Made with the new Woodland Chic Texture Sheet by Patrik Kusek. Part of the Artisan Series by Dynasty Stamp. Available at Rio Grande.
I so thrilled to announce the Woodland Chic Texture Sheet officially is available at Rio! It seems like it’s been forever that Candace Gates of Dynasty Stamps asked me to be part of her Artisan Series. She’s asked a handful of artists to participate by designing texture sheets. Wonderful artists like Gordon Uyehara, Wanaree Tanner, Christi Friesen to name a few also participated by creating their own texture sheets. It was a fun and exciting challenge.
One of the reasons that I’m so excited is that I know that the quality of Dynasty Stamps is the best! Clean sharp impressions. Another reason is the size of the sheet. I’ve heard from a handful of artists who have seen the sheet. They all commented that it’s HUGE! Not the usual 2″ x 4″ sheet. BUT a full 7-1/4″ x 8-3/4″ Chock full of designs inspired by the forest. Over 30 design elements! Check out the email screen shot from Rio below.
Woodland Chic Texture Sheet by Patrik Kusek available at Rio!
Also check out the free tutorials online at Rio!
As part of the introduction to the Woodland Chic Texture Sheet, Rio asked me to write 2 tutorials. I’ve used 2 of my favorite textures from the sheet. The fern leaf and the wild roses cluster. Check out these 2 tutorials on the Rio site at Rio Tutorial. Thanks to the team at Rio for making this happen. Yvonne, Tara, Diana, Jeff and Shelby! You guys are the best! Also a HUGE thanks to Candace Gates the woman extraordinaire behind Dynasty Stamps. HUGS!
Also in the next few days I’ll be announcing the members of the Woodland Chic Design Team. These fabulous artists have been working with the new Woodland Chic Texture Sheet and they have created some stunning work! I’ll can wait to post them and show you the creative work that they have made!
Woodland Chic: Metal Clay Jewelry as Nature Intended by Patrik Kusek
Veteran’s Day Sale save 20% on Woodland Chic: Metal Clay Jewelry as Nature Intended by Patrik Kusek. Offer good til November 13, 2012. This offer only good on at the following link.
Use code: VETS2012 Offer not good on Amazon, or other outlets. Only available on Lulu.com.
A few weeks ago I was cleaning up the studio and found a box of old projects that didn’t turn out the way I expected. Projects that no longer represented me as an artist, and projects that I would get around to “some day”. I decided to collect everything together and send them to Rio for refining. Usually I melt some of the pieces into small balls and use them as decorative components in my work. Kind of like granulation. But one can only have so many components.
There are lots of different places to send scrap into for refining, some of them even give better rates Rio does. But to be quite honest, since I deal with Rio all the time it’s just plain easier to send it to Rio. If you haven’t done it give it a try. It’s easy and in my case, since the price of silver went up from the time I purchased it, I think I actually made money!
Keep your fine silver scrap separated out from sterling, gold (per karat) even coin silver .900. Remember EVERYTHING can be refined, this includes wire clippings, clippings from head pins everything, jump rings that bent of out of shape. You can also send in filings from your bench as well as long as they are not contaminated with other matter. Just keep them separated out. Also remove any gemstones as well.
For metal clay artists be sure to fire everything before you send it in. Metal artists also remember you CAN reconstitute unfired metal clay. See my post reconstituting metal clay.
Step 2 – Weigh the silver
In my case the scale will only measure up to 300 grams. So I had to break up the silver into a few batches.
Step 3 – Bag up the silver Clearly mark the silver content and the weight of each bag. Remember not to use tape because scrap can stick to the tape.
Step 4 – Mail it to Rio Fill out the downloaded form accordingly and package it all up to mail to Rio. I usually send it USPS flat rate with signature verification.
In a few of days you’ll get a call from Rio to verify they got and how much the silver (or gold) is worth!
Here is what I bought with my mistakes!
I can’t wait to get into the studio to use my new tools!
