Profile in Metal Clay Artist Magazine

I was thrilled when Jeannette LeBlanc contacted me about using my first bronze Flock bracelet for the inaugural cover of her then new endeavor, Metal Clay Artist Magazine. Four years (!) have flown by, with a stack of inspiring magazines to show for the efforts of the MCAM team.

In the latest fourth anniversary issue, Julia Rai interviewed me for the issue's artist profile in honor of my connection to the magazine's beginnings.

Flock bracelet
©2009 Vickie Hallmark
bronze

Along with interesting tidbits about me and photos of many of my works, including the aforementioned cover piece and my latest experiments in combining metal clay with Argentium silver, this is an especially good issue, with an article on casting from metal clay models by Holly Gage and the results of a bracelet challenge with eleven artists' different responses to the request to use 100 grams of sterling in one piece. My favorite bracelets were those of my friends Lora Hart and Lorena Angulo.

Fusing Silver Clay to Argentium Silver

I'm a little behind on plugging my recent tutorial that appears in the latest issue of Metal Clay Artist Magazine. The cover of the magazine calls it "One of our best tutorials," which certainly makes a writer proud.

The article discusses the desirable properties of Argentium silver: easy firing, lack of firescale, tarnish resistance, and heat hardening. But beyond that, I show how to easily fuse Argentium to itself and to metal clay components.

If you've ever fused fine silver, you know there's a bit of finesse involved. Argentium is much, much easier to work with. Combined with metal clay, it's a cost effective way to extend your expensive and precious clay and to creep slowly into the world of conventional fabrication by learning skills for handling wire and sheet.

Contemporary Metal Clay Rings

Last week found a pleasant surprise in my mailbox: my personal copy of Hattie Sanderson's new book, Contemporary Metal Clay Rings. I'm proud to have three photos of my work included in this masterful new book.

Printed on quality paper and hardbound, the book covers all the intricacies of making rings from metal clay, including sizing issues in great detail. A thorough coverage of working with the various silver clays, including sterling, makes this book usable even by complete novices. Sometimes it's desirable to combine different silver clays in one project, or to use commercial silver components, and Hattie covers these scenarios as well. Sections are also dedicated to finishing (including Hattie's favorite rotary tool heads), and additions such as gemstones, nuts and bolts, and other inclusions as well as gold accents. Beyond the generalized information, there are six ring projects as well as a introductory pendant project. The book is rounded out with copious images of work from more than fifty metal clay artists, scattered within the text and compiled in a special gallery section.

If you are interested in making metal clay rings, this new addition to the metal clay library will answer all your questions.

PMC Conference Presentation: Glass + PMC

Barbara Becker Simon graciously invited me to tag team with her on a live demonstration at the sixth and final PMC Guild Conference. Our topic was combining glass with metal clay (silver), since both of us are glass bead makers as well as metal clay artists.

Vickie Hallmark & Barbara Becker Simon
preparing for glass + PMC demo
at PMC Conference 2012

The live demonstrations are always very popular at the conference. There were two other presentations as well. Terry Kovalcik and Chris Darway, otherwise known as "The Jersey Boys," shared innovative techniques like building cores from different materials and combining titanium wire with metal clay. I have some three dimensional structures that I've been dreaming about, so I'll be experimenting myself with some of these ideas. Ms. Akiko Nashida from Japan demonstrated life-like flower construction, first in bread clay and then in silver clay, with Ms. Reiko Ichimura translating. All the presentations were give twice, on two different days, to accommodate as many viewers as possible.

torch-fired dichroic cabochons
manipulated with tools
starting tiles shown at top

I started off our demonstration with fire, as a good torch always gets things warmed up! Although almost everyone in the audience had embedded a dichroic cabochon into metal clay at some point in their artistic careers, and many had even made their own kiln-fired cabochons, only a few had ever done so with a torch. The torch has many advantages, including the possibility to use tools like a knife to shape the cabochon.  Barbara then demonstrated using PMC paper/sheet to form structures with sheet glass, very reminiscent of copper foiling for stained glass.

enamel painting on glass
tracing black and watercolor

Next, I demonstrated two of the types of enamels that I use for my glass paintings that later get set into silver clay. First was a tracing black used for outlines and text work, and then I showed the glass painting watercolors that are so easy to use. Barbara followed by mixing enamel into metal clay to make a vividly colored, but structurally formable component for jewelry, which has a very different look than regular enamels.

©2011 Vickie Hallmark
Cactus Wren
reverse-painted vitreous enamel on glass, embedded in fine silver

©2011 Vickie Hallmark
Cactus Wren, reverse

Finally, I did a quick synopsis of my approach to setting glass into metal clay. I never set glass into clay, but always pre-fire components and then add the glass and seal the seam with a decorative reinforcement. Barbara covered painting onto glass with metal clay pastes as her third demo.

