Tutorial - Fine Silver Earrings

One of the techniques for working with metal clay is to press it into a mold.

The main advantage of this technique is repetition - with is great for duplicating the same design over and over again.

The mold can be made out of any object, and also your own design. These designs can be carved out of wax, pressin a metal prototype, shaped using polymer clay etc.

I work with Art Clay Silver, wthich is easy to handle, shape and burn at home.

I pressed soft silver clay into my mold, and waited for it to dry. 

work stages (left to right): mold - silver clay - fine silver piece

My long experience with the material tought me I should let it to dry completely. My patience paid off, and the next day I burned the pieces over a net on the gas stove in the kitchen.

After firing and filing corners, I blackened the pieces - now pure silver - using liver of sulfur, then smoothened the relif with sandpaper and polished with a burnisher.

All that's left at this stage is to assemble the earrings: adding the beads and the hook.

fan earring - fine silver with rose quartz

These earrings are "little siblings" to a pendant I made last year:

"big brother" - fine silver pendant with rose quartz and sterling chain

In The Beginning

How does one become an artist?

Is it genetic? Acquired? Chance?

I can track back my first artistic thoughts to kindergarten, at 5 years old.

One was when my friend, Orit, sketched a figure and drew to many contour lines for the hands. When painting inside she realized making a mistake and fixed it, but I was disappointed. I really liked those extra lines, and thought it was wonderful and imaginative.

Another was being fed up with threading plastic beads, and looking for other options. The teacher's assistant took some olive kernels and showed me how to grind their tips on a stone to make holes. I coated the kernels with gouache paint and created my first necklace.

I come from a family of craftsmen and artists, so becoming a creative artist seemed natural for me. However, support for my young talent came from other places, mainly my art teacher at school. When I expressed my wish to learn art in high school, my father replied that it's better to learn a trade, and sent me to learn bookkeeping.

Me, bookkepping???

I'm still lost in my bank statements!!!

Soon he realized his mistake, and became a source of support. Art became a built-in part of my routine.

fine silver pendant - metal clay, sterling silver and fluorite necklace

StudioD began its first steps about 30 years ago, when I quit my Architecture studies. At first it seemed to be a good substitute for art, but soon I found myself longing to form and shape materials with my bare hands. I began designing jewelry made of leftover modeling cardboard, and can sincerely say that they were the best outcome of my studies.

mixed media on canvas - acrylic and modeling cardboard

Obstacles and Creativity

I often hear fellow artists complain about writers' blocks, lack of muse and other obstacles in their path to making art. It's given, since creativity isn't always fluent and can be episodical. Moreover, most of our art is composed in our subconscious, and only when it surfaces – art is being created. I compare these phases to pregnancy. Other obstacles can be lack of time, of support, of financial ability and of opportunity. In the past few years I've encountered another: physical disability.

About twelve years ago, in the midst of a creative period, I developed Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) – AKA Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), Post Viral Fatigue Syndrome (PVFS), Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) and other names. CFS is a neurological disorder characterized by exhaustion, cognitive fog, widespread pain and other symptoms.

In short, painting and jewelry making became increasingly very difficult, even impossible at times. After the initial mourning I knew I had to adjust, and gradually learned how to glide on the wavy nature of the syndrome. Now there are "good art days" which allow me to saw and hammer metal, and "medium art days" which I use for more delicate and less physical work. Unfortunately there are also "no art days", or "couch potato days".

Creativity means not only making art, but finding solutions, and I found two.

Ever since CFS became a fact of life, I wished there was an easy way to continue my work with silver. It took some years, and then I found Metal Clay for my "medium art days".

 Metal Clay pendant - Fine Silver and Carnelian

Working with Metal Clay is fun, but I still had to do it in the studio. At the time I began knitting wire necklaces for my Metal Clay pendants. When a "no art day" happened in the middle of a necklace, I decided to take it to the living room, to complete it in front of the tube. Since "no art day"s can stretch to weeks – this decision yielded a new and colorful line of jewelry.

Lacy Lariat Necklace and Belt

It may sound weird, but I thank CFS for expanding my choices.