New Copper & Bronze Clay DVD

I have been a little quiet of late because I've been working away in the background on my brand new DVD 'Captivating Copper & Beautiful Bronze Clay'. I created six new designs for this DVD and working so much with these two clays has given me new found respect for them. I've learned an enormous amount in the process of creating this DVD, so it's been a perfect opportunity. I've expanded my own range of skills and knowledge in working with these clays, which I take great pleasure in passing on to you.

Here is a still image from the DVD where I'm firing a copper clay earring with a gas torch. I love brandishing the torch and seeing the clay turn to metal, it's alchemy at its finest and no need to be scared of melting the metal, copper and bronze need a lot of heat so the challenge is keeping it hot enough!

In the DVD I'll be showing you how to make small projects that can be torch fired and larger pieces that go into a kiln. I'll also be sharing how to add accents of silver clay to your copper and bronze clay pieces. We ended up with 108 minutes running time, "it's as long as a feature film" my camerman Tim keeps telling me. I'm thrilled about that because I wanted to pass on as much information as possible so that you all feel very confident to start using these clays and achieve some fantastic results.

I'll let you know as soon as the DVD is due for release. I'm hoping it will be out on sale in time for my birthday on 5th June...fingers crossed!

Lots of love,

Natalia

by Natalia

I'm very excited to tell you about a new aspect of my business that will be called by Natalia. I've been designing and making jewellery myself for many years, running jewellery making workshops for 5 years and I've worked with two home shopping channels and other on-line craft and jewellery retailers. During this time I've noticed there are certain products that I would like but that just don't exist. I've seen where there are quite a few gaps in the market so I decided to create my own range of products to meet this need. 

I 've called the range by Natalia, simply because all of my products will be personally designed and sourced by me especially for you!

The first products in my new range are a series of shrink plastic jewellery making kits that I have designed exclusively for Beads Direct. These kits are the perfect complement to my new book 'Fantastic Shrink Plastic'. Everything you need to make the projects in my book is in these kits and I've had great fun putting them together.

I'm in the process of editing my next DVD 'Captivating Copper & Beautiful Bronze Clay'. This is the first DVD that will be part of the by Natalia range. There are some other really fantastic products that I'll be bringing you as part of the by Natalia range. These include a range of accessories for working with metal clays and polymer clay.   All of these new and exciting products will be launched very soon; it's my birthday on 5th June so I'm hoping I can get them out on sale as my birthday gift to you!

I can't wait to show you what I've created and hope you love everything as much as I do.

Lots of love,

Natalia 

My Brand New Jewellery & Craft Book

Hello everyone, I hope you're well and have enjoyed the Easter break. I managed to have a few days rest which were well earned as I've just taken delivery of the shipment of my second book, 'Fantastic Shrink Plastic Jewellery & Crafts.'

It's a little departure from my usual metal clays but I love shrink plastic because it undergoes a magical transformation when you apply heat to it...just like metal clay!

I had so much fun putting this book together, I wanted it to be colourful and happy and all the designs in the book are a reflection of the mood I was in when I produced the designs and wrote the book. Most of all I wanted it to look very girly, the typesetter and printers were a little grumpy with me as I kept demanding just the right shade of pink and after many attempts we finally got there.

So here's the very rough photograph taken on my Iphone just after the books arrived on a huge pallet on my driveway. They are now being spirited off to Beads Direct who will have the exclusive rights to sell the book. I have also produced a range of kits to accompany the book in my brand name 'by Natalia'. It's been a very exciting time and I have loved working with Beads Direct throughout the process. We've also filmed some special shrink plastic jewellery projects which will be free to view on Beads Direct TV.

I'm very excited about this new venture and I'll let you know as soon as the book, videos and kits are launched which will be very soon...so watch this space!

Brand New Textures from Helen Breil

I was so excited to receive my first shipment of Helen Briel textures and they are now exculsively on sale in our on-line shop.

Helen Breil is a Canadian polymer clay artist whose work I admire greatly. She designed this range of rubber textures and they are breathtakingly beautiful. I'm proud to say that these textures are only available in the UK from Silver Clay Creations.