I really wanted to squeeze in a few more topics, but there just wasn't time. You can find the link to my conference presentation summaries, both the ones I actually finished and the two I only dreamed of including, in the upcoming issue of my newsletter.

Metal Clay & Color

I'm thrilled to announce that I have a project included in the soon-to-be-available new book, Metal Clay & Color, compiled by Mary Wohlgemuth and published by Kalmbach. The project is a step-by-step tutorial to making a fine silver clay ring with an embedded band, accented with a jolt of colored resin. I give tips on how to mix color into the resin, how to level the resin in the reservoir, and how to avoid bubbles as the resin sets up.

Other projects in the book cover adding color via polymer clay, ceramics, patinas, gemstones, glass, seed beads & more. The twenty artists/designers who contributed to the book include: Lorena Angulo, Lorrene Baum-Davis, Maggie Berman, Pat Bolgar, Susan Breen Silvy, Barbara Briggs, Sandra Butchko, Catherine Davies Paetz, Pam East, Joy Funnell, Hadar Jacobson, Patricia Kimle, Irina Miech, Kim Otterbein, Cindy Pankopf, Cindy Silas, Jewelyn Vanoni and Michela Verani (and me, of course!).

Preorders are available from Kalmbach Books.

Latest Publication: Bead Design Studio

I'd almost forgotten that Bead Unique (now renamed Bead Design Studio) contacted me weeks ago about including my website in an article on Marketing. They asked to publish my website/blog header and a short marketing tip. Of course, I said YES!

Today I finally spotted in the December 2011 issue (yes, I'm behind!) of Bead Design Studio Magazine, directed toward bead businesses, the informative article "Bead Business Marketing 101" written by Rachel  Baron. The three page article includes info and examples about using business cards, social media, blogs and forums to promote your work. Of course, the rest of the magazine is also packed with beading project tutorials, book and equipment reviews, and lots of tempting ads.

Here's the cover of the issue with the article, although there is a newer issue out since this one.

Thank you, Bead Design Studio! My attempts at presenting a professional presence are paying off.

Published! Glass Artist Profile in Bead & Button Magazine

I was thrilled to be approached last fall by editor Ann Dee Allen of Bead & Button Magazine regarding a profile of my glass work. Sheila Llanas interviewed me several times via phone and e-mail, and I shipped some representative beads and vessels to her to inspire her writing.

Finally the wait has passed and I can announce that the profile has appeared in print, in the April issue of Bead & Button. Sheila did a terrific job of distilling my scientific background and experimental approach to art into background for the article.

The photographers at B&B also took advantage of the beads and vessels I sent, along with my own images, and a bead from the editor's collection to illustrate the article.

Quick, run out and find the latest issue, which has a beautiful bangle project by Cynthia Rutledge along with other fun bead projects.

Calendar Publication

Jury results are in for Holly Gage's 2011 jewelry calendar, The Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry. I'm so thrilled that one of my brooches, Nightbird, will be featured (for the month of August, if the order is as shown).

Check out all the amazing metal clay jewelry of 41 artists from around the world, selected by Holly Gage, Lisa Cain, Robert Dancik, and Julia Rai, and pre-order yourself a copy, here. To be released at the end of October, they would make a lovely gift for the art or jewelry lover.

Here's a larger photo of my piece, a stilt brooch of silver clay with carved faux bone:

Featured on Crafthaus

Are you familiar with Crafthaus? It's like Facebook specifically for craft artists, with displays of work, online exhibits, and networking opportunities.

This week I'm lucky enough to be one of the featured artists on the front page, with my above glass and silver box featured. I encourage you to go browse around, join up and get connected with other artists, some whose work you'll know from magazines and shows, and others new and amazing.

Beads Published!

I finally made it through my box of mail stashed from my trip, and found buried treasure -- my copy of The Flow magazine.


For the fifth year, this winter issue showcases the Gallery of Women in Glass, with some of the most stunning work in glass beads, marbles and sculpture. Three of my electroformed and painted-enamel beads are included on page 8.


I recommend a subscription to check out the eye candy regularly, but you can order individual issues from the publisher or check at your local glass shop to see if they carry this fine magazine.

New Year Planning: Business Cards

Happy New Year to all!

I'm going to admit my resolution publicly, in hopes that it will help me follow through. I'm resolving to plan ahead more in the coming year, although acknowledging that I can't always be ahead of the curve. By working to get many things done far ahead, rather than procrastinating to the last minute, I'll have more options for those times when I do get caught by the dawdling bug.

