Here's my finished Tin & PMC Mixed Media Pendant & below is how I made it.
Making a 2 layer Pendant1) First find a lovely tin you like and work roughly how big you need the centre cut out to be.
2) Roll out clay 1mm to 1.5mm thick and cut out back shape
3) Repeat for the top using the same cutter (adding texture if required)
4) Cut out an inner shape using a needle pick or slightly smaller cutter.
5) Let all the pieces dry.
6) Once dry refine the INNER edges of your front piece.
7) Line up the front and back then sand the edges for a perfect fit.
8) Drill pilot holes in the front only to make it easier to drill once fired.
9) Either add a silver clay bail at this point OR allow space to solder one on later.
10) FIRE the clay and allow to cool.
11)Using the fired pieces as a template, cut out the tin that will be sandwiched between the rivets.Making a 2 layer Pendant1) First find a lovely tin you like and work roughly how big you need the centre cut out to be.
2) Roll out clay 1mm to 1.5mm thick and cut out back shape
3) Repeat for the top using the same cutter (adding texture if required)
4) Cut out an inner shape using a needle pick or slightly smaller cutter.
5) Let all the pieces dry.
6) Once dry refine the INNER edges of your front piece.
7) Line up the front and back then sand the edges for a perfect fit.
8) Drill pilot holes in the front only to make it easier to drill once fired.
9) Either add a silver clay bail at this point OR allow space to solder one on later.
10) FIRE the clay and allow to cool.
12)Check for alignment and trim as needed.
13) Ball up the ends of three pieces of 1mm sterling silver wire
14) Line up layers & using a 1mm drill bit drill through all three layers (one hole only)
15) Put the wire through the hole and turn pendant over cut wire just under 1mm away from the back of the pendant.
16) Remove wire use file to take point from cut end (one or two strokes of the file at most)
17) Re-insert wire place pendant face down then hit the cut end in a circular motion ~ you're aiming to make a mini mushroom shape.
18) Turn pendant back to front side and if required flatten the end of the ball.
(this also tends to flatten the mushroom on the back even more)
19) Repeat one by one for the other two (or more) holes ~ drilling each in turn until the pendant is fully riveted.
20) Polish and enjoy!
Nicola x
Copper pieces all laid out ready for firing. The kiln needs to get to 970 degrees C. I used my enamelling fork to lift the pieces into the hot kiln. The temperature is held for 30 mins & you take them out HOT!
The pieces are dropped hot from the kiln into cold water. This was difficult as many of them were trying to stick to the fibre shelf. (Prying red hot bits of copper off a fibre shelf is not fun!)
Once pickled (which has left my pickle pot in a right mess) the pieces were tumbled in shot for 45mins. Very easy to see the copper in the steel shot (a pleasant change from trying to spot bits of silver).
Dried & separated from the shot you can see a few bits of scale which I plan to take off with a burr. The scale seems to stick to straight pieces more than any other shape. The strips were very bendy, dead soft copper (the ones I rolled 4 cards and 6 cards thick).
