craftsofthepast's Blog

Art Firing of Metal, Clay and Glass
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Blue Morning Expressions in Clay

Published: 03-19-2013 01:27pm
Posted In: Art Firing Metal, Clay or Glass
   Julie creates blue morning expressions in clay.  She describes herself as a freelance writer with a passion for polymer clay, both the beads and polymer clay cane making with more than eight years of experience in polymer clay. Her online shop is Blue Morning Expressions, named after her family’s  bearded collie, Blu Morning.  She enjoys creating finished jewelry and has admirers of her novelty earrings in particular. She has had great success in selling them at arts and crafts shows. Julie is presently living  in Montana for a season or two.   She blogs about her surroundings as well as other subjects and she makes wonderful phot... » Read More

Stuff Happens in a Kiln

Published: 03-08-2013 12:03pm
Posted In: Art Firing Metal, Clay or Glass
by Anna Garner of CraftsofthePast No matter the high level of technology in electric and electronic kilns of today, there is still the interference of climate and human error to cause bad stuff to happen.  Not bad as in the sense of evil, but bad in the sense of imperfections.  Actually that is the kind of bad that teaches us to improve our methods or our technology.   I have had several Incidents of bad stuff happen to me, so theoretically I should now know better.  Nevertheless, there is always a surprise waiting for me in something that emerges from the bed of charcoal in which my bronze pieces are laid.  One recent incident was a se... » Read More

Glass on Fire

Published: 03-01-2013 08:57am
Posted In: Art Firing Metal, Clay or Glass
by Jo at UmeboshiThere is still some mystery shrouding the intentional making of glass by humans.  It could have been as early as 3000 BCE that some “woman” decided she liked some bit of naturally or accidentally formed glass and began to experiment with fire and sand.   I say “woman” because I happen to be one, and one who happens to also love glass and fire!  Its all about the smooth and shiny, transparent color and sparkle of glass that mesmerizes people, especially women.  I don’t claim to know if there is any scientific evidence that points to a special relationship between women and glass but anecdotally, I can testify that thi... » Read More

Creating Fused Glass Art Pendants

Published: 02-22-2013 12:00pm
Glass Art Creations by Kellie at ResetarGlassArtThis pendant was made from fused glass clay.  To create this piece, the first step is to mix a fusible fine glass powder with a binder to form a clay-like consistency.  For this pendant, I created three batches of the glass clay - 1 in each color of green, taupe and ivory.  Using my hands, I then mix the three colors together until they are combined enough to have that marbled effect.  Once I like the distribution of the colors, I then use my hands again (no special tools for this technique!) and form the round shape.  A straw works great to make the hole for a ribbon or necklace.  The clay t... » Read More

Salvaging a Silver Pendant OOOOps

Published: 02-14-2013 12:00am
Posted In: Art Firing Metal, Clay or Glass
How To Ruin A Perfectly Good Piece Of Jewelry…And How To Bring It Back To Lifeby Bobbi Helms When I make jewelry, I tend to futz a lot with it. (Futz is sort of a technical term...it means "play with") And, as sometimes happens, I go overboard and ruin the piece.  Case in point: I had a very nice piece of sterling silver sheet that I cut down to about 1 1/2" x 1". I textured it. I patterned it. I stamped it. I filed it. I punched holes in it. Then I soldered on an oval bezel I had made for a really nice, flashy blue moonstone. All was looking pretty good...but I knew that more had to be done with it. I ended up soldering a sterling silver s... » Read More

The Kiln as a Jewelry Designer

Published: 02-09-2013 09:26am
Posted In: Art Firing Metal, Clay or Glass
With some metals, maybe most, the metal worker who uses a kiln for the metal clay materials now available has to welcome the incidentals that come out of the kiln with the newly fired piece.  Some of the things I have learned to expect especially in working with bronze is the rainbow effect that some pieces will acquire even though they were buried in activated charcoal in order to preserve the golden bronze that I had envisioned coming out of my fast firing kiln.  With bronze I sometimes find a soft gray green patina forming in the deeper lines in the image on the bronze.  When I first got my new fast firing kiln, I had it set too high and a p... » Read More
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