Liz writes:
The Lampwork glass vessel wine stopper is made with Italian glass 104 coe. After annealing the vessel, Lily pads, and top I applied my PMC3 design and re fired it according to the PMC3 schedule. The vessel is sitting on 3 Lily pads, one of PMC3 and two of glass. The Top that looks like a the sorting hat in Harry Potter is glass with a PMC3 collar. The top is glued onto the top of the wine stopper. I then assembled the pieces, screwed on the top. PMC3 and glass are great combos!!

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Linda is a  certified crystal healer and she incorporates that along with reiki into each piece that she makes.   Her focus is on creating spiritual jewelry from precious metals and gemstones. Linda loves to find the meaning behind each stone and uses her GIA knowledge to educate her customers about their stones.  Her blog is all about information on stones.

Linda writes:
These first two pieces are Oms.  When I started practicing Yoga I learned about the sound OM and starting wearing one to help me calm myself as it is a holy sound in the universe and often used in meditation.  It means many things to many people which is why I love it.

Both pieces are made in 2 parts the background has a texture and a sapphire is inset.  I always work with real stones and like to inset them into the pieces.  This way they are closer to the skin and their energies work for the wearer.  The top piece is made as a separate piece and they are joined.  One has a patina to bring out a color. Both are strung with beads that represent all the chakras.

The next piece is a meditation bowl.  I definitely feel that meditation is helpful for people so I wanted to make something that represented this.  I set it with amethysts which are a stone for meditation.  I used several pieces to make the texture on the top ala Hadar and then used Liver of Sulfer to get the colors.  I work with liver of silver in layers most of the time using it cold and mixing all sorts of things to get colors.

The last piece is a forget-me-not.  This is the official flower of the Alzheimer’s Association.  My mother lost her battle with Alzheimer’s last year and I wanted to do something in her honor. I piece these flowers together petal by petal and set the middle with genuine sapphires in different colors.  I texture the back and set the stones in a very organic manner.  I also donate a percentage of these sales to the Alzheimer’s Association.

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Kristi writes about her pieces:

The Blue Topaz and Metal Clay earrings were a special order for a friend on Mothers day, they turned out so beautifully that I will surely make some similar pieces.

The necklace titled Artifact is a rather free form piece with 3 different textures. I used Amazonite and Metal Clay beads strung on a Sterling chain to finish the piece. This is one of the pieces that is meant to look ancient and somewhat rough like it was found buried in the earth.

The earrings titled Arrow are made out of Bronze Clay. They are 2 parts so they are fun to wear, only the wearer can hear the tiny jingle of the 2 parts moving against each other.

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Affirmation Vessel Kit: I created this piece to have a place to hold my personal affirmation. After the loss of my husband to lung cancer six years ago, I entered a very dark night that limited my hope. I attended a program in spiritual psychology where I discovered the power of affirmations and decided to create an affirmation vessel to hold close to my heart. My intentions helped me to transform my life.

Big Swirl Heart: This piece is a hollow form with a ruby and garnet dangles. The intention for this piece is Room for Love. The spirals represent the unlimited possibilities where love can show up. We are living in a spiral universe and all things are possible.

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This collection is called the Organic Series of Naturally Inspired Forms.   It is inspired by nature and natural forms, including Waves, Freeform Organics, Lilies, Habitats, Knife Edge and most recently Twigs. Waves represent the cleansing and regenerating abilities of the sea. Freeform Organics are inspired by the rich shapes found the deep forest and celebrate nature’s embrace. The Lilies are flower inspired forms, beautiful and elegant in their simplicity. Habitats are a representation of tide pools with marine creatures living amongst the nooks and crannies, symbolizing harmony with nature and one’s surroundings. Knife Edge represent the purity of life itself.  And finally, Twigs represent birth and new growth as buds form, grow into leaves and flowers refreshing our world. Each piece in the Organic Series is signed and numbered in a series with no two pieces being alike.

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Ileana earrings – fine silver metal clay plated in 22k gold with green tourmalines.

Carnival Gypsy Ring – fine silver metal clay. Colored resin, with faceted pink sapphire
Carnival Gypsy Earrings – fine silver metal clay, faceted pink sapphires and PMC granulated silver balls.

Etruscan Ring – fine silver textured metal clay with bezel set blue sapphires

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Silver leaves I made for Tammy Powley’s book, listed below

Making your own beads
In the middle of this list is a section on PMC with several wonderful beginner books listed

Enameling on Metal Clay by Pam East
Learn how to add a whole new dimension of color to your metal clay projects

Metal Clay and Mixed Media Jewelry by Sherri Haab
How to combine this magical material with everything from resin and concrete to fibers and polymer clay

Picture Yourself Creating Metal Clay Jewelry by Tammy Powley
Disclaimer: one of my projects is in this book, so of course I’m biased.  I also think it is an excellent beginner’s book which will answer practically any question you have about working with low-fire silver clay…a huge bonus if you don’t have a kiln!

Silver and Bronze Clay by Hadar Jacobson
A wonderfully inspiring book from one of the pioneers of BronzClay work

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Please enjoy these inspirational links responsibly: be inspired, be very inspired…but do not copy the designs of other artists!

Getting started with BronzClay
A YouTube video that will show you what you need to know

BronzClay Flickr pool
Be inspired, and share your own work

All Things Metal Clay
Elaine Luther’s most excellent site: this is a link to Elaine’s round-up post of clay resources.

Metal clay and bead artist Melissa Lee

Metal clay artist Linda Kaye-Moses

Metal clay artist Lorena Angulo

BronzClay pieces by Andrew and Cynthia Thornton

Metal Clay artist Sherry Eckert

Image: Andrew Thornton

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Joe writes:

These are pieces that I have designed and made. Above is a genuine butterfly wing encased in an 18KY gold frame and back with a quartz crystal on front.  Below is a back view showing a removable and interchangeable necklace.

A custom designed silver “Hummingbird”

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