At a Glance
12 HD Video Lessons
Reviews
Instructor
Jenny Vestal
Jenny is a Rio Grande certified instructor and the proprietor of JennyButtons.com, where she sells beautifully crafted precious metal clay pieces. View profile »
Torch-Fired Precious Metal Clay
with Jenny Vestal
Embrace your inner magpie by creating silver pendants, earrings, buttons and pins in your own kitchen using found objects and affordable tools.
Even if you have never created jewelry before, you will be inspired by how easy it is to make striking pendants and earrings with precious metal clay. This innovative material consists of tiny particles of fine silver that fuse into solid metal when fired.
Jenny Vestal of JennyButtons will show you how to shape and texture the clay, then fire it with a small butane torch (such as you would use to make creme brulee) and give it a shiny finish.
If you are a knitter or sewer, you can accessorize your creations with custom buttons, toggles and pins for a truly polished look.
Enroll in Torch-Fired Precious Metal Clay today and make your inner magpie sing!
What You'll Learn
- Handling tips to get the most value out of your clay and avoid waste
- Rolling, cutting, carving and texturing your pieces
- Step-by-step firing and finishing instructions
- How to mold silver clay with household or natural objects
- Fixing common mistakes
- Adding patina to your finished pieces
What You'll Make
- Stylish pendants or earrings with textured or hammered surfaces
- Unique buttons with holes or shanks
- Multi-layered jewelry with a variety of shapes and textures
- Shawl pins, monogram charms and other slender pieces
What You'll Need:
- PMC3 Silver Clay, 6- or 9-gram package (PMC3 is the only kind that can be torch-fired)
- Handheld butane torch
- 6-inch square Solderite pad or other fireproof surface
- Small brass brush
- 3M Tri-M-ite Imperial Polishing Paper assortment
- Butane fuel
- Safety goggles
- Heatproof bowl for quenching
- Basic jewelry-making tools such as needle-nose pliers, metal tweezers, a graduated slat set and small files are nice to have, but you can also use items you have around the house. Recommended substitutions are in the course supply list.
Lesson Plan
| 1 | Introduction | 13:34 |
| 2 | Handling Precious Metal Clay | 25:55 |
| 3 | Handling Your Torch | 24:54 |
| 4 | Adding Texture | 38:35 |
| 5 | Multi-Layer Pieces | 23:15 |
| 6 | Molding Your Clay | 36:42 |
| 7 | Texturing Greenware | 39:37 |
| 8 | Creating Snakes | 42:53 |
| 9 | Hammering Your Silver | 38:00 |
| 10 | Repairing Mistakes | 42:17 |
| 11 | Inspired by Nature | 20:36 |
| 12 | Giving Your Pieces a Patina | 20:57 |
Recent 5 star reviews of this class
Average Review:
Class is well worth the money!!
Not only did I love this class, but the teacher is awesome. I felt like I was actually there or that she was talking directly to me. And such a great personality.
I learned so much in this class. I can't wait to purchase some PMC and begin experimenting. The ideas are endless.
And I am no longer afraid of a torch.
I really enjoyed this class and can't wait for another by this instructor.
Very Very Informative
Jenny gives clear and easy instruction. I could understand everything she taught us. Well worth the money and she answers your questions very quickly. She is a wonderful teacher. I highly recommend this class!
You will learn a lot. Thanks Jenny!!!!
very informative class kind and helpful instructor
I have not yet seen a site such as craftsy where the instructors can present a large amount of material in a video form and I can watch at my leisure. Her style is relaxed and conversational, and gives me the confidence to actually implement some of these techniques. I feel like she's in front of me speaking and to make it even better, when I have questions I ask them in the question, and she very thoroughly responds!
I like this course and I feel like I learn way more in terms of ...
Learning can be fun
Sometimes the fear of doing things prevents us from trying out new things. The fear of messing up the fear of making a mistake.. in this class you overcome the basic fear of using a torch. Fire- You create some beautiful items and a new world is opened up to you should you decide to step through and explore it. I am very pleased and grateful for having Jean instruct us on the basics and though I am not much for buttons I throughly enjoyed the class and learned a lot. I recommend it for anyone ...
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Insightful and Thorough Instruction
One of the wonderful things about this format, media and presentation is that the prospective student can review and preview the course. You can see what is covered and the length of time that will be devoted to each topic and subtopic. You get to see and hear, virtually meet the instructor before signing up.
This was my first online course, and perhaps this clarity of organization and ease of access are the norm. I have no basis for comparison, but the structure and ...
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