metalclay fistfight…

by jaywhaley on November 18, 2009

Oh I am about to get in the middle of a fight! 

While I have not worked with metalclay, I know a fair amount about it.  However, I am learning a lot more about it recently.

Kate McKinnon, who I will interview tomorrow on my BlogTalkRadio Show,  is about to get a lot of metal clay people mad at her ( and me?).  She claims precious metal clay needs to be adequately kiln fired, work hardened, etc., to be a real jewelry metal.  She says the metal clay industry is deliberately mis-informing the metal clay community as to the proper techniques required.

There are a lot of things going on in the metal clay world I didn’t know, but I’m going to find out tomorrow…

{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

kate mckinnon November 19, 2009 at 5:31 pm

That’s funny, Jay!
I would rephrase what you said to read more like “She claims that the current curriculum deliberately underemphasizes metalsmithing skills, and an understanding of the importance of full firing.” There is quite a bit of money to be made in the MC market, drawing in interested craftspeople who aren’t interested in having a metalsmithing setup, but want to make metal stuff, so naturally, the official MC certification classes and such downplay the need for any type of pesky hammers or anvils. I get it- but I don’t think it’s the right approach.

I’d like to see better information about full firing, annealing, forging, soldering, and, of course, safe handling, available to our student body. So far, there has been resistance to the idea that any of that is important. I am often discouraged by this, but when I remember how MUCH money is being generated, well, I guess I understand their motivation to keep it simple.

However, the down side of not teaching a professional approach to the material implies that there isn’t one; this is not the case. MC can easily be taught as a metal, it just generally is not.

mike edwards November 19, 2009 at 12:58 pm

Wow Jay,
You really are buckin for a fist fight.Between between the little torch users and the metal clay people you may need to stay out of alleys at night!Lol! I won’t be listening live but will enjoy the wafting tufts o fur when I download the program tomorrow! Keep it up, your doing a good and interesting job. Ever try hydrogen as a little torch fuel? It rocks. However when I do casting or pour ingots over 20dwt I break out a larger torch. There is nothing wrong with owning more than one torch( esp. if the single use torch that can do everything costs 500 bucks).
Mike

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