During my term break, I attended a jewellery workshop in Malaysia to learn how to make my prototype. I found the studio researching materials I was thinking of using, and reached out to the owner to ask about whether or not my ideas would be feasible. I settled on using Art Clay Silver, but I couldn’t figure out all the details from videos and other online sources. I still had more questions so I signed up for a workshop at the jewellery studio. I was pretty excited starting out as I had an existing interest in making jewellery, and I was already considering taking classes to make my own from metal. I signed up for 15 hours of class, split into 5 different sessions of 3 hours each with a total of 4 projects to complete.

 

Day 1-Pendant Making

The first project I started with was making a pendant with a stencil. The first thing I learned working with the clay is to touch it directly as little as possible. It dries out much faster than normal clay, so touching it with the heat of our fingers would dry it out quickly and make it unworkable. 

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I went with a flower stencil, tracing the design from my phone with tracing paper and a pencil. After that, I had to basically store the unused clay quickly so it wouldn’t dry out. It went back into the original wrapper, and then into a smaller bag and then taped up into a bigger one. 

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My original idea for the pendant was to have a smiley face on it, but I also had to option of learning how to use a stencil, so I decided to have both designs on each side. Then I let the clay dry on a hot plate so it could harden.

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While waiting, I got to cleaning up. The whole process of working with clay at the studio ensured alot of waste was minimized by carefully collecting leftovers. On day one, the instructor had prepped the materials with baking paper so the remnants of clay could be easily scraped off and reused for later. He had actually collected a substantial amount of clay bits from multiple projects.

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I waited for bit later on and then went to check if the clay was dry. I was taught to do this by using the metal scraper and checking for condensation on its surface. If it had condensation, then it wouldn’t be ready yet. Once it was dry, I got to smoothening the edges with a file. I was pretty anxious about this as I didn’t have the best track record with being delicate. My piece was surprisingly sturdy despite my having dropped it a few times, and got out unscathed from the whole process. I flipped the piece around, drew a rough smiley face on the back with a pencil and scored it with a pen-type tool. 

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To finish the piece and get it ready for firing, I sanded it down gently and (this was very nerve-wrecking) slowly drilled a hole on the top. I wasn’t experienced with clay, but I did understand that if I went too fast or pressed down too hard my piece would break, which I wasn’t keen to fix after all this effort. I successfully made a hole on the top, then went to fire it. 

 

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The process would essentially burn up the other materials, like water and non-toxic binders, leaving the silver behind. I let it fire for a few minutes and then switched it off and let the pendant cool. I came back after a few minutes and was surprised to see its very non-metal finish. This would be brushed off with a metal brush and then I could use a metal rod to polish the surface. I got a little bored waiting for my instructor to get back, so I decided to polish the back half of my pendant as well, just to see if I could (I could). 

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Day 2- Using A Mould

My second project was also making a pendant, but this time, from a mould. I picked an earring I thrifted earlier his year as tribute for my learnings, as I thought it might be cool to use in a necklace later on. The lesson started with making the mould, so I was introduced to a new material called Oyumaru, which was unsurprisingly Japanese-made. I’m not entirely sure what it is, but it melts at low heat, hardens quickly and can be reused for as long as necessary. It’s texture was something like a cross between plastic and styrofoam, and it was really light. 

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Next, I had to filll the mould with clay. Normally, this would be done by using a thick rectangle of clay and pressing it down into the mould, and then scraping off the excess. However, I was using the remaining clay from my previous project so I didn't have enough for this method. I learned how to roll the clay into a cylinder instead so it would fit. 

 

The back of the pendant wasn’t properly flattened after I let it dry, so I fixed it with a clay paste. This was essentially water and clay powder (from the previous projects). Then I let it dry again, sanded it down lightly, and fired it. This time, when filing it, I got to try using an electric grinder instead. This was much less work, and more efficient. I managed to get the back of the pendant smooth after extensive sanding. I brushed and polished the front, and was finished. 

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At this point in time, I was still unsure of how to make my prototype as they weren’t designed yet. I was already thinking of how feasible it was for me to do this at home. The store sold alot of the equipment I wanted to use, but the more expensive things like the electric grinder would be more of an investment. I wasn’t exactly sure how far I would go with making jewellery in the future, so I started looking for alternatives. I had a theory that a nail grinder would work for smaller projects, and it was significantly cheaper, so I bought one just in case. 

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My first two projects were far easier than my next two, which I struggled alot more with. I wasn’t exactly confident to work with clay as I had worked with other types of clay before, and I knew didn’t have the patience or delicacy to mould things into shape. I was also exhausted as I had just came back to Malaysia, and was spending the first few days of my term break waking up at 8am to attend classes. 

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I was tired, stressed at my yet-to-be-conceptualised designs, and slightly frustrated when I wasn’t able to breeze through the simple projects. I was considering if I had overestimated my crafting abilities, until I remembered I was actually decent at crafts; I had simply never worked very well with clay. I understood that I was taking the workshop with the goal of making my prototype, but I was putting too much pressure on myself to perfectly learn something. If I stressed out about getting things right, then I wouldn’t have the mental capacity to learn what I needed. I realised I was approaching this far too seriously, and that I should try to be more present about the process. Luckily I had come to this conclusion before I started my next two projects, as they were far more difficult.