Sunday, June 15, 2008

Saying Good-Bye

IT’S NOT EASY

Sometimes it’s very difficult to let a piece of art go. Once in a while I make something that I am so happy with I just want to keep it around for little while.

This pendant is the first that I feel I was successful in all the aspects I self-critique the most. The patina came out the way I wanted – dark in the low spots and bright and shiny on the high spots. The Keum-boo bird is well-defined. And the texture is so crisp.



(Okay, I wasn’t too happy with the bail – it was a little too long.)

The woman who bought it from me at a local craft show yesterday was a return customer. She tried on at least five necklaces and went browsing around the show. She came back near the end of the day and bought this piece – one she hadn’t tried on previously.

I had finished it the night before and hadn’t taken a photo yet. Luckily, I had my camera with me at the show, so I photographed all my new pieces right then and there.

Well, suffice it to say, I will be making another one the next time I’m in my studio (with a shorter bail of course ;).

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Fancy Free's New Medium

PRECIOUS METAL CLAY

Precious Metal Clay (PMC) is an exciting material developed and patented in the 1990s by Mitsubishi Materials of Japan.


(click on photo to enlarge)


In the medium I work with (PMC3), microscopic particles of pure silver (salvaged from film negatives) are mixed with an organic binder to create a material that has the working properties of clay.

Using myriad tools, objects are given shape, texture, and character. After drying, the objects are heated to high temperatures, where the organic binder burns away and the silver particles fuse together to create a precious metal object - .999 percent pure silver.

Some pieces are treated to genuine gemstones and/or 22k gold bonded to the piece using an ancient Korean method called Keum Boo (kum-boo), which translated means "attached gold".