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journal of the pmc guild
2010/2
12
The Journal of the International PMC Guild
fusion
In the last few years, the online marketplace Etsy has opened up vast retail opportunities for artists. Etsy, which began in 2005, has been described as an artsy cross between Amazon and eBay, and that description is apt. Sellers post their creations and set their own prices, and the site brings customers to them. It’s kind of like a virtual craft fair, where customers can “mingle” as they browse the Web in search of something that catches their eye and interest.
E TSY
above: Nisa Smiley. Abacus Bronze Bell.photo by the artist.
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In that sense, the Brooklyn-based Etsy serves as a connector because it links buyers with sellers. Artists pay a fee—20 cents per item—to Etsy to set up a “shop.” Etsy also receives 3.5 percent of each sale. It has become a phenomenon. Within two years of its launch, Etsy topped $4 million in sales per month. This time last year, monthly sales were in the vicinity of $10 million to $13 million. Along with handmade craft and art items, Etsy also sells craft supplies and, in what appears at first glance to be an unusual twist, homemade sweets and such. But the home-made food angle fits into Etsy’s overarching philosophy that encourages buyers to purchase handmade and original items. It’s part of the larger trend in America (and elsewhere) that finds shoppers placing higher value on unique and local goods, created by hand by individual makers. For most sellers on Etsy, the site is one aspect of their marketing strategy. It’s a complementary marketplace, and not necessarily the sole or even primary outlet. Many artists, including several Guild members inter-viewed for this story, have just begun using Etsy in an experimental way. Others have been on the site for many years and report impressive sales figures.
Lynn CobbGold maple leaves mounted on silver, PMC3 and PMC Gold, sterling and vermeil chain. Photo by George Post.
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The PMC Guild is a members organization with
the mission of providing support, education, and
exposure for artists working in Precious Metal Clay.
PMC Guild1921 Cliffview LaneFlorence, KY 41042
To Join, Renew, or Edit Info Online
www.PMCguild.com
Membership Questions (toll-free)
866–315–6487
Speak with the Director859–586–0595
Executive DirectorJeanette [email protected]
TreasurerDarnall [email protected]
Communications Tim McCreight [email protected]
Journal EditorBob [email protected]
Web ManagerSadelle [email protected]
PMCguildInternational
Lynn Cobb, who lives in the Bay Area of Cali-fornia and works exclusively in PMC, is among the newcomers. She opened a shop on Etsy this spring as an alternative to the high-end crafts shows, which can be very expensive. At the time of this interview, she had not re-corded any sales, but had made contact with poten-tial customers. She thinks Etsy is too big to fail, and believes it’s important for her to establish a presence.“There are, last I looked, over a million items in the jewelry section. Many artists simply post, in order to have an Etsy presence, and I suspect that won’t end whether they sell much or not,” she said. It has proven particularly helpful in generat-ing sales for artists who make small items, such as jewelry made from PMC. Overall on Etsy, price points tend to be lower, in the $15 to $20 range, and the site skews young. Many analysts attribute Etsy’s boom to the economic recession. It has created an affordable and convenient way for people to buy handmade arts and crafts items, and also has enabled artists to organize themselves in clusters based on geography, style, material and other common interests. A recent Etsy search for “PMC Jewelry” turned up 183 pages, or more than 6,000 individual pieces. Jen Kahn, a Vermont-based maker who works mostly in PMC, began listing items on Etsy in January 2008. It was a New Year’s Resolution for her, and she followed through by setting up her own retail “shop” on the online outlet. Sales were slow at first, but picked up into the summer and fall, and Kahn says the effort to establish her presence on Etsy has been worthwhile. “For the most part, I love Etsy,” she said. “Sure, it has some issues. But the bottom line is that it has provided me an easy way to start and maintain a store online. Initially, I thought my sales on Etsy would come from folks who see me locally, but the majority of customers are people who just find me through searches, and they come from all over. So yes, it definitely has helped me in finding new cus-
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tomers. It’s also a great way for me to maintain a constant presence where people can buy my work, since my local selling events are intermittent.” With the establishment of Etsy as a viable and, apparently, sustainable marketplace, we’ve also begun to see that Etsy may be influencing not only how people sell their work, but also how they make it. We’re in the early stages of evaluating what has become known as the Etsy aesthetic.Influenced by the success of other artists, makers are beginning to make pieces that fit Etsy’s price point. They are adapting their work to better blend into what is selling on Etsy. “I think successful artists do influence others, although I do not neces-sarily think that artists are giving up their own muses, ideas and aesthetics just to have a successful shop,” Cobb said. She added that she intends, as time allows, to post less expensive items on Etsy and “perhaps try to develop a line that is within this price range.” Kahn understands that thinking. Long before she sold her work on Etsy, she paid attention to commercial trends in Vermont. When she has created something that sells, she makes more of that design. When she
Jen Kahn. Journey Necklace. PMC, sterling , Chinese turquoise, glass beads, button, key, silver charm, black waxed cotton. Photo by the artist.
