I am pleased to present a new workshop project to create jewellery that combines metal work and polymer clay.

I hesitated for a long time to offer this type of course until I started working with rivets (also called cold connections): fixing two materials together without the use of heat.

This was much easier to set up. No soldering, no torch and all the materials that go with it.

Rivets allow you to combine polymer clay and metal in a solid and elegant way. It is not necessary to have complex equipment to participate in this workshop (however, some basic tools are required).

This workshop is for you if you want to discover a way to enhance your polymer clay work by combining it with another material: metal

During this course you will learn :

• What different metals can be used; which ones to avoid
• How to choose metal according to its properties
• How to use jewellers’ saw frame and which blade to choose.
• How to easily transfer the shape you want to cut onto the metal.
• How to drill the metal to place rivets.
• How to give metal a neat finish and a brushed look.
• How to texture metal easily without distorting it.
• To create a polymer clay decoration using an easy and fun surface technique for a colourful and vivid result. This technique will be used for the project worked on during the course but can easily be reused for any other creation in polymer clay.
• A few tips on how to develop this surface technique by combining it with other mixed media effects.
• To protect the piece of polymer clay in an effective and permanent way
• To firmly attach the polymer clay and the metal, without glue, thanks to rivets made of metal wire.
• Depending on the time we have, I hope to show you how to make your own clasps (on leather cord) to match the pendant and how to attach them without glue.

During the workshop, I provide :

The metal used

The saw blades

A bench pin (the support you use when cutting the metal)

Templates for cutting metal and polymer clay according to the model you will choose (Several designs will be provided with different levels of difficulty).

a written document summarising the essential stages of the project

I will also have some tools to lend.

A list of materials is provided (several weeks in advance)

This course is currently scheduled in France (ARRAS) in February 2022 and in Belgium(Wavre) in May 2022 but I would be happy to travel elsewhere to teach this project.