Here are a few examples of the texture designs. I do love them all as they produce some incredible results and they are so different to the run-of-the-mill textures that everyone else seems to be using. So if you want your work to have an exclusive look, these are definitely the textures to invest in. The price for each texture mat is £12.99. This represents excellent value for money as you can see just how many designs are included within each rubber texture mat. They are ideal for using in polymer clay and silver clay as they have a very good depth and the clarity of the design is perfect.

I wanted to share some examples of pieces I've made using these textures and also some pieces
from Helen Breil's beautiful collection of polymer clay designs. You can find out more about Helen Breil and see the full gallery of her work by visiting her website http://helenbreil.com/Slideshow.php

The range of textures are now on sale at Silver Clay Creations on-line shop please click here to see the designs and prices.

My New Book - Silver Clay with Style

I'm very proud to announce that my new book Silver Clay with Style will be on sale from 10th January 2012!

I spent many months in 2011 planning, designing, making and writing this book. It's been a huge task but one of the most enjoyable and rewarding things I've ever done. I wanted to create something that I know wasn't already on the market, a book that was bang up-to-date and packed with information, advice and tips about how to work with the different silver clay products to produce some stunning results.

I decided to call the book 'Silver Clay with Style' because every single project within it is something that not only looks beautiful, but is also very wearable and stylish. Wearbility is a very important aspect of jewellery making for me. Jewellery should be proudly on display, worn and loved and I hope that all my designs fit the bill perfectly.

As well as teaching lots of techniques, I hope these projects inspire you to add your own unique twist and to improve upon my designs. There are 22 designs in the book and I explain in detail each step in the process of making them. The projects are accompanied by full colour photographs expertly captured by the very talented David Airey. So, even if you don't make jewellery with silver clay this is beautiful coffee table book to look through and enjoy.

*The book is now available at a special advance order price of £14.99 including postage
(Normal retail price £16.99 plus postage)

To pre-order your copy please click here and place your order through our on-line shop. The book will be despatched to you on 10th January 2012.

If you would like to order the book as a Christmas gift, please let me know by e-mailing me at info@silverclaycreations.co.uk and I will send you a special gift card
to give to the recipient in anticipation of receiving their gift in the New Year.

Best Wishes,

Natalia x

Natalia's Silver Clay Secrets Tour...1st Stop Dorset!

Having been fired up by my trip to the World Metal Clay Conference in Chicago and learning so many brand new techniques, I've decided to put a new workshop together and go on tour!

Silver Clay Secrets is my brand new one-day workshop where I'll be giving you 20 grams of Art Clay Silver and showing you how to turn it into some beautiful, fine silver jewellery.

People often tell me how much they want to learn about making silver clay jewellery, but that it's too far for them to travel to me in Huddersfield. So, I've decided to bring my silver clay secrets to you.

My first stop will be the beautiful village of Poundsbury in Dorchester, Dorset on Saturday 17th September. Due to popular demand, I have also added a second date here on the following Saturday 24th September. Our venue will be the fabulous village hall, Brownsword Hall (see picture above...isn't it stunning!)

For further information about this workshop and other workshop dates around the country to be announced soon, please e-mail me at info@silverclaycreations.co.uk

I look forward to meeting you all very soon!

World Metal Clay Conference

Hello again everyone! Well I'm back from a whirlwind visit to the windy city of Chicago and my first World Metal Clay Conference.

It was a wonderful event during which I learnt so much, I made so many new friends from all over the world and had great fun which was the best part of all! It reminded me how we all have so much advice and information to share, yet jewellery making, or indeed anything creative tends to be so solitary. It was very important to me to have this opportunity to spend time with other people, learning, making things and generally chatting about what we all love most.

Here are some beautiful images of pieces made by some of the amazing presenters who gave workshops and seminars. I learned about Keum Boo, the ancient art of adding gold leaf to metal clay with a new twist from Lorren Baum-Davis (see photo of her work above).

I was thrilled to find out all about enamelling onto silver clay from the inspirational Joy Funnell. (See her beautiful and very detailed designs below. She made it all look very easy which is the mark of a truly talented artist! To find out more about Joy visit her website at www.joyfunnell.co.uk)











I also had a lot of problems solved by hearing the genius that is Lisa Barth talking about how to set large stones after firing. That has been one of the things that I'd love to do but have found most tricky so I'm now going to attempt it with renewed confidence and enthusiasm, I'm hoping to post my results up here very soon! (See Lisa's beautiful flower pendant and her expert stone setting...one day mine will be so perfect too!)