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makes something that remains on the table of her booth week after week, she might re-work it. “As an artist who aspires to try to make a living from my art, I can’t ignore things like the economy and price points and what sells well,” she said. “That’s not to say that those things are at the forefront of my mind when I create objects, but these are factors I take into consideration.” She adds, “Etsy does not influence my work, my sales on Etsy do.”She reads articles on the Etsy blog “the Storque,” pays attention to in-terviews with other artists and browses other shops on Etsy. She does her best to stay up on the trends on Etsy because, she says, “They are more ‘real’ than those in magazines. … I might have a sense of them and how they jive with my own style, but I wouldn’t try to fit my work to them. If a trend that has nothing to do my aesthetic is popular or being talked about, it doesn’t affect me in any way. If a trend is relevant to my work, if I’m making really long necklaces instead of chokers and I notice that that’s a trend on Etsy, I take note of that. I want my work to be unique but relevant.”
Deanna LongFace PendantBronze clayPhoto by the artist.
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Etsy is a clean and fairly easy-to-navigate site. It’s massively huge, with seemingly endless pages, but it’s reasonably well organized and not at all static. The homepage features a left-hand navigation bar of categories, arranged alphabetically, from accessories to woodworking.The homepage features a series of rotating themes—at the time of this writing, it was “Redefine your Space,” with links to sellers offering such handmade housewares as pillows, curio shelves and folk art; another to a marketplace for weddings; another for eco-friendly creations, dubbed “Shop with a Conscience.” The homepage also has a showcase page, updated daily, where sellers show off their top items. There is a link to an interview with an artist and a spotlight on featured items culled by the editors while browsing through the many Etsy stores. You can navigate by geography and color, and there’s also a search engine to enable refined quests. Especially for sellers, it takes some getting used to, because of its size and encompassing content. As Cobb said, “Etsy is a nightmare to get started on, unless one has a very good working knowledge of several com-puter programs… Young people are getting better and better at this from all of their computer games and aren’t put off by the layers and layers of instructions and lack of technical support. I, for one, can’t stand being told to just go to 25 other sites or blogs to possibly find instructions on how to, for example, make a banner or resize photographs or some other technical problem that arises with Etsy.” For her and for others, the lure of Etsy is exposure and potential. Deanna Long, a PMC artists from Lincoln, Nebraska, opened her shop on Etsy in December. At the time of this interview, she had made one sale on Etsy. “But I will continue to put pieces in my shop because with Etsy, I feel my work has a chance to be seen by more people than if I just had my Web site alone,” Long said. (And as an aside, her presence on Etsy led to this interview, a point made for the unforeseen benefits of exposure.)She specializes in art jewelry influenced by ancient cultures, and will con-tinue to sell her work on her own Web site, through Etsy and other outlets and venues.
Sherry FotopoulosServes metal clay artists
210-656-8239ONLINE CATALOG : : PMC123.com
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Her work has not, and will not, change no matter the outcome of her Etsy experience, Long says. “Etsy has not influenced the aesthetics of my work because I am creating pieces like I wanted to make back when I was working on my BA in art history.” Nisa Smiley, a designer and jeweler from Maine, feels similarly. She is making the work she wants to make, and has not tailored her craft to fit any aesthetic, Etsy or otherwise, besides her own. “I approach my craft from an artistic perspective, as opposed to a business perspective, and the drive within me that inspires each individual piece expires with the finish-ing of the piece.” She is fairly new to Etsy, and has enjoyed her experience with it. Until she got onto Etsy this winter, Smiley’s online presence was restricted to her own Web site. She discovered Etsy as a buyer. She bought glass beads from an Etsy seller, who asked Smiley why she did not have a shop. “I thought about it and decided that especially in today’s economy, it made sense to have a second source of exposure and potential sales.”She has begun photographing her own work and is in the early stages of establishing an Etsy shop. She wants to do it right, because it’s apparent to her that those who are most successful on Etsy take the time to present their work in as appealing a manner as possible. That means sharp, effec-tive photography and showing off a variety and volume of work. Smiley counts herself among those who like Etsy – “quite a bit actu-ally. I am able to buy various materials and supplies there, meet other artists and craftspeople, talk with them about their work and get a sense of the latest trends and what the average customer out there is looking for and buying. I would not say that the trends have directed my work, but without a doubt I am inspired by what other people are creating.”
