BACK - Inspired and Tired!

The Bead and Button Show was an awesome experience! Talk about inspiration, ideas, and BEADS!! Wow. I was busy almost every second for four days - took four workshops and absorbed new ideas and techniques. I am so happy it is summer vacation now so I will actually have time to try some things out.

The brief version - I took classes on soldering metal, copper electroforming, bronzclay and wirewrapping. I will get back to these as I try out some of the new ideas over the next few weeks.

I fired a new batch of bronzclay yesterday, and I am continually amazed at how it looks after firing. In the same firing, there are several variations and colors. I did notice that placement in the container did seem to have an effect. I fired two layers in the pan. The bottom layer had more orange tones, and the top layer was browner. You can see this by looking at the pieces. See photo - the top pieces were actually the bottom layer, and those on the bottom were the top layer.
I used the bottom pieces to make my newest bracelet (pictured at left.) I attached the links with bronze wire links, which I soldered, and used a toggle clasp, which I also constructed from the clay.