- $250
Working with Fine Silver Clay 101 - Intro concepts through professional finishing techniques
- Course
- 20 Lessons
Who is this course for?
Intro Concepts Through Professional Finishing Techniques
If you're looking for an in-person, learn-all-you-need-to-get-started style course on fine silver clay, but online learning feels more accessible to you, this course was designed for you.
It features careful step-by-step guidance, has the benefits of up-close videography, and lessons that can be revisited anytime.
This is a comprehensive video course for beginning through intermediate users of this material. It begins with reviewing basic tools and techniques, then walks through six different projects (detailed below in "Contents"), before looking closely at two different firing methods and six different finishing tools, with many tips and suggestions along the way.
This course contains information to guide you through the easiest, lowest cost and most efficient ways to achieve best results with this special material.
Takeaways from this 3 hour and 20 minute course:
Understanding the material and keeping clay fresh
Recommended tools
Safe use of the material
Preparing tools and workspace
Methods and techniques for shaping, using molds, stamps and textures
Making molds
Making and attaching bails
A walk through six full projects and portions of others
Setting small lab grown gems and cubic zirconia
Firing methods - kiln and torch
A close look at six different finishing methods: brass wire brush, rotary tumbler, agate burnisher, sanding pads, electric rotary polisher, and liver of sulfur
Reclaiming used and dried clay
Tips and information are interspersed at relevant moments, helping to make them easier to retain and apply.
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This course does not cover:
Ring making
3D mold making over an enclosed object
Contents
Introduction
Welcome! Let's jump right in.
- 7 mins
- 524 MB
- 1 min
- 79.4 MB
- 13 mins
- 985 MB
- 4 mins
- 284 MB
Shaping
After looking at a sampling of basic techniques and shaping tools, we will complete six different projects, folding in many skills as we go, including how to make several different kinds of bails and attach them securely.
- 2 mins
- 134 MB
- 3 mins
- 227 MB
- 3 mins
- 196 MB
- 11 mins
- 833 MB
- 8 mins
- 593 MB
- 21 mins
- 1.66 GB
- 13 mins
- 979 MB
- 18 mins
- 1.46 GB
- 10 mins
- 777 MB
- 14 mins
- 1.11 GB
Gems
Let's talk about setting tiny cubic zirconia and lab grown gems. We look at: an overview of how to choose gems for silver clay, how to measure the depth of a gem to set in appropriate depth of clay, flush setting techniques and making a bezel two ways.
- 24 mins
- 1.82 GB
Firing
Let's talk about torch and kiln firing. This section includes a close look at torch firing a piece, setting up a kiln run and also reviews the meaning behind clay firing schedules that say you can fire for five minutes or two hours.
- 11 mins
- 850 MB
Finishing
Finishing might just be the most plentiful "tools" category out there - there's so much to choose from. This covers the tools I recommend for starting out, why, and how to get best results: brass wire brush, rotary tumbler, agate burnisher, sanding pads, rotary polisher (such as a Dremel) and associated polishing bits, and liver of sulfur.
- 33 mins
- 2.54 GB
Reclaiming used clay
This section will cover reclaiming used clay through two methods: wet, wait and massage, and dry, grind and mix.
- 13 mins
- 1020 MB
Supplementary Information
This section contains information about recommended brands and additional safety information.
- 38.4 KB
- 51 KB
Caitlin of BLUE DOT JEWELRY
A note from your instructor
This course contains all the information I think I would've benefitted from having together in one place when I started working with silver clay.
It was important to me to include sections covering all phases of using silver clay, including the less glamorous but oh-so-important topic of bringing used clay back to life, while also suggesting options whenever possible to accommodate ability and budget. We discuss the benefits and limitations of various methods. As such, you do not need a kiln or a polishing power tool to complete similar projects to those contained in this course.
I want you to be informed and well positioned to create your visions. Equally, I want you to be confident in following your whims to experiment. I love this material, and I love talking about it. I'm glad you're here. Please reach out with any questions.
Testimonials
I absolutely love this course, such a compendium of all the necessary info to begin with metal clay!
Marcela
This course was amazing! I feel empowered to experiment and make my own projects and got very clear solutions to some process questions that had been frustrating me. I've already made several charms that I can't wait to give as Xmas presents this year. Caitlin teaches in a very methodical, even soothing way, and I always looked forward to sitting down and working through the next chapter of the course. She truly shares some trade secrets I haven’t found anywhere else :) I didn’t want it to end and will look out for future master classes from her!
Hannah K.
This course is incredibly informative. After completing it, I felt like I completely understood how to make jewelry with this one of a kind material. It just blows my mind that you can do all these things with such a small amount of clay. I had looked for some of this information, but not found a place that really explains all parts of making jewelry with silver clay in this way. Since finishing the course, I have made my first silver jewelry out of a molded strawberry. It is beautiful. I'm excited to keep making beautiful things.
Thea T.
What does the course look like?
This two minute sampling of clips gives a flavor of the flow and pace of the lessons (but not the depth of the lessons - these clips just skim the surface).
About the creation of this course
Caitlin started working with silver clay in 2011 and never looked back, finding it to be the medium that fully unlocked her creativity. The journey wasn’t without trial and error. The joy was there, but the learning curve was long!
Years later, wanting to help make this material she loves accessible to others, Caitlin began sharing about her process in short-form videos on social media. The questions started coming: How can I get started? What tools do I need? How do you polish your silver?
Caitlin set about making a resource that would answer all these questions, thoroughly, in video format. The goal was to help those new to silver clay feel confident, comfortable and informed, not just in making designs, but in firing and finishing, in keeping clay hydrated and restoring dried clay - and doing so within a range of access to different tools.