Resources www.etsy.com Lynn Cobb lynncobbsilver.com Deanna Long dklstudios.com Jen Kahn jenniferkahnjewelry.com Nisa Smiley nisajewelry.com
See more work by these artists at PMCguild.com/fusion
Clay, Tools, EquipmentLinda Stiles Smith937.433.6249www.naturescapesstudio.com
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Work is now being accepted for consideration for the fourth PMC Guild Annual, a prestigious and collectible survey of leading work in metal clay. The deadline to receive work is May 21.
"People submit images for many reasons; to share their latest work, to advertise their name, to add to their resumé” said Guild Executive Director Jeanette Landenwitch. “For some it could be a benchmark or affirmation as to where they are in their creative journey. Whatever the motivation, this popular publication has become a source of inspiration for both new and seasoned enthusiasts. The metal clay community is already looking forward to seeing the next body of work!" Each year the Guild selects four jurors who represent not only different aesthetics but divergent roles in the field. These generous leaders volunteer their time to review the hundreds of images from which the final selection is made. Meet the 2010 jurors:
– Barbara Becker Simon lives in Florida, and is an accomplished metal-smith and lampworker who has worked with PMC almost from the be-ginning. She is one of the original faculty in the Rio Rewards program and the author of "Metal Clay Beads."
– Lora Hart lives in Venice, California, and has trained in traditional metalsmithing and beadwork. She has contributed to many books and magazines, including all three Annuals so far.
– Lisa Cain lives in Lostwithiel, Cornwall, England, and is founder and director of the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery. She is also director of the PMC Guild's UK affiliate. In addition to having work in several books and magazines, Lisa was a finalist in the most recent Saul Bell Design competition and has achieved the second tier of the Masters Registry program.
– Bruce Baker lives in Middlebury, Vermont, where he for many years ran a retail jewelry and gift store. This was preceded by a successful whole-sale jewelry business. Bruce is known for his dynamic presentations on booth design, selling, and business practice. He will speak at the PMC conference this summer.
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The Guild invites all members to submit work for the Annual. Each year, more than 4,000 copies of this full-color paperback book are sent to Guild members with additional copies sold through bookstores and jewelry supply companies. Details, timetable, and photo guidelines can be found in the prospectus, available on the Guild website (www.pmcguild.com/print/ProspectusforAnnual.pdf). Here are answers to a few common questions. For more information, send an e-mail to [email protected].
Who is eligible to submit work?Members of the PMC Guild are eligible to submit work.
What kind of work are you looking for?All work must be original. The work can include jewelry but can also be other items such as housewares, toys, sculpture, flatware, etc.
Can I use other materials?Metal clay should make up a significant portion of the piece, but you can include glass, polymer clay, wood, ceramic, gems, enamels, plastic, and other materials. Silver, gold, bronze, and copper clay are all acceptable.
What is the schedule?Images must be received by the Communications Office by May 21. In October, a copy of the book will be sent to all Guild members as part of their membership. Additional copies can be purchased by members at half the retail price, which is $15.
