Shiny, sparkly things- my precious

A little while ago I was asked to do a presentation about metal clay to a bunch of silversmiths ( you know, people used to sawing, hammering and bashing hard bits of metal about.) There was , to say the least, a bit of resistance in the room to this soft squidgy stuff I was showing them. One asked,  'I just want to know what you can do with metal clay that can't be done any other way' An annoying question to deal with at the time but actually very good one.

There isn't really a lot that can't be done any other way, but loads of things that can be done quicker without lots of tools and dare I say it waste. One such is being able to fire stones directly in place. Kevin Whitmore from Rio Grande has completed a labour of love by testing which stones can and cannot be fired successfully into metal clay.
http://www.pmcguild.com/download/Tech_Data/GemTests.pdf

For a really fab range of Cubic Zirconias of every size, colour and shape try  www.diamondcz.co.uk  

I teach one to one and small group classes from my studio in North West London Contact via http://www.debbiecarltonjewellery.co.uk/ if you are interested in learning how to set fireable and non fireable stones into metal clay.