This Was Once a Little Gray Piece of Clay...

A few weeks ago, my friend and I took a jewelry class that introduced us to making silver jewelry from PMC-- precious metal clay.  During the class, when we fired pieces, we stuck them in a kiln.  But we knew that once we were turned loose and on our own we would have to learn how to use butane torches to get the job done.

Last weekend, my friend and I successfully made a pendant and earrings.  On our own.  With our torches.

We started out with this:

Then we rolled it, sliced it, and diced it, until it became super cute like this...

Then we dried it out, and fired it up with our torches...

While our husbands did this...

-hours of table tennis in the garage on a 100*F day-

and after hours (we're slow at making all kinds of decisions and we get distracted easily) of intense labor, we came up with this:

We were a little nervous, but we learned a lot and had so much fun!

So much fun, in fact, that the following weekend we made pendants with our clay by using a mold.  Here's mine:

too cute for words, really!

Here are a few things we've learned so far:
1.  Although it's recommended to use the butane torch outside, it's too hard to see the flame in the sunlight well enough to know what is going on.  And it's way too hot in Texas for that right now.  Using the torch in the kitchen is totally fine and we didn't burn the house down or kill anyone.  Yay, Us! 

2.  Certain molds that seem like a good idea... aren't.  The simpler ones are working better for me at this point.

3.  It is not a good idea for me to celebrate our success with PMC by drinking red wine when wearing a white dress.  Oops!  ;)

4.  And lastly, and perhaps most importantly, never drink wine while using the torch!