Where do I send my images?Copy high quality images onto a CD and mail it, along with your name and caption information to: PMC Guild Annual 318 Bath Road Brunswick, ME 04011
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The Annual and Me – Lora HartI had written one or two articles for Studio PMC magazine and really enjoyed working the editor, Suzanne Wade. When I read about the Guild’s plans to publish an annual “picture” book of work that featured work in metal clay, I knew I wanted to be a part of it. I had long admired Lark Book’s “500 Series” and I thought it was about time that metal clay got the same kind of recognition and was honored with a beautifully printed and edited book of it’s own. Around the same time, Marsha Thomas, a member of my local Los Angeles Chapter, gave a photography demo at a meeting and I had asked her to take some pictures of a few of my favorite pieces. The resulting work became my submission photographs. I’ve used Marsha ever since. She’s a great photographer! Entering my work for consideration in the Annual, and the positive response I’ve gotten as a result has encouraged me to submit to other publications and I’m very proud to say that I’ve been featured in a few other books. It’s certainly been an honor to be included in the first three of the PMC Guild Annuals and I’m thrilled to have been asked to participate as a juror for the 4th! I absolutely encourage anyone to try their hand at submitting photos. To the Annual, to magazines for their gallery sections, in answer to a Lark Books call for entries. The word about the wonderful work being accomplished in metal clay needs to get out. And more artists need to be featured in as many public arenas as possible. Although it’s been here for almost 15 years, metal clay is still in it’s infancy and we need to show the world what a wonderful jewelry making material it can be.
800.545.6566 riogrande.comProud to support the PMC Guild!
RGAD_PMC Guild_July2009_Fusion_R1 1 6/30/2009 10:36:31 AM
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EditorialEarlier this spring, I delivered the keynote address at the Scholastic Art Awards annual recognition ceremony for the state of Maine, where I live. The Alliance for Young Writers & Artists founded the awards program in 1923 as a way to support aspiring young American artists. Winning an honor at the state level not only confirms talent and com-mitment, but also tells students that it’s OK to be an artist. They already know it’s OK to be an athlete or business person, but the accomplishments of artists are rarely celebrated in our society. I was asked to address these students and their parents because I write about the arts for the state’s largest newspaper, the Portland Press Herald/Maine Sunday Telegram. It was important for me to make sure these kids understood that their accomplishments were meaningful. Here are a few points I made in that speech: I reminded the students and their parents that an artist’s life is not simple, not because of the Hollywood stereotype of the starving artist, but because artists see things differently. They notice details. They ask questions. They observe. It’s hard work. And then they react, and their reactions, whether a painting or a photo or a sculpture or anything else, is for our benefit. And that’s more hard work. Artists look within and express what all of us know as the truth, but what we sometimes cannot name. It’s a remarkable talent and a coura-geous act of self-expression. Art and creative expression, no matter their form, are part of our lives and part of our identity in tangible ways. I commended the parents of the young artists for encouraging their sons and daughters in their creative pursuits. In these times of budget cuts and economic woe, it seems that the first things that get cut in our schools are the art programs. And that’s not only wrong and unfair, it’s short-sighted.Art matters. Art is important, and art makes people better, smarter, and wiser. Put simply, it helps us see the world in a different light. I am reminded of a comment I heard a few years ago made by a student I interviewed for a story about the Scholastic Art Awards. The student told me that no matter what path she chose for her life, art would be a part of it. She told me she viewed the world as an artist. Everything she looked at, everything she saw, she did through the filter of an artist. And because of that, she saw things differently than I might. She said “I don’t just see things. I see the beauty in things. That will serve me well no matter what I do with my life.” I think that pretty well says it all. — Bob Keyes
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From his office at the Hoover & Strong headquarters in Richmond, Va., Stewart Grice is able to get a first-hand view of trends in the jewelry busi-ness. Hoover & Strong is a refiner and manufacturer of precious metals. The company’s products include bridal jewelry, diamonds, findings and other mill products. Lately, Grice and his colleagues have detected a sharp increase in demand for Hoover & Strong’s refining services. “Oh, yeah, definitely,” he says, when asked if more people are sending in scrap metal to be refined in return for cold, hard cash. “We’re getting probably three or maybe even four times as many packages per week than we were 18 months ago, or two years ago. We’re getting more weight, and we’re also getting a lot more small packages, as well.” There is no doubt in his mind that the increase in demand for the refining services is directly related to the economy. When times are tough, people look for ways to save and to get something in return. By cleaning up the workbench area and packaging scrap metal, failed projects and other bits of material, artists and jewelers can recoup some of their mate-rial costs and increase their profits. The uptick in business is also related to the increase in prices that are being paid for gold, silver and other metals. Hoover & Strong refines gold, silver, platinum and palladium. The term refining refers to the process used to free metal from impurities or unwanted material. Many types of companies, including jewelry manufac-
