Workshops

Precious Metal Clay Workshops

A note about my workshops: All are welcome! Come play! Most of my classes, with a couple of exceptions, are geared toward a mix of beginners and intermediate students. Contact me if you're not sure whether you're ready for a particular workshop, but I'll probably give you a pep talk and say, "Come on board!" – Donna

P.S. I live in Pittsburgh. If you don't, have no fear. I'm happy to travel to your location. Get a group of folks together, and let's make jewelry!

May 21-23, 2010, "Hollow Forms in PMC"
Friday 7:00-9:00 p.m., and Saturday & Sunday 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
$215, plus approx. $95 materials
Touchstone Center for Crafts (Farmington, PA), www.touchstonecrafts.org, (800) 721-0177
____Treat yourself to a weekend wooded retreat in the Laurel Highlands! Learn to make pure silver jewelry by building PMC walls and components and pasting them together, utilizing a variety of removable armatures to explore shape and volume. Try cylinders, 2-sided lentils, 4-sided pillows, 5-sided triangle pendants, or free-form shapes. Make beads, pendants, earrings, or even a small tabletop box. Beginners welcome!

June 6-13, 2010, I'm teaching 6 different PMC workshops in Milwaukee:
"PMC and BRONZclay Pendant" (Sunday & Monday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.)
"PMC Leaf Earrings with Pearls" (Tuesday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.)
"Hollow-Form PMC Pendant" (Wednesday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)
"Pennies from Heaven PMC Earrings" (Wednesday, 4:00-7:00 p.m.)
"PMC Swing Earrings" (Thursday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)
"PMC Charm Whistles" (Friday, 8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.)
Bead & Button Show (Milwaukee, WI), www.beadandbuttonshow.com
____Sometime you owe it to yourself to attend this amazing retail show, the largest consumer bead show in the world, with a huge shopping floor and hundreds of classes on offer. If you're thinking about going this year, sign up for classes soon. Two of my six workshops have sold out already! Contact me if you'd like new sessions to open up. I'm also stiltwalking at the Bead Social auction night, as Loreen the Rodeo Queen. : )

June 22 & 29, 2010, "PMC Leaf Pendant"
2 Tuesdays. 6:30-9:30 p.m.
$60 members/$75 non-members (less 10% with early registration), plus $45 materials fee
Sweetwater Center for the Arts (Sewickley, PA), www.sweetwaterartcenter.org, (412) 741-4405
____PMC is great for reproducing natural forms in fine silver. Learn how to build up layers of PMC paste to turn a real leaf into a fine silver pendant, with all the lovely detail of the original. Stunning beginner project!

June 27, 2010, "PMC Earring Fest"
Sunday, 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
$100, plus $60 materials
Society for Contemporary Craft (Pittsburgh, PA), www.contemporarycraft.org, (412) 261-7003
____Get ready for a cornucopia of ideas for making pure silver PMC earrings. Try making pieces flat, then bending them after firing; creating earrings swingy, blingy, or curly; setting gems; attaching earposts with solder and a creme brulee torch; making your own creative earwires; and more! Work at your own pace to make as many things as you can in one day. Come play! No experience necessary.

July 20 & 22, 2010, "All Fired Up: Creme Brulee & Metal Clay"
Tues. & Thurs., 6:00-9:00 p.m.
$60 (includes materials)
Whole Foods Market, 5880 Centre Ave., Pittsburugh
Register via Society for Contemporary Craft (412) 261-7003
____What a great idea for a class! I'll team up with a Whole Foods Market Chef so that you can learn two uses for a small kitchen butane torch: firing your own silver charms out of PMC, and making your own yummy, caramelized creme brulee dessert!

July 29 - August 1, 2010, PMC Conference
PMC Conference (Purdue University, W. Lafayette, IN), www.pmc-conference.com
____Every two years, the PMC Guild hosts an international conference that brings the metal clay community together for four days of education, inspiration, and sharing. In 2008, I presented my whistle-making techniques to the world of metal clay. This year, I will be teaming up with extraordinary jewelry artist and teacher Robert Dancik to offer various live demos.

August 9-13, 2010, "Mix It Up: PMC & Mixed Metals"
Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
$375, plus materials starting at $150
Society for Contemporary Craft (Pittsburgh, PA), www.contemporarycraft.org, (412) 261-7003
____In this exploratory workshop, students will be exposed to a variety of ways that fine silver PMC can be joined with other metals in order to make interesting jewelry. Emphasis will be placed on materials to be fired in place. Projects may include adding PMC surface decoration to a sterling silver cuff bracelet or ring; embedding wire, nuts, and bolts for imaginative connections; inlaying brass wire as a design element; incorporating wire mesh; and other exciting possibilities. Beginning students welcome!

August 29 - September 4, 2010, "Holding Dear and Breaking Free: Dynamic Hollow Forms in PMC"
Haystack Mountain School of Crafts (Deer Isle, ME), www.haystack-mtn.org, (207) 348-2306
____Containers—treasure chests, nests, cages, ancient urns, secret decoder rings—intrigue us with their mysterious spaces and the precious objects they protect or restrain. Working at their own pace, students will begin to develop their own themes and narratives, using the idea of the miniature container as a jumping-off point. Students will learn to make successful, jewelry-sized structures in PMC and will be exposed to innovative ways of creating imagery in clay. Demonstrations will range from organic, draped forms to systematically constructed frames and boxes, as well as the teacher’s specialty: sculptural, wearable whistles.

September 17-19, 2010, "PMC Nature Jewelry"
Friday 7:00-9:00 p.m., and Saturday & Sunday 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
$215, plus approx. $95 materials
Touchstone Center for Crafts (Farmington, PA), www.touchstonecrafts.org, (800) 721-0177
____Treat yourself to a weekend wooded retreat in the Laurel Highlands! Metal clay is wonderful for reproducing natural objects in fine silver, capturing the subtlest of details beautifully. I will present various approaches, including covering leaves, flowers, or pods with PMC paste; taking molds of natural objects such as stones, acorns, twigs, and flowers; and impressing PMC clay directly with leaves, etc., to create a base for beautiful jewelry.

September 23 & 30, 2010, "Introduction to PMC Jewelry"
2 Thursdays, 6:30-9:30 p.m.
Pittsburgh Center for the Arts (Pittsburgh, PA), www. pittsburgharts.org, (412) 361-0455
____Try out pure silver PMC for the first time, and learn how to fire it yourself, using a small butane torch.