Momentos in Metal Clay

October 01, 2015

A few Saturdays ago we had a great new class here at Heart & Stone: Mementos in Metal Clay, taught by Marjorie Renno. Marge is great teacher. She is in fact, a full time teacher of metalsmithing and metal clay at a high school in Connecticut. I wish I had gone to that high school. (no offense Lynnfield High, really) And because she is a high school teacher, she is very organized and also very encouraging. She also has lots of patience.

Here are a few photos from our recent day of class. Marge was wearing these earrings when she walked in and I wanted to rip them off her body. They were made from a mold of her grandmother’s decorative scissors and they are very cool.

She started by talking about the kinds of the things you can mold. Anything from sea life to antiques buttons & coins to textures. She talked about what molds well and what does not. Some folks brought their own treasures but Marge had loads of things for people to use as well.

Time was devoted to discussing design and Marge showed techniques to help encourage our more intermediate and advanced students to start to think about  different and creative ways to build metal clay jewelry beyond flat textures and single component pieces.

In this class you’ll learn to work with 2 part molds. Great tips for getting good molds and then how to best use those molds to get a clean metal clay cast from it.

Everybody worked hard all day. We had three kiln firings by the time the day was over. This is just the first batch of the day! If you’d like to take this Mementos class which will be running again on October 3rd Register now. While it’s not a bad idea to take Metal Clay 101 before taking Mementos is it not required.  Space is limited.

Meet Marjorie Renno 

Majorie Renno

Marjorie Renno is an award winning educator and internationally exhibiting artist.  She has her MFA in Sculpture from the University of the Arts, is a member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths, a Senior Certifying Instructor in Art Clay Silver and a CT certified Art Educator who teaches courses in Sculpture, Jewelry & Metalsmithing.  When not in the studio, she is an avid walker who finds much of her inspiration in the natural environment.  Focusing on small wearable sculptures, Marjorie seeks to create intricate objects that serve as reminders of places that are often overlooked.

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