Precious Metal Clay Dragonfly Pendant

Heather Powers received her degree in fine art and has since been pursuing her dream of being an artist. From drawing to printmaking she has a desire to get her feet wet in every medium, including the jewelry-making arena. She is not content to use just one medium in her pieces, so she combines precious metal clay (which transforms into fine silver when heated) and polymer clay to create stunning pendants.

Materials:

Precious Metal Clay and syringe form
Hot Pot ceramic heating pot
dragonfly rubber stamp
small paintbrush
toothpicks
distilled water
olive oil
roller
razor blade
craft knife
wire brush
jeweler’s files
burnisher
polymer clay
pasta machine
rotary tool
20-gauge sterling silver wire
2 flat silver spacer beads
6mm bead
wire cutters
round and flat nose pliers
plastic sheet
cardboard
mini terra cotta flowerpot
tweezers
dish soap
toaster oven
playing card

Steps:

Wings and Upper Body

1. Cover the work surface with a plastic sheet and hands and tools with olive oil.

2. Roll out the clay with roller using cardboard guides to measure consistent thickness.

3. Stamp clay with a dragonfly stamp.

5. Roll a piece of PMC (Precious Metal Clay) around a toothpick. The toothpick will burn away when fired creating a hollow space to thread the wire through.

6. Use another toothpick to shape the ridges on the upper body by gently pressing down on the clay. Attach the clay roll to the top of the wings (figure B).

7. Use a paintbrush with a little bit of distilled water to smooth out any edges around the upper body and wings.

8. Let the clay air-dry overnight or dry with a hair dryer within 10 minutes.

9. Fire in a ceramic pot also following manufacturer's instructions.

• Take the lid off of the ceramic pot and place the mini flowerpot in the pot.
• Fill it to the rim with the fuel that is in the squeeze bottle (approx. 1.1oz.).
• Place the circular firing grate on the pot.
• Set the PMC piece on the firing grate. Put the lid back on the pot.
• Install the mesh flame arrestor on top of the pot to keeps flames from coming out of the top of the pot.
• Place the pot on the included heatproof square.
• Insert a lit long match in the large hole in the side of the pot to ignite fuel.
• The pot will burn for approximately 15 minutes. Let it burn out.Caution: The pot will be hot. Do not touch it with your bare hands.
• After it has cooled, remove the piece using tweezers, as it may still be hot.

12. File any rough edges using a jeweler's file.

13. Polish with a burnisher to bring out the details of the wings and to add shine (figure C).