Recycling for Beginners
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Toll-free 888-999-6404Phone 401-305-3999Fax 401-728-8038Email [email protected]
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turers and jewelry stores, use Hoover & Strong’s refining services. Lately, do individual artists. Playing the refining game is a bit like playing the stock market. You want to sell when the prices are high, Grice said. It’s important to pay at-tention to the metals market and make educated and informed decisions about how to send material for refinement, and when. He recommends sending material to a refiner twice a year. “Six to nine months ago, the metal prices were fluctuating a lot more. You could have a difference in $100 per ounce over three or four days,” he said. Hoover & Strong is one among many companies that offer such services across the U.S. Refining works like this: Individuals, or companies, bundle up scrap metal, workshop discards and other material that may trap metal shavings and scraps and then ship the bundle to a refiner. The refiner charges a flat fee for the process. For silver, that fee ranges from $75 for 25 ounces or less to $150 for 100 ounces or more. For gold, the fee is $150 whether you are refining five ounces of metal or 100 ounces. That’s why people tend to save it up and stockpile it. But lately, because of the high prices being paid for precious metals, people are sending in even smaller and smaller packages, he said. After the refining process is completed, Hoover & Strong sends out a payment for the pur-chase of the metal based on the market price at the time of refinement. The standard refinement process takes five to 10 business days for a settlement. Rush service is available, but costs more. He offered a few tips for individuals, and also directed folks to the Hoover & Strong Web site for more details (hooverandstrong.com/category/Refining/):
• Capture as much scrap and dust as you can by using sink traps and heavy-duty floor mats that will catch particles. He also rec-ommended using a small, separate vacuum only for scrap, filings and floor sweeps.
• Keep two wastebaskets in your shop, one for regular trash, the other for aprons, rags, floor sweeps and scrap. Before washing your hands in the sink, use baby wipes to clean your hands. Oth-erwise, you risk washing away metal particles down the drain.
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• Remove steel from your scraps with a magnet.• Always separate your metals. Silver should be kept separate from
gold.• Package your scraps in several Ziploc or similar bags. Package
those bags in a sturdy cardboard box and tape it well. Note your name, address, contents and weight, and include a brief cover letter with your shipment.
Many times, Hoover & Strong receives packages that have been damaged in transit, and it will not accept those packages without first con-tacting the customer. That’s one reason it’s important to include contact information both inside and outside the box. “If it’s been damaged, we will not touch it. We will call the customer and say, ‘It’s been damaged. What do you want us to do?’ If they ask us to accept it, we will, but we will only pay for what’s in there, not what was originally sent.” Grice said there is no average settlement charge. “It’s all over the board. I suppose we don’t usually get refining lots for less than $1,000 with gold, and with silver, for not less than a few hundred dollars. But we get them that are worth, literally, hundreds of thousands of dollars. That’s for the really big lots, obviously.” He strongly encourages individual artists to pay more attention to their scraps, and to devise a studio practice that is effective at capturing them. “If you do a good job at targeting waste in your shop, you increase your bottom line.”
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How to Make Your Own IngotThere is another way to deal with unwanted silver and while it’s not for everyone, you might be surprised at how easy it can be. Let’s assume here that a person has a small amount of silver that is eager to find a new life. And that the person does not have a commercial ingot mold or a large torch. The following ingot used about an ounce of silver, two scrap pieces of Solder-ite board, and a butane torch. The entire process, start to finish, took about half an hour and yielded a sheet of silver that measures an inch and a half square by about a millimeter thick.
1. Use a knife to cut a cavity into a piece of firing shelf. This can be a square, round, oval, or any other compact shape.
3. Set silver scraps into the cavity and melt them with the largest torch available.
2. Smooth the cavity with any handy tool. For this square ingot I used the end of a steel ruler.
4. Continue heating until the silver rolls into a smooth blob. A very hot blob.
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5. In a single smooth motion, lift the torch away as you press a second flat piece of firing shelf onto the melted metal. Don’t slap the lid down because this might cause the metal to splash. Press firmly and hold for at least a minute.
5. Open the mold and see what you’ve got. As seen here, the metal filled the mold and oozed out the edges. Pry this out of the shelf mate-rial and quench in water.
