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Bronze and Copper Clay Components – Without a Kiln

September 22, 2011
Since I first started creating with art beads, I have noticed a distinct lacking in the area of artisan created bronze and copper metal clay beads and components.
This is understandable, the time and money invested into this media demand a higher price than other more easily created production work. 
Why this is important to me is because;
1. I cannot afford a kiln right now and I need to work with these certain metal alloys to demonstrate how patinas work with them
2. I like to support other artists of handmade beads and components in my own handmade jewelry I send in to stores and
3.  With endless, unique varieties of creating with base metal clay components, the market won’t be over saturated with similar designs for a couple of years.
So I began collecting links to the few jewelry artists that did offer these fascinating bits of fired metal as limited edition beads that we could use in our hand crafted jewelry.
Here is a list of my favorites:

Kristi Bowman Design
You may remember Kristi from her very generous sponsorship of Art Bead Scene’s July challenge? 

 Jennifer Tough
I have been collecting Jennifer’s worry beads since 2010 and I have several of her flowers ready to rivet onto metal ring bands!

 Focalbeadz.com
Dana is a new discovery for me and exactly what I pictured swinging from the end of long patinated lariat chains!

 SummersStudioEtc.etsy.com
LeAnn is adding to her bead making skills and is now offering hollow tube beads from bronze clay! 

I certainly hope you enjoy working with these artists components as I have, in fact there a few free design projects I would love to share in future posts! If you know of any art bead or component makers that work skillfully in bronze or copper clay media, please share a link with us in the comments.

Much Love & Respect,
Shannon LeVart
missficklemedia.com

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14 Comment

  1. SummersStudio
    September 22, 2011 at 11:54 am

    Thanks for the link! Bronze clay does in fact take your patinas wonderfully.

  2. Kristi Bowman
    September 22, 2011 at 12:01 pm

    Thanks so much Shannon for featuring some of my Copper Components. I'm so glad you like them!!

  3. Shel
    September 22, 2011 at 1:25 pm

    Thanks for this post. I love Krisit's components and look forward to checking out the other's that you suggested as well.

  4. Virginia Miska
    September 22, 2011 at 2:24 pm

    Very nice components. I didn't realize that bronze and copper clay can now be fired without a kiln. Definitely need to check that out!

  5. Carol B
    September 22, 2011 at 2:26 pm

    I'm fortunate to have some of Kristi's and LeAnn's bronze charms already. They both do excellent work! I'll have to check out the others you showed too. 🙂

  6. jen
    September 22, 2011 at 3:02 pm

    Thank you Shannon! I'm certainly going to have to get busy making more components.

  7. Linda Landig
    September 22, 2011 at 3:45 pm

    I have quite a few of Kristi's copper components and I love them. I will check out the other artists as well.

  8. LisaS
    September 22, 2011 at 4:14 pm

    Beautiful work! Thank you for sharing.

  9. Leona
    September 22, 2011 at 5:06 pm

    I too noticed this. I have been working in silver pmc for 4 years and I am now exploring base metal clays and bead making. My first ventures have been large hole beads that fit on caprice bracelets ( you know all those popular kinds). I LOVE mixed metals.
    I only have a few pictures. Let me know if you want to see.

  10. Leona
    September 22, 2011 at 5:09 pm

    Oh, and I meant to respond to Virginia.

    I believe there is only one base metal clay that can be fired with a torch and from my understanding people have having limited success with torch firing. Base metal clay is so new there is tons of experimentation going on, which I find really exciting and opens up so many options.

  11. Virginia Miska
    September 22, 2011 at 8:32 pm

    Leona,
    I love the look, feel and strength of the base metal clays, but my results were very inconsistent, so I put it aside a couple of years ago. It may be time to revisit…

  12. Starseed Jewelry
    September 23, 2011 at 1:31 am

    Yummy. LOving them all!

  13. Jessica
    September 23, 2011 at 2:28 am

    I've been surfing for some decent beading blogs, and although this isn't really my style, I'm really liking what you did with the rustic look.

    I prefer to use beads that I buy myself and lean more towards gemstones, but wow… you may be swaying me to your side haha!

    Beautiful stuff, and great blog, thanks.

  14. missficklemedia.com
    September 23, 2011 at 8:28 pm

    I also have had little success torch firing base metal clays and I do not own a kiln. This is why it is so much more valuable to me to support these artists and their art beads of metal.

    (I used Hadar Jacobson's copper clay which is stated torch fire-able but only a few pieces have held up to testing.)

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