A World of Metal Clay

The final PMC Guild metal clay conference was a national conference, but in name only.  There were many other countries represented,  Canada, Australia, England, Greece, Japan, the Netherlands, Panama, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Germany.

Some of them came with charms and I was lucky enough to exchange with a few of them.  (Sorry about the quality of the photos.  I'm trying my daughter's macro lens and not quite use to the depth of field thing.)

One of the first exchanges was with Lila Diamantopoulou from Greece.

www.liladiam.com

Some of the Japanese Artists combined polymer clay and metal clay in their charms.  I'm sure you can find the metal clay in each of these pieces.  

Miyako Kobayashi

Anna M Aoki

(Who is actually from NY.)

www.d2nyjewelry.com

Yoshiko Komoro

http://wallpaper.fumbaro.org/en/

How wonderful it is to be a part of the Metal Clay Community.  It's a wonderful (and large group!)

The Spirit of Metal

In past conferences there was a set time for the charm exchange.  This year was different.  If we had charms to exchange we were to put a star on our name tags.  (Needless to say, after we looked at people's necklaces..... we looked at their name tag.)

This was a good idea but it had some drawbacks.  First of all it was too easy to make a mistake and get two of the same person's charm.  We were so busy looking at the charms that we didn't really pay that much attention to what the person looked like.  Instead we focused on what they were wearing (and of course each day they had on different clothes..... hence the mix-up. )  (Actually I'm hoping that is the explanation and not that I was having Senior Moments!)

Most of my doubles came from the Guild members from Louisiana, L'esprit du Metal.   They all had this really neat logo on their cards.

I don't mind doubles (now I have earrings.)  Some of the people had more than one choice of charm so some of my doubles are more about having two of the same person's.  

Heather Griffith

Dianne Hoyt  ( I have two different charms from Dianne)

Andi Benefield (got duplicates here.)

Simone Patout Palmer  (duplicates too.)

Cecille

(I apologize if I've messed up any one's name.)

I too had three different kinds of charms.  They were all the same design but they were either small silver, large bronze or large silver.  And since my photo polymer plate was designed for earrings the design was reversed on half of them.  What are the chances they got a matching pair to make earrings?

I can only hope!

Speaking of Backs

One of the first people I traded charms with at the conference was Kim Paige.  (She recognized my charm from my blog...... nice to know that it's being read.)

Kim's charm 

I mention Kim because she was wearing a necklace that had her children on it and I noticed it immediately.  When I went to take a closer look at it (on her neck of course) I saw that the other side was also beautifully designed.  (Why is it we immediately turn the piece over?....... another reason for taking extra care with the opposite side.)  Kim designs and sells under the title "Red Tree Studio."  (I guess that's why the red leaf!) 

Check out her portrait pendants.  http://redtreestudio.com/photopendant.htm

A few years back I did a portrait of my granddaughter Olivia.  That was another reason I was extra interested in Kim's necklace.  Her technique allowed for more detail than the photo polymer plate I used.  

Actually after seeing Kim's, I'm embarrassed to even show mine.  In fact I won't.  I'll just show the sweet little picture it was taken from.  This is Olivia Pearl!

Only God knows

There are twenty eight silver charms ready to go to the conference.  (Not all are exactly the same as noted in the previous post.)

Sitting on my work table at the studio are fourteen copper charms, sanded and ready to be fired.  (Obviously they aren't going to the conference!)  All fourteen of those charms are not exactly alike...... in fact about four of them are total different shapes than the rest.

Now, about the bronze charms.   There were fourteen bronze charms (all of these are alike.)  And, actually there still are fourteen.  I just don't know where one of them is.  It will show up one of these days.  When my golf ball hits a tree and ricochets only God knows which direction it went.   The same principle works when a piece of metal flies off my finger when the flex shaft wheel hits it.  I heard it hit the wall, but again..... only God knows where it ended up.

So..... there were fourteen bronze charms...... and then there were thirteen.

"I know the silver is more expensive, but I think I like the bronze better."