You are only limited by your imagination and skill level. - Janie

MCHs December featured metal clay artist is Janie of Life Art Designs.

Janie is a metal clay and polymer clay artist in one. Her special theme is nautical with lots of dolphins, sea turtles, palm trees and marine creatures. Her Etsy shop also offers a variety of polymer clay creations - buttons, canes, beads plus more. Following is a short interview with Janie. Enjoy!

Why did you pick the name Life Art Designs?
My work is mostly inspired by the marine life and nature found in my local environment. I live on a very small barrier Island in the Gulf of Mexico in the USA. There is much art to be found in the life around me. My favorite marine lives are the Dolphins. You can probably tell this by the different ones that I have in my Etsy shop.

What are the major challenges when creating metal clay jewelry?
Of course the first challenge is the design aspect of any piece and the process you go through to make it become “art”. Probably my biggest challenge though has to do with the nature of the clay itself. The fact that it dries out so fast can be an irritant especially if you are working on a complex piece.

What do you enjoy most about working in Metal Clay?
The design possibilities with metal clay are endless because it is clay and is malleable. You are only limited by your imagination and skill level.

What is your greatest ambition as a Metal Clay artist?
I would like to one day have my work published in Art Jewelry magazine. I have drooled over and been amazed at the work that is published in their magazine for years.

What is the biggest mistake you've ever made? What did you learn from it?
One time I had a custom order request for a very large pair of earrings of an exact design. After the client told me what she wanted, I explained to her that they would be quite heavy and very, very expensive. In fact, they were a $300 pair of earrings! She said she understood and wanted them anyway. I had her try one earring on before I finished them both. I figured if they were too heavy, I could still use the one as a pendant. After trying the one on, she was thrilled and wanted me to proceed. After the order was complete, the client was ecstatic with how they turned out and thanked me profusely. However, about a month later she contacted me. She said that although she loved the earrings, they were just too heavy to wear for any length of time. I ended up making a whole new pair of the same design only smaller and lighter. Now, she is really happy and wears them all the time. And I have two large pendants of the same design. What I learned from that is that sometimes you need to say no to a customer. Just because you can make something doesn’t mean you should.



Janie is giving away her Silver Fern Leaf Necklace to a lucky reader!. To enter the giveaway, here are the rules:

Every person is eligible to enter the blog giveaway with up to FOUR (4) entries. How can you get an entry? You can do any of the following and then let us know that by leaving a comment under this feature so we can keep track.

1. Follow our blog and post a comment here = 1 entry
2. Check out featured artist and post favorite piece under comment here = 1 entry
3. Heart featured artist’s shop and post a comment here = 1 entry
4. Follow featured artist on Facebook and post a comment here = 1 entry
5. Make a purchase and let us know here = 2 entries
6. Refer a friend and post a comment here = 1 entry
7. Tweet about the giveaway using key word metalclayheads and post a comment here = 1 entry
8. Share the Metal Clay Heads blog giveaway link on FB (Go to http://www.facebook.com/MetalClayHeadTeam and click Share) and post a comment here = 1 entry
9. If you voted and commented on our last challenge = 1 entry

The giveaway deadline is January 15. We will announce the winner on January 16th. Good luck!