Edinburgh jeweller

Black Friday has arrived and along with it an astounding amount of offers in my inbox and on facebook. For an American tradition it really has found some traction here in the UK! Don't get me wrong, I will be looking at whether I can get some christmas present shopping done but I noticed that there are some great offers out there for metal clay artists to invest in their own training or to stock up on supplies. So, with that in mind, here are the deals I've seen that are worth a second look 1. 20% off day and evening classes at the London Jewellery School As you probably know, I work for the London Jewellery School. If you'd like to take a class with me there you can see my teaching calendar for 2018 here (it is possible that there will be some changes but right now I am the one due to teach the classes listed above). For me, learning face to face with an expert tutor is the quickest way to develop your skills. It allows you to ask questions and practice with feedb...

Samples from my taster class in silver clay, suitable for beginners I regularly see questions in the facebook metal clay groups about which metal clay to try as a newbie. Firstly, if you are a newbie to metal clay - welcome! Metal clay is a fantastic material to use to make jewellery. It is flexible and easier on the hands than sheet metal and can be used at home with minimal tools. Of course there are lots of tools you COULD buy - but that's for another post! BUT if you start out with the wrong clay you can quickly become disheartened and decide it's not for you and that would be a shame. Choosing the right metal clay to start with may feel a little daunting as there are a few different brands and many different metals available including fine silver, sterling silver, bronze, copper, gold, brass and steel. As a newcomer to metal clay you might look at the prices of these clays and think, well copper and bronze are cheapest so I'll start with them. I think this is a ...

I'm really excited to have been asked to teach at the You Can Make It 2017 metal clay residential conference in Dorset in March next year. When? 24-26th March 2017 Where? Springfield Country Hotel Leisure Club and Spa , Grange Road, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5AL, England What? YCMI is a residential metal clay conference held in a spa hotel in Dorset. There is a selection of full day masterclasses , hands on sessions , demos and talks to choose from taking place over the weekend. There are so many techniques and projects you can learn over the course of the weekend - check out the website for all the information . There is also the chance to get to know other metal clayers, take part in a charm swap (where you make a number of metal clay charms and swap with others to build up your own unique bracelet) and the ‘Your favourite make’ competition, visit the Make it Market and more. The event is sponsored and subsidised to make it as affordable as possible. Check out the ...

I am very fortunate to be one of the early testers for Art Clay 950 , a product currently available for pre-sale from Metal Clay Ltd and launching on 1st September. I have really enjoyed working with it today. It's so similar to original Art Clay in terms of rolling, texturing and cutting. It take a little longer to dry but I found I had a longer working time too. What is it? This is a new product from Art Clay , one of the two main suppliers of silver clay in the world.  Silver clay is made up of fine silver particles, an organic binder and water. Art Clay 950 is 95% silver and 5% copper. The original Art Clay is a purer silver, 99% silver and 1% copper. What are the benefits? Strength You might be thinking, well the original Art Clay is a purer silver so isn’t that better? The answer, of course, is it depends on what you want! Art Clay 950 is 60% stronger than original Art Clay because of the copper content. This means it is more suitable for making rings, ...

Demonstrating using silver clay paste to make a leaf pendant As I mentioned previously on the blog, I'm part of the Metal Clay Makers group. I was really pleased that I was able to attend the Metal Clay Ltd summer social last week. I live quite far away from Metal Clay but luckily I was visiting family close by so I decided to drop in and I'm glad I did! It was the first time I'd visited the new premises and I enjoyed a browse around the showroom and a look at some of the products available including a new range of bronze clay that I am looking forward to trying out. I also had another look at the amazing jooltool polisher that I am coveting!   As part of the evening a couple of demonstrations had been organised. Petra demonstrated how to use silver clay paste to make a leaf pendant. Even though I have done this before I still learnt some great tips including about embedding wire into the piece to create a bail and using Plasticine to press the leaf into in or...

A few months ago I applied to be a Metal Clay Maker and am excited to announce that I was one of six people chosen! Who are the Metal Clay Makers? The Metal Clay Makers are a small group of designers who choose to use Metal Clay Ltd products in their work because they believe in their quality and reliability. Metal Clay Ltd support the MC Makers with materials and tools, provide lots of inspiration and advice, send them new products to test and critique, and enjoy regular chat sessions. What does the programme entail? It is a sixth month programme, beginning in July, to try, test and review products from Metal Clay Ltd. Why did I apply? I decided to apply because I use and recommend Metal Clay Ltd products all the time, they are one of the main suppliers for the London Jewellery School pop up shop (where I work). Additionally, I loved the idea of the challenge element of it, to use materials and tools I might not otherwise try and see what comes out of that ...

Last week I taught two beginners metal clay classes at the London Jewellery School . It's one of my favourite classes to teach as it is great to show new people how to use metal clay and get them excited about the possibilities. During the course we work on three projects - they learnt to make earrings with a consistent thickness and texture. Then I taught them how to make their own silicone mould and they made a silver charm. Finally, I taught them how to set a stone in the clay. Then they learnt how to file and finish the pieces before torch firing them and polishing. These are photos of the pieces made by complete beginners. I'm really impressed.

There have been a couple of very welcome developments for silver clay artists here in the UK in the last few days. Firstly, Aida have announced that silver clay prices are to be cut between13-14% with immediate effect. This follows an increase of 30% that came into effect on 1st June 2012 (see my blog post on this here ). Art clay is not at the price it was pre-June this year but it is still pleasing to see that prices can go down as well as up! The best price I have found online in the UK today is at www.metalclay.co.uk but make sure you shop around. The other piece of very exciting news is about the Rio Rewards PMC Certificate . It has previously only been available in the US. However, Lisa Cain and Julia Rai from the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery have arranged for it to be taught in the UK in May 2013 by Rio Grande senior instructor Patrik Kusek . Many serious silver clay artists have taken the Art Clay certifications available in the UK but this well recognised PMC...

As metal clay artists in the UK will now now, the price of Art Clay will rise significantly on 1st June 2012. The Metal Clay Academy website published this statement yesterday.  Art Clay in the UK will be increasing in price from 1st June by around 30%. Initial indicative pricing puts a retail 50g pack of Art Clay Silver 650 up from £109 to £142.50 including VAT. The public announcement from Metal Clay Ltd , one of the UK distributors is as follows:- "Change in Art Clay pricing - Aida has managed to keep the prices of metal clay as low as possible for a long time but, due to the historical high rate of the Japanese Yen appreciation against the US Dollar and Euro since last year, combined with the continuous high price of gold and silver and increases in manufacturing costs in Japan, they now need to be more realistic with how they price their products, in order to keep manufacturing and supplying us. They’ve been discussing different solutions for recovery and pro...