I’ve been noticing some great info on PMC has been systematically being added to the Rio Grande website. Check out the “Videos, Projects and More” tab When you click on it your find that there are back copies of Studio PMC and Fusion, White Papers, MSDS sheets, Instructions of how to use products, some how to article and some Projects. Check out this project that I wrote on bezel setting. Thanks to Tim and Nettie at the Guild and to the team Rio Grande for posting all of this valuable info!
Show and Sell: My Favorite Product –Â ArtGlass Clay
I was lucky enough to run into Paula Radke during registration. She recommended that I stop by to see her new colors and reformulated ArtGlass Clay. I took a ArtGlass Clay class a few months ago, it was so much fun and we learned a lot! Steven and I made a quite a few pieces. So I’m excited to try out this reformulated version of ArtGlass Clay. I also look forward to trying it out with PMC, it seems like there will be lots of possibilities! For those of you who don’t know Paula Radke check out her website at www.paularadke.com. What I love about ArtGlass Clay is that the process is similar to metal clay. Of course there are some major differences, but the process is familiar enough that it’s very approachable for the metal clay artist. Her directions are clear and easy to follow. She has wonderful colors of ArtGlass Clay, beautiful molds that can be used with not only her ArtGlass Clay BUT also with metal clay as well. She also has a wonderful selection of dichroic glass which she is famous for. Check it out at www.paularadke.com.
Ok so now to the vendor hall. I found these great carnelian bullets from Gem Resources. Actually I wasn’t really looking for any more gemstones because I have LOADS of them. But I needed a few of these bullets for a special project. Then Shirley showed me some of these wonderful bezel cut topaz. I was so taken with them I had to buy some. I’m thinking I might make something with windows a la Tim Burton. Hard to see in the photo but trust me they are cool!
Bezel Cut Topaz
Patrik Kusek and MariaElena Baca at the Rio Grande Booth at the PMC Conference
Of course my friends at Rio Grande were there. Maria and Thomas were showing the latest things in metal clay. The weird part was I had everything they were showing. hmmmm what does this say about my paycheck?? hmmmm. The only thing I didn’t have ( and it’s on my list of things to buy) was the JoolTool. I covet this machine. What a smart and brilliant design! The disks spin and you can see through it to polish away!See it on the Rio website.
JoolTool Polishing System
Dynasty Stamps
Candace from Dynasty Stamps was also doing demos at the Rio booth. She was showing her new line of stamps. I love Dynasty Stamps and Candace. She makes the best quality stamps out there on the market. The most creative designs as well. The detail of her stamps is amazing and she is an outstanding person as well! You go girl!
Here is a video of Candace using her stamps!
Pyrite in the schist from Horizon Mineral Co 302-644-3333
Next stop was the Horizon Mineral Co. booth. This booth was mobbed almost the entire time I was there. No wonder, they had some wonderful things! I bought these luscious pyrite cabs in the schist. Yes schist. Although I knew what it schist was, I had to look it up anyhow. Ok Wikipedia gave me far too much info but here is the link to see for yourself the definition. Schist. hmmm sounds like Yiddish to me…
I think I might make a big huge ring from these, not sure yet but they are too great to pass up.
Also in house was Don Butler the Carving Glove guy.Don sells great Dock Yard carving tools which seem to be the gold standard of carving tools for metal clay. I already own 4 sets, yes I know, but they are worth it. I also own the sharpening tool called the Dock Yard Strop. Unlike other less expensive carving tools Dock Yards can be sharpened. I’m including the video here as I’m so happy he made the sharpening tool. I often forget to sharpen them and then I remember and I’m happy to have nice sharp tools. I should try to sharpen them at least every couple of months. If you have Dock yard carving tools you need to buy one of these NOW. Tell him I sent you!
Another person showing in the vender room was Cindy Moore. I didn’t get a chance to visit with her but here is a video of her bracelet bender which I saw the Metal Clay World Conference last summer.
Absent from the vendor room Tonya from Whole Lotta Whimsey. 😦 Tonya we missed you so much!!!!!!!!!!!!! But never fear visit the Whole Lotta Whimseywebsite to check out the latest in metal clay products.
ALSO check out Tonya’s Artful Success and innovative program where participants can gain from Tonya’s expert business acumen in the art world. Follow www.tonyadavidson.com