6. Trim the rough edges with scissors. To flatten and smooth this ingot, I forged it on a piece of steel with a heavy hammer. I like to leave it somewhat thick at this point, cutting off pieces and thinning them as needed.
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A friend of mine owns and operates a local gift shop in town, and sells jewelry by a woman whose work I particularly admire. I recently discov-ered that she sells it directly online. I can save a lot of money if I buy di-rectly from her, but I want to support my friend’s local business, especially in this economy. I’m in a quandary. — Danielle Dilemma
Good question, Danielle,The issue reaches beyond the arts and applies also to mom and pop phar-macies, hardware stores, and coffee shops. I think most people will say they want to support local businesses, but when it comes time to speak with our wallets, good intentions don’t always win out. Particularly when money is tight, it can be difficult to stick with principles when bargains are available elsewhere. I’ve given the matter a lot of thought (I have faced the same issue too, after all) and I wonder if maybe we need to find a new way to look at the problem. We all pay taxes to cover the cost of maintaining our roads, funding our schools, and supporting the cost of town governance. Good schools and clean highways are part of what makes us feel good about the places we live. And they entice businesses to locate here, which translates to im-proved services and more jobs. What other things contribute to the feel of the place where you live? For me, it’s the local sandwich shop, the funky used book store, and the drugstore that still has a soda fountain. When I imagine a town where these businesses have been replaced by generic big box stores it makes my stomach hurt. If I use the Internet to buy the items I could otherwise buy locally, these local landmarks risk the same demise. What does it cost us to help preserve our local culture? Maybe a pair of earrings will cost you ten dollars more if you buy it from your friend’s gift shop, and maybe you will spend a little more at the hardware store and the coffee shop too. But when you add it all up, what are we talking about? Compare that figure to your tax bill and the other expenses you
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make to keep your community vital. My guess is that it is probably a small percentage of the family budget. Now consider what happens when the local businesses disappear. It probably took a couple generations for the used book store to develop those sagging shelves and layers of dust. These are resources that won’t be easily renewed once they are gone. Maybe you should stop by the gift shop and try on the earrings; you know, just to say hello. — Sol
Send your philosophical quandaries to Ask Sol, [email protected].
This issue of Fusion contains the ninth installment of a feature we call the Visual Trigger Challenge. As you see in each issue of Fusion, our creative members have made work that responds to a particular image. We will select a first-place winner and runners-up to be included in the following issue. In addition to this international exposure, the first-place winner will receive $100 worth of PMC. Submitted work can be wearable, sculptural, or functional, and can include additional materials along with PMC. The winners will demonstrate creativity, craftsmanship, and a clear reference to the target image. Send a digital image to [email protected] any time before June 16, 2010. A larger image appears on the back cover of this issue.
The Next Fusion Visual Trigger Challenge
What is it? Turn it around, squint, and do whatever else helps you see something inter-esting in this image. Use that vision to create a piece in metal clay and send us a picture.
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The PMC Guild is pleased to welcome a new chapter in Miami, Florida. The group, Miami Metal Clay Artists, is led by Bernadette Denoux. She writes, “We have found a public place to hold our meetings. It’s Bead Me bead store in the Red Bird Shopping Plaza. We are all very excited to have two great teachers coming to south Florida. Barbara Becker Simon will be here May 20, 21, 22, and Hattie Sanderson will be here in October for three days through South Florida Jewelry Arts Guild.” Information about the group is available at www.miamimetalclayartists.com.
We’re also excited to see a continued global presence. In addition to having PMC enthusiasts in England and Australia, we now have a regional group in Scotland. Emma Gordon is working with Lisa Cain of the UK PMC Guild to establish the first regional group there. Welcome!
Metal Heads, Feat of Clay in Peoria, Arizona, recently hosted a Rio Grande certification class with Barbara Becker Simon at Fire and Friends Z Studio. Twelve students attended the three-day event, learning and working with PMC using the program specifications and techniques to complete certification projects. Four of the students were local chapter members, while the remaining students traveled from as far as Canada and Colorado. Simon extended her stay in the Valley of the Sun to instruct “Box Bead Making with Metal Clay” followed by a lampwork bead-making class focusing on “Hollow Beads and Adornments.” Collectively more than 30 students at-tended the three separate sessions. FZ Studio is the home of The Metal Heads, Feat of Clay Chapter of the PMC Guild, along with other groups and organizations. To find out more about the studio, visit www.ffzstudio.com. The Metal Heads chapter can be found at www.mhfoc.org.
