Using the CopprClay pendant that we made last week, I want to show you what I ended up doing with it.  It was tempting to simply hang it from a plain black cord, but I wanted a bit more shine and contrast.   And something a bit more interesting too!
Materials and Tools:
Large jump ring
Sliding tube bail
2 pieces of beading wire, 24 in each
22 assorted beads
40 size 1 crimp tubes
4 size 3 crimp tubes
Toggle and bar set
(Sources: Vintaj, Auntie’s Beads, SoftFlex)
Step by step instructions

I love messing around with both positive and negative molds: sometimes the exact look you want to achieve can only be had by going through a few extra steps, and that’s what I did for this pendant. This week, I’m going to cover how to make the CopprClay pendant, and next week we’ll look at one possibility for stringing it into a finished necklace.
Materials & Tools:
CopprClay (Rio Grande)
Olive oil
Waxed paper or parchment paper
Objects to make molds
Polymer clay
Kiln, firing pan, and activated charcoal
Exacto knife, file, polish
Patina solution
Step by step instructions

Make Art Monday!
I’ve got another CopprClay project for you to try!  I’m going to break it down into two tutorials: first we’ll look at how to use CopprClay with a mold, and then the following week, we’ll go through step-by-step one possible way to use a pendant like this in a finished necklace.
If you haven’t had a chance to mess around with CopprClay yet, you can look through the general directions that I’ve posted about working with it.  If you don’t have any metal clay of any type, you could also do a similar project to this one using all …read more

Technique Tuesday!
In the first part of our tutorial, we looked at how to create the CopprClay focal discs. Now we’re going to look at one possible way to use them in a finished necklace.

I decided to mix my metals up a bit: I really like the rustic look of bronze, copper, and antique brass together, but you can stick with all one metal if you prefer. Here’s what I used:
Materials & Tools:
5 focal copper discs
5 vintage rhinestone buttons in bronze setting
10″ of raw brass chain
18 raw brass jump rings, 7.25 mm
9 copper jump rings, 6 mm
10 mm copper drop
5″ copper …read more

Technique Tuesday!
The first stage in creating a CopprClay necklace with disc-shaped focals is to roll out, texture, fire, and finish the focals themselves.

Start with small balls of CopprClay, about 3/8 inch across.  Keep all of them under plastic wrap except for the one you’re working with at the time.  Follow the general instructions found at this tutorial for handling your clay.
Step by step instructions for creating discs focals

A few of the tools used with CopprClay

I’m really pleased with the way this necklace turned out.  Even more, I am pleased overall with the workability and user-friendliness of CopprClay in general.

Tomorrow and next week, I’m going to give you the step-by-steps for making a necklace similar to this one.  We’ll be starting with making the focal discs themselves, and then looking at how to assemble the whole necklace.  In the meantime, you can brush up on the basic details of working with CopprClay:
General instructions for working with CopprClay

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 …read more

I look forward to sharing more about these pieces with you starting next week.  I’ll be writing a couple of posts on how to fire them, finish them, and make them into projects!

I received some packages of the new CopprClay from Rio Grande a few weeks ago.  Since then, I’ve been experimenting like crazy with this exciting new medium.   While I’ve previously had some experience with both Silver Art Clay and with Precious Metal Clay in Silver, I have to say that I’m more interested in the copper, both for it’s color and for the added measure of “workability” that I think it has.  And its price!!
I haven’t yet fired these pieces that I’m going to show you today.  It seems that firing CopprClay is a little trickier than Silver, so I’m …read more