PMC

Here are some photos of what Precious Metal Clay Silver looks like in various stages. If you don't already know what PMC is, I will tell you! PMC is made from silver particles and a binder. You work it like clay and then fire it in a kiln at 1650 degrees F for two hours. All the binder burns out and you are left with pure silver! During the process the peices shrink a little. It is pretty amazing and a super fun material to work with. These ones were carefully rolled out thin, then rolled on a rubber spiral texture template. Then they were cut into circles using various shapes of circle cutters, similar to very small cookie cutters. The holes were made with straws. Finally the edges were cleaned up a little and they are ready to be fired. After they were fired they are slightly domed and polished. Then they are blackened in a stinky liver of sulfer bath, rinsed and polished again to highlight the spiral texture. From there they are connected to the end of a bead with a silver tube rivet.



Silver Precious Metal Clay before firing:
After firing in a kiln at 1650 degrees F for 2 hours:
After doming:
After tumbling to remove the white residue:
After being blackened in liver of sulfer:
After polishing:
After being connected to handmade glass beads with a tube rivet:

My Next Show

I will be participating in the American Craft Council Show at Fort Mason in San Francisco. I am in booth #1030. If you are in the area come and see some of the finest American crafts!

Perspectives Exhibit

I am happy to have this bead included in The International Society of Glass Beadmakers juried exhibition, Perspectives. It runs June 5 to September at the Raddison Hotel in Corning New York, and was on display during the Glass Art Society Conference. I'm honored to have my bead included in this group of such beautiful beads, by talented artists! You can see the rest of the selected beads here.

Ooooppps!

I spent hours making beautiful large round, partly hollow beads. I'm expecting some blue chalcedony in the mail and I was so happy I had finished these beads and would be able to work on the necklace when my stones arrived. Then, I noticed my kiln controller was malfunctioning and the kiln was actually WAY hotter that it was supposed to be. I opened the door to find my beautiful beads in puddles! It's so sad, but I'm just grateful I caught it before we left the house. I have to admit they are kinda cool looking. So now, I'm off to test the kiln, and make sure it's working right and then I'm going to make the exact same beads I made yesterday!

Show Schedule

Looks like I am going to be a busy girl! Here is my Show Schedule:

June 13, 20,27, Central Oregon Saturday Market, Bend,OR

June 26, Northwest Crossing Hullabaloo, Bend, OR

June 27, Central Oregon Saturday Market, Bend,OR

July 10,11,&12, Puget Sound Bead Festival, Tacoma, WA

July 16,23,30 and August 6 (Thursday Evenings) Munch & Music, Bend, OR

July 18 &25, August 1 & 8, Central Oregon Saturday Market, Bend, OR

August 14,15&16, American Craft Council Show, San Francisco, CA

September 5 &6, Central Oregon Saturday Market, Bend, OR

September 24-27, Bead Fest, Portland, OR

November 6-9, Contemporary Crafts Market, Santa Monica, CA

December 3,4,5 &6 One of a Kind Show and Sale, Chicago, IL

December 12, Holiday Sale for Procrastinators with Taste, Port Townsend, WA
I didn't think I'd be doing any more Washington shows this year but I changed my mind! This has been one of my favorite shows for several years now. It's at the Port Townsend Masonic Hall. See you soon Port Townsend!


2010 Shows:

February 23-28, American Craft Council Wholesale-Retail Show, Baltimore, MD

March 13&14 2010, Contemporary Crafts Market, San Francisco, CA

June 11-13 2010, Contemporary Crafts Market, Santa Monica,CA

July 9-11 2010, Puget Sound Bead Festival, Tacoma, WA

Risa Beads has moved!

April 2 we moved in to our new home in Bend, Oregon! We really like it here.

Tomorrow the Farmer's market starts in Port Townsend and for the first time in 7 years I won't be there, so I thought I would put a little update in here, in case people are looking for me and wondering what the heck. I'm really going to miss all the wonderful people at the market and the awesome vibrant atmosphere . Who knows, maybe I'll get a chance to visit this summer and enjoy the market as a non-vendor!

If you are in PT and still want to purchase my beads and jewelry you still can! Online in my Etsy store you can see my current inventory. There is a link on the right of my blog. You can make purchases there through pay pal or call me. I would love to hear from you! I can accept a credit card over the phone. My cell # is (360)643-1259. Also, getting my work into a store in PT is in the works....

Once I get more settled and get my studio up and running I'm even going to be teaching again. It could be a little while though.

I've been accepted to the Saturday Market here in Bend! Yay! It starts Memorial Day Weekend. I'm super excited and am busy getting ready. The picture above is the flags I just finished making to decorate my booth.

Good luck in PT with the bridge closure!!!!!!!

RAGS Wearable Art Sale and Jurried Gallery

March 12-15th I will be participating, for my second time, in the RAGS Wearable Art Sale and Juried Gallery. It is taking place in the beautiful Mercedes-Benz of Tacoma at 4001 E. 20th, Fife, Washington. Hope to see you there!