Metal Clay Gives Free Reign to My Creativity - Ghislaine

MCHs April featured metal clay artist is Ghislaine of GS Creations.

Ghislaine has been making bead jewelry for the past eight years. She started with beadweaving and now has ventured into precious metal clay, the new territory!

When did you first become interested in Metal Clay? How long have you been designing jewelry using Metal Clay?
I had read a little about it around three years ago and started working with it exactly one year ago in April! I had always used beads to make my jewelry and came to a point where I felt like I had learned all the stitches and techniques that I needed. I wanted a new challenge but something that I could still use my beads with (If you could see how many beads I have you would understand!).

Would you tell us your creative process?
I usually start out with a rough sketch of what I'd like to do. An idea will pop into my head at any time of day (or night when I'm desperately trying to fall asleep) so I always keep a sketch book with me. Often times though the piece will design itself. By that I mean that it starts out looking like the sketch and as I'm working new ideas start to flow into the piece. As new shapes take form and elements are added or removed the piece takes on a life of its own.

What inspires you?
These days I'm loving working with dichroic glass cabochons and they are a great source of inspiration. You will sometimes catch me sitting at my workbench just starring at my cabs or moving them around. Their shapes, colors, and designs "speak" to me.

What do you enjoy most about working in Metal Clay?
I love the freedom it gives me. You can mold it, you can carve it, you can even use water to shape it. It gives free reign to my creativity. I get great joy from being able to make a whole piece using a metal clay object as a centerpiece and beadweaving the rope.

What is your greatest ambition as a Metal Clay artist?
I would love to one day be able to live off my art. Making jewelry and art pieces has always been a passion but never as much as when I started to work with metal clay.

Ghislaine's creative art pieces can be found here. She's giving away this beautiful Fancy Filigree pendant to a lucky winner! The piece measures approximately 1.3" in height and width. And is adorned by a 3mm clear cubic zirconia.


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

The giveaway will run for two weeks. We will announce the winner on May 7th. Good luck!

Jennifer of EnvyDesignsJewelry Won Our March Challenge!

Congrats to Jennifer of Envydesignsjewelry! Her The Sun shines through the Rain pendant swept us away and won both public and technical polls (with 22 public votes and 9 technical votes)!

Rain of Rainjewelry's Silver Ocean Waves Necklace came in second with 16 public and 5 technical votes.

Earth Goddess Amulet by YorkAvenueStudio came in third with 7 public votes.

Thanks to all members who entered and your vote, great job everyone! Jennifer will set the theme for our May challenge. Our blog feature and giveaway will start around April 15th, please stay tuned!

March Challenge - The Elements

Our theme this time is The Elements - Water, Fire, Wind and Earth. The required technique is using syringe or snakes when creating the design. The theme and technique were set by our January challenge winner Ghislaine of GS Creations. Here are the eight stunning submissions from our talented members. Enjoy and don't forget to vote! Please cast your vote on the right column; and if you post a comment, you will be automatically entered into our December blog giveaway. Poll will be close on April 4th.

The Tree - silver pendant with tsavorite by Esmeralda of SilverBlueberry. The tree is one of our most powerful symbols representing Mother Earth, life, growth, stability and natural beauty. When faced with a team challenge from the MetalClayHeads team, where we had to make a piece of jewelry representing one or more of the elements (fire, water, earth and wind) I wanted to make a tree right away. Nothing represents 'earth' better than a tree.


Silver Ocean Waves Necklace by Rain of Rainjewelry. This fine silver barrel and tag pendant evokes the motion and fluidity of ocean water. I used syringe and snakes to make the swirly ocean look.I also used fire opals in the necklace so I guess it could be water and fire.


Wind pendant by Jennifer of JKistlerStudios. My element of choice was wind, on a stormy day. The wind was made using the syringe.


Copper Landscape Bracelet by Deb of PrairieMudStudio. This copper bracelet combines both earth and air elements as a tribute to wind energy as a new important "crop" in the rural Midwest. A landscape of modern wind turbines and the necessary gusts that move them contrasts with a subtle background texture created by cornhusks. It is part of the Cornstalk Series that was inspired by the rural landscape and my farming heritage.


Earth Goddess Amulet with Blue Sapphire Gemstone by Kathy of YorkAvenueStudio. I hand forged this pure silver pendant as a graceful feminine symbol of The Earth Goddess. Goddess Symbols can be seen throughout several beliefs and representations of the Elements, however, the most apparent aspect of the Goddess is the Earth Goddess. Her round belly represents motherhood and the fruits of nature. Her up stretched arms are holding a circle which represents the full moon. Her flowing locks of hair are made with the “snakes” technique and flow into spirals.


4 Elements pendant by Anise of Seavbeach. This piece reflects all four elements, air, fire, earth and water and the center within that brings it all together.


The Sun shines through the Rain fine silver necklace by Jennifer of Envydesignsjewelry. This piece was inspired by a favorite song by the rock band Cinderella, and was created for the Metal Clay Heads March challenge. The sun is shining through a rain drop, peeking out, wanting to come out.......
For this piece I rolled out a snake from the metal clay, shaped it into the rain drop, and let it dry. I then added the sun by using 5 layers of syringe clay. I filled in any gaps with more syringe clay and then sanded and filed till it was smooth. After everything was dry I added the sapphires, and a light blue spinel.


Silver Heart Pendant by Janie of Lifeartdesigns. A handcrafted fine silver heart shaped pendant with two silver scrolls and a smaller inset open heart in the center.

March 2011 Challenge Poll - Technical

This poll is for MCHs members only. Please one vote per member. Thanks!

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Disaster Relief Effort for Japan

The Metal Clay Heads are donating items for disaster relief efforts for Japan. Please stop by our Treasury on Etsy to help out!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4d834c787a4d6d915fa94dc5/metal-clay-heads-disaster-relief