strands of Beads
Melissa wants to know what outrageous materials are in your beading stash?

The Writing and Art of Andrew Thornton
Stop by and say hello to Andrew in Charlotte, NC this weekend. Check out his new designs and some delicious new metal clay coins!

A Bead A Day
Do you love Swarovski Crystals? Inspired by talented jewelry designer, Lillian Chen, Lisa creates a Swarovski “sculpture” ring.

About.com Jewelry Making
Heard about copper clay or coppr clay? Find out more about this great new metal clay product and check out some new metal clay projects too.

Art Bead Scene
Art Bead Scene gets creative with the “Best of ABS.”

Barbe Saint John - New Jewelry from Forgotten Artifacts
Sometimes you need to have a jewelry makeover

Beading Arts
A report on firing and finishing CopprClay pieces. This stuff rocks!

Carmi’s Art/Life World
Carmi tries Ice Resin and upcycles a greeting card into a necklace.

Another wonderful entry in the Dummies series!  This one, Jewelry and Beading Designs for Dummies was co-written by Heather H Dismore and my friend Tammy Powley.  Both have extensive experience with writing directions for beginner projects, making both simple and complicated steps clear.

Jewelry & Beading Designs for Dummies
by Heather H Dismore & Tammy Powley

This book is a follow up to the original Jewelry Making and Beading for Dummies, so if you are a complete beginner, you will probably need this book first.  The current book is focused more on designs and creating finished pieces, although they do cover many basic techniques quite thoroughly.

There are hundreds of illustrations and photographs to help you as you stretch your skills and create all different types of beaded accessories using lots of different materials.  Yes, there are projects as well as techniques, and they will help you master skills while you end up with lots of fun new wearables for yourself or for gifts.

The forum at Beading Daily has come up with a first-ever forum challenge for beaders: You are hereby challenged to create something out of beads or create beads themselves that are inspired by flowers. Some participants plan to actually create a flower out of seed beads, but the intent isn’t to limit you to any particular medium or technique.

The deadline is July 18, 2009, so hurry!

All the information on entering the contest can be found at the Beading Daily website.  Scroll down to the 3rd message for the official rules.  There are prizes being offered, so get your entry in soon!

Image: Beading Daily

Technique Tuesday!

These three pictures show the process of taking CopprClay from raw to finished. It can take several days for the clay to dry out, or you can hasten the process by warming it in your oven at about 200 F. Even after allowing my pieces to sit out and dry naturally for a few days, I still took this added precaution to ensure they were all completely dry.

Step by step instruction

Firing the clay is a bit more work than silver. Copper and Bronze must both be kept from too much oxidation or you’ll just end up with a black burnt-looking surface. Therefore, these clays must be kiln fired. I used the recommended coconut shell-based granulated activated charcoal and a steel firing pan. (All tools can be found on Rio Grande’s website.)

I fired my first set of pieces all in one run, ramping up my kiln to 1700 F and holding for 3 hours. I didn’t use any special schedule for ramping up, and actually the temperature ended up going a bit too high on the first go, but it didn’t seem to affect the pieces. I was afraid that when I opened the kiln I’d find melted puddles in the firing box!

Here is a link to more process shots from my adventures in firing.

My next step will be to experiment with some different finishing techniques. I’m going to use a brass brush, and then burnish and buff these pieces. Maybe a few of them will go into the experiment pile for patination.