Metal Clay & Color

I am very happy to share with all of you that I am part of a wonderful new book coming up this summer. I was invited to be part of a group of artists who will share projects made with metal clay and different mediums to add color. The book's name is Metal Clay & Color by Kalmbach Books and complied by Mary Wohlgemuth. 

20 leading artists (Janet Alexander, Lorena Angulo, Lorrene Baum-Davis, Maggie Bergman, Pat Bolgar, Susan Breen Silvy, Barbara Briggs, Sandra Butchko, Catherine Davies Paetz, Pam East, Joy Funnell, Vickie Hallmark, Hadar Jacobson, Patricia Kimle, Irina Miech, Kim Otterbein, Cindy Pankopf, Cindy Silas, Jewelyn Vanoni and Michela Verani ) contributed ideas and projects for adding color to metal clay.

I created two projects for the book with bronzclay and added color using Creative paperclay and Gilders Paste, I will also have some images of my work for the gallery.

I am sure you will be inspired by the 25 projects included in the book.

PMC Guild Annual #3

PMC Guild Annual #3

I am very happy to be selected again this year for the wonderful book PMC Guild Annual #3.

This book is the PMC guild's annual juried publication that is distributed to all the guild members every year.

For this publication 4 jurors selected 109 images among 456 images they received .

The images came from eight countries and 25 states in the US.

I am honored to be in a book with such great artists and to share the back cover of the book with some of them ;-}.

The gorgeous whistle ring in the cover of the book is from a very talented artist,

Donna Penoyer.

Congratulations to all the great artists that will have their work in this years book!!!

Lorena

More copprclay playing time!

I have been playing more with copprclay lately and I still have some problems with the firing to be the perfect one for my kind of pieces.

My work is bigger and thicker and sometimes I end up firing the pieces twice just to be sure they are sinter correctly.

I still have one mask that I have fired two times and the piece looks the same, the clay is dry but it is not sinter at all, I will keep on trying with this piece because I am very persistent and I love the face!

Although the face lost some flowers on the first firing and the eyebrows on the second firing, I will make it work!!! ;-}

On my first group of pieces I fired was a milagro heart I designed but it was not sinter and it broke. I kept the piece to see if I could fix it.

I had to make some changes to the piece and I like the way it looked at the end.

I had been thinking in making a cuff for a long time and one good friend artist Vickie Hallmark,

http://www.vickiehallmark.com/ ,showed me her amazing cuff and it really inspired me to try to make one.

The cuff fired perfectly but I had the bad idea to try to close it a little more and although I know that I needed to anneal the cuff before , I did it without doing it and I broke my cuff.

This mistake gave me the idea of making earrings with the same design, my friends in Facebook told me they like them as earrings too.

I end up making a new cuff, this time bigger and wider and the piece fired very good and I did not touch it after that ;-}.

Better to be safe than sorry again!

Making my Bronzclay pot was an adventure.

For starters, I had to find a way to create the shape of the pot. It came to my mind the way we build piñatas in Mexico, we use a balloon as the core and build around it, so I've got a water balloon and wrapped it with a sheet of bronzclay.

It was a little messy, I had to make 4 cuts on the top to be able to form the pot.

Working to get the basic shape for the pot was a lot of fun and not as difficult as I thought. I had to be very careful to avoid the clay getting dry and tear in some areas.

After sealing the cuts and adding more clay and paste to the joints, I let it dry and started sanding to obtain a smoother surface verifying that the joints were perfectly sealed.

After I was satisfied with the texture and joints, I started giving the pot its own personality, cutting the top and adding some texture on the inside.

My design came alive at the same moment I had the pot in my hands, ideas started to flow and my pot was on its way ;-}.

The pot is finished and ready to be fired in the kiln!!!!

I was very anxious and a little worried about how it will come out.

Waiting was very stressful ;-}.

My pot came out of the kiln in perfect conditions!!!!!

I was very happy!

"Oaxaca"

Bronzclay pot

Lorena Angulo

Finally I finished my piece.

"Frames of a miracle"

My necklace is finished and I enjoyed every minute working on it.

I always try to make a piece of jewelry that will tell a story or will give you a feeling when you look at it.

This piece was a great way to express our journey through my daughter's first three months in the Intensive Care Unit and also represents the beautiful personality that she has today.

The Materials I used were PMC3 for the two main frames, Bronzclay for the six little frames , copper wire, epoxy resin, photos, sterling and pearls.

All the texture on the frames was done by using my own design stamps and carving the design on the metal clay.

Lorena

A new project, a new challenge

I am starting to build a new piece that it is very close to my heart.



This new work piece is inspired by our journey with our daughter Veronica when she was born 3 months early in 2002.



Veronica's birth weight was 1 lb 11 oz, and even though she was extremely ill more than two times she always fought back with all her heart.



She was an inspiration for all of us because she never let go and fought all the time during her three months at the NICU.



Veronica nowadays is a very healthy, energetic, positive and loving little girl that is always teaching us a new thing every day ;-).



The piece is going to be created by a combination of bronzclay frames and two PMC3 (silver clay) frames that will be the central focus of the necklace.




I am still working on the final design and a title.

Lorena

Working with Bronzclay

I had a great time making these Bronzclay pieces for future jewelry pieces.

Every time I play with the clay I learn something new and I like it more and more.

Some of the pieces are going to be on a necklace I will be creating with different metals (copper, bronze and silver). This necklace is very close to my heart because it is inspire by my daughter Veronica and her journey in the NICU on her first three months of life.

The name of the piece is going to be "Frames of a Survivor" but it may change depending on the feeling I will have when the piece is finish or maybe my own daughter will tell me the name ;-}.

Lorena