As a show of my good intention, this blog post was written and scheduled two days ago. That was the day I finally decided to submit my new business cards for printing. Imagine! I don't really NEED these for months probably -- for the Bead & Button Show definitely, but I don't need them now. But think of all the opportunities I'll have to distribute them that I wouldn't have been able to take advantage of if I waited until the spring to print them.


I actually had the front of the card all finished before, and had even printed them at home on my photo printer on Avery business cards. My excuse was that I could change them frequently without a large investment, but I also always wound up printing them right before a show. The notion that I wanted double-sided cards sent me searching for other possibilities though.


For the cost of a pack of 100 cards, not to mention ink and my time investment, I was able to order 1000 double-sided business cards from CopyCraft. I used these printers for my postcards last year that turned out really well and were also reasonably priced. Next time I do a postcard I'm going to do double-sided also.

CopyCraft makes it easy to upload Photoshop files to their website, then they will place the trim marks and PDF for the printer. Double-sided glossy 4-color printing for $34 + shipping is hard to beat. Ask for Jason Willis, if you decide to give them a try.

To see instructions for how I layout my business cards in Photoshop, see my previous post on business cards. Those instructions are accurate for the print-at-home cards, but need some size revisions for the pro printer version, since they need a bleed area that will be trimmed off. For that purpose, make the file size 2.25" x 3.75" and crop photos to 675x750 pixels for insertion. Make sure text doesn't extend into the 1/8" trim area around the edge. Enjoy!

Metal Clay Today Rising Star

I'm extremely flattered to report that I've been honored as a "Rising Star" by Metal Clay Today Magazine (an online magazine dedicated to metal clay). Online for all to peruse, it includes a two-page spread on my work. I was recommended for this honor by the incomparable Holly Gage. It's so exhilarating for icons in the field to recognize my early contributions.


This second issue of the magazine includes articles on a range of fascinating topics: the hot new copper clay, an artist showcase of the work of Alexandra Daini who mixes porcelain with ACS Overlay Paste, designing silver additions to glass with Zentangles (a doodling paradigm that I've played with before), and using paper form metal clay to construct tubular beads. And my bronze bird rings are on the cover!


Go read it here on pages 8 and 9!

Beyond the feature article, this blog was also included as one of the three "Best of the Blogs" selections chosen by Lori Phillips in this issue. Lori evidently particularly resonated with my November 16 post on procrastination. ;-)

Guess that's a reminder to get the holiday preparations finished, so I can sneak a few hours for art...and sit down with a cup of tea to read every smidgen of the new issue of Metal Clay Today.

The Ultimate Publication: My Own Books!

For several years now, I've been saying I wanted to use the new on-line technologies to produce a book of my work. I remember the old days, when I printed out glossy photos of my quilts on my home printer, fussing and fuming, and then took the results off to be bound at a local print shop. Have things ever changed!! Now we can all have professionally printed books that look like they were mass produced, but we can order just a few...or even only one.

When my friend, Judy Perez, who is a graphic artist by original profession, announced her book of art quilts, I thought "I have to get this done!" Knowing that she was a pro and had probably really researched the technologies available and selected the best, I decided to follow her lead and use blurb. blurb makes it very easy to design your own book. Your download their software, then either use their provided layouts or make your own with text and photo boxes. The most time required was to search back through stored photo files to find originals, so I could have nice high resolution graphics.


The first book I designed is Birdwatching: a metal clay adventure, which details my series of bird-themed jewelry made of silver or bronze combined with gemstones, painted glass, enamel, resin and faux bone. I decided to intersperse some selections from my collection of quotations, those that were related to birds. Then I got carried away using my bird drawings to illustrate the pages. I'm quite happy with this impromptu book and thinking perhaps I should actually PLAN a book and see where that goes.


That first book was so fun and easy that I quickly started a second book titled Copper On, Copper Off: an electroforming adventure, which refines and expands upon my online electroforming tutorial, which has been extremely popular. This book has more text, as it details the background, theory, equipment, design, operation and finishing of electroformed glass beads. Extras in the book are a page of sources and a troubleshooting guide, as well as dozens of photos of my electroformed beads. I also describe my carved copper electroforming technique.

Both books can be previewed at the blurb site, where you can also order them in softback or hardback editions. I still need to do some tweaking to the cover image to be able to off the image wrap edition in the future. I purchased one copy each of the soft and hard covers to compare and proof, then made a few corrections/additions before releasing them both to the world at large.

I've ordered a stack of books for Christmas gifts this year, and I plan to offer them for sale in my classes and at the Bead & Button Show next year. And even more book ideas are percolating in my head. Can you believe that blurb offers a service to easily convert your blog archives to a book??? BlogSlurper will take your Blogger, TypePad or WordPress blog and convert it for you. Imagine the possibilities!

Another Publication!