The Florida Suncoast chapter recently hosted successful workshops given by Barbara Becker Simon and Gordon Uyehara. Each two-day workshop was attended by chapter members and clay enthusiasts from Florida, New Orleans and North Carolina.
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Chapter and Member Notes
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In October, Simon demonstrated creating texture plates by carving on a flat surface and by low-tech photo etching onto metal. Using texture plates they made, participants then learned how to fabricate polygon beads, espe-cially the lemon wedge bead, which they embellished with carvings and patina. In March, Gordon Uyehara guided participants in designing and assem-bling Cosmic Honu turtle pendants. Using templates, class members designed and constructed unique and exquisite turtles. On the second day, participants learned to use copper clay and to combine silver and copper in mixed-metal projects. At the end of each workshop, participants departed wearing their pen-dants and eager to use their new skills in additional projects. Because of the success of these workshops, the Florida PMC Suncoast chaper plans to sched-ule additional workshops in the future.
The metal clay community will again sponsor the Charms for Charity fundrais-ing event. Metal clay artists create handcrafted charms for bracelets and neck-laces, which will be raffled to raise money for cancer treatment and prevention. Members of the metal clay community will donate every aspect of this project, from making charms and bracelets to designing and selling raffle tickets, so this is your call to get involved. The beads will be displayed at the PMC Guild conference in July, and the deadline for submission is July 10. More info and help at:www.pmc-conference.com/events/charms-for-charity.html, or e-mail [email protected] for details.
Guild member Hattie Sanderson is writing a book dedicated to metal clay rings, and is seeking images from artists for inclusion in the book. The deadline for submitting images is November 1, 2010. “This is a great opportunity to have your work published. We are seeking rings that range from simple to complex that are of good design and well-crafted. Photographs must be high quality to be considered,” Sanderson said. If you have questions, contact Sanderson at [email protected]. Submission guidelines are available at www.HattieSanderson.com.
Saul Bell Design Award
Now in its tenth year! Visit www.saulbellaward.com
for more details.
RGAD_PMC Guild_July2009_Fusion_S1 1 6/29/2009 12:38:56 PM
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Each year the Tucson Gem Show draws thousands of jewelers to Arizona. This year the Southern Arizona Alchemist chapter set up a table in the Rio Grande show to share their enthusiasm for PMC. Three guests from Mitsubishi Materi-als were on hand to see the show and meet Guild members. Chapter secretary Lucy Pirro sent along these comments heard by the vounteers at the table:• There were many people who had never heard of PMC or if they had
heard of it, knew little about it. • One man asked what we could tell him to make him love PMC. • I overheard a man telling two girls that PMC has its place.• Many who stopped by didn’t know there was a PMC Guild or that is has
local chapters.• One man was thrilled to hear about PMC; he wants to combine it with
traditional metalsmithing.• Many people left their e-mail addresses so we could send them informa-
tion about PMC chapters. We had quite a few people from Tucson who expressed interest in our chapter and want to attend a meeting.
• Many who weren’t familiar with PMC were interested after seeing what can be done with it and expressed interest in classes.
Guild officers and Mitsubishi executives had dinner in Tucson with members of the local chapter. Bruce Baker was able to join thr group as well.
fusion twelve
This is the image we offered in Fusion 11 — a recognizable image of a Euro-pean train station.
page 22
Mary Ann Dodds
PMC, gold, copper and found objects.
From the judges:
Some entries took off on the themes of travel and mystery while others focused on the visual aspects of the extreme perspective. Mary Ann managed to do both in a piece that seems simple but is deceptively complex.
First Place
VISuAL TRIGGER CHALLENGE
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Second Place
Honorable Mention
See all the submissions at www.PMCguild.com
Sandra Siebert Lynn Edwards Haggerty
top rowJamie ConnerPatsy MonkRoxanne Coffelt
bottom rowPhyllis HowardSally Lamb
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Fusion Visual Trigger Challenge
See inside for details
Fusion: The Journal of the PM
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uild, its staff, and contributors specifically disclaim any responsibility or
liability for damages or injury as a result of any construction, design, use, m
anufacture, or any other activity undertaken as a result of the use or application of inform
ation contained in any Fusion issue or article.
