T3 Week 6 - MC Stone stetting
Stone setting in Metal Clay. Have I told you that I love Metal Clay. I really do. It is so versatile.
With this weeks project we had to set cubic zirconias in the metal clay and fire them in place (as some stones are able to withstand the heat, some can’t) and then using a bezel cup to set a Cabochon stone after the piece has been fired.
As I have used metal clay before this week and next week I decided to try some things I hadn’t before and push myself a bit more and I am really pleased with the results.
Silver clay in lump form
Pre-fired with the stone in place
Drying on a hot plate.
I started first with creating a lovely pendant and using some letters to create the word ‘love’ in the piece. I haven’t used these letters before so really wanted to try them and I must say I do love it. I also created a flower pendant with a bail and a sightly different way of adding a stone to fire in place. As you can see two very different style pendants but still using the same technique of having the stone in place during firing.
Pre-firing - adding the bail
Post firing
Finished pendant.
For the cabochon setting piece, again I decided to push my skills. As part of my business I like to use the nature I find around me as I live in such a gorgeous part of the UK in the Dorset Countryside. Below you can see that I use a leaf to create the texture for a pendant which I have used an oak leaf stencil to create the shape of the pendant.
Adding texture to the silver clay
Post stencil
Post firing
The bezel cup is added to the base prior to firing. Once fired the piece is then brushed with a brass brush and then added to the barrel polisher. After the polisher I wanted to try out adding liver of sulphur which creates this blackened effect on the silver. Adding this helps to emphasise the detail in the leaf imprint. Once the desired colour is reached then you use a polishing cloth to remove the liver of sulphur from the high points and leaves it in the recesses.
Finally the cabochon stone is added to complete the piece.
After adding patina
Finished pendant