As I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I send photos out seeking publication and then forget all about them. It's been months since I sent out this photo of Retro Lovebird, but here it is in the ISGB's Quarterly Glass Bead Eye Candy gallery:

More Than One Way to Get Published!

Submitting photographs for publication is a never ending job. I'll get on a roll and send a bunch out, then forget all about it for months. Then there are the rejections, which are definitely hard on the ego. Sometimes a piece that has gotten a lot of attention can't get published, or at least takes a lot of shopping around. Wouldn't it be fascinating to know how those decisions are made? Things like: it's the wrong color for this issue, or the only space left is landscape and your photo is portrait orientation. Wouldn't it feel a bit better to hear it that way?

But wait, there's an easier way! Sometimes publications just happen with no effort whatsoever! (Or almost.) In this month's issue of Art Jewelry Magazine, two of my pieces appeared in advertisements.


Tonya Davidson of Whole Lotta Whimsy asked me for an image of my carved bronze cuff a while back for their half page ad on page 17. Nice! And right next to that bronze bangle by Barbara Becker Simon that I've so admired, too! There was a tiny bit of effort required, to get it into the requested format and ship it off ASAP. Being prepared is key, I guess. I feel so honored to join the long list of artists whose work has appeared in their ads. I can't quite believe it! Thanks, Tonya!


On the other hand, there was absolutely no work involved in another ad on page 7, for the International Society of Glass Beadmakers (ISGB). I had no idea that they would use my Retro Lovebird necklace for the ad there. The only connection I can figure is that I did make and submit postcards for the Gathering last summer, which I thought would be great advertising for the Bead Bazaar that I couldn't attend. Just getting the work out there pays off again!

I adjure you to submit your work, repeatedly. Post it online, in a blog, in forums, on Flickr, on Facebook and Crafthaus...just keep at it. Really, it works!

Cover Girl

There's a new magazine on the near horizon, one devoted to metal clay! Metal Clay Artist Magazine is the brainchild of Jeannette LeBlanc. The first issue is due out any minute now, and on the cover is my very own photo of Flock, my bronze link bracelet made with photopolymer plate impressions of my original drawings.


I've had quilts and glass beads published in many different publications, but this is the first metal clay piece to make it into print -- on the cover, too!


Don't you need a subscription of your very own? Check out the preview issue.

Metal Clay Calendar Girl

I'm thrilled to announce that my bronze bracelet, Flock, will be part of the 2010 Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry Calandar. Designed by Holly Gage, next year's calendar includes images of 40 amazing jewelry pieces, selected from over 250 submitted images. Stones, enamels and found objects combine with silver, bronze and copper clays in designs ranging from romantic to ultra sleek. The calendar also handily lists shows, conferences and competition deadlines. Preorder the calendar now, for delivery at the end of October.

Perspectives Exhibit, Slide Show and Publication

Perspectives is a juried exhibit presented by ISGB as part of the Glass Art Society Conference. The collection is on display from June 5 to September 7 at the Radisson Hotel, Corning, New York.

The latest issue of The Glass Bead, the quarterly publication of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers, features the exhibit on the cover and as a full color article showing images of all the included work. One of my carved electroformed lovebirds is part of the exhibit, as shown here on page 30.

A slide show of the selected beads demonstrates the breadth of styles and techniques employed by some of the best lampworkers today.

Etsy Treasury

My hummer pendant is in an Etsy Treasury of bird themed treasures, selected by Lisa Rippee of Cloud Eleven Design. The treasury is titled "Blackbird Singing in the Dead of Night: Beautiful art featuring birds." Check it out!

Treasury Link

Electroformed Bead Postcards!

My postcards have arrived! For the last few years at the ISGB Gathering, I've purchased the postcard set. This is a fundraiser for the ISGB, with artists donating postcards for the set, which the ISGB then sells. It's a lot of fun to peruse through the cards, finding the latest work by the masters, new favorite artists, and collections from chapters around the country. Both years I've thought "I should do that!" But I always missed the deadline.

This year, I decided to get it done. I used the same printers that did my brochure, CopyCraft. $79 + shipping for 1000 cards, color on both sides. Ask for Jason, and tell him I referred you, if you give them a try. I submitted Photoshop files of the front and back artwork on Monday and had them in my hands on Friday. Now to pack up 300 and ship them out to the ISGB. Then I will bundle some to take to the Bead and Button Show with me. Find me to say "hi!" sometime during the week and get one for yourself!

Now I wish that I'd thought to put the carved copper reverse side of this bead on the back. Oh, the things we learn as we go.

Bonus: Contributors automatically receive a full set of the cards. At least I will have some presence at the Gathering this year, since I can't go in person. My niece had the nerve to schedule her wedding on the day of the Bead Bazaar!!