PMC® Flex™, the latest innovation in metal clay from Mitsubishi Materials, gives you the luxury of time. Take your time as you work, roll, cut, shape this fine silver metal clay. The clay feels and behaves like other PMC varieties, it just lets you take advantage of a much longer working time—weeks, if need be! Find out more in the latest post at The Studio, Rio Grande’s blog.
Joe Silvera, of the Silvera Jewelry School, was here at Rio Grande in August to teach a class on soldering gold-and silver-filled metals for our Summer Workshop Series. Heather Apodaca joined Joe’s 2-day class and learned to make a simple ring project using faceted round wire. In today’s post, Heather shares step-by-step instructions for making this simple eye-catching ring!
Rio recently introduced new WHITE COPPRclay to its line of base metal clays, and every clay artist in the building could hardly wait to work with it. After giving him some time to experiment, we cornered Rio Grande metal clay artist and Tech Team member Thomas Flores and asked him what he’s discovered about this exciting new color of COPPRclay. Read about his experiences today at The Studio.
Have you heard? WHITE COPPRclay™ is here and it’s bringing a mind-blowing new dimensions to designing with base metal clay! Check out our latest post, by clay artist Yvonne M. Padilla, and get the low-down from an expert on this incredible new medium…
When Phil Poirier, of Bonny Doon Engineering, showed his new urethane hammer to Eddie Bell, vice president of manufacturing at Rio Grande, Eddie was immediately excited by its possibilities for jewelry-making and said, “Man, that’s a hydraulic hammer!” Although the Bonny Doon urethane forming hammer does rather look like a colorful plastic hammer, it is actually so much more than that! Take a look at today’s post on The Studio, and see what this dynamo can do for your metal forming!
Have you been looking for a unique way to bring color to your jewelry pieces? On The Studio today, Ashli Brooke Taylor, of Rio’s Tech Support Team, demonstrates one simple way to use the Kliar E-Coating system to add a great punch of color to your jewelry. Kliar E-Coating is a type of nano-ceramic electro coating that is abrasive-resistant and hypoallergenic. Check it out!
At the 2011 SNAG Conference, Phil Poirier introduced his new hammer, vise, and stakes, to rave reviews. I’m happy to tell you that barely one year later…he’s done it again! At this year’s SNAG Conference Phil brought his brand new Bonny Doon Small Forming Tools, which take the innovations of his hammer and stakes to a whole new level. Check out today’s post to learn more!
Silver-filled products are all-new and there are plenty of questions about them. Here are a few that the rest of the Rio Technical Support team and I have fielded in recent days, based on our own use of this cool stuff!
We were thrilled when Phil Poirier bought Bonny Doon Engineering in 2006, not only because his career as both a jeweler and a tool-maker made him the perfect person to take over Bonny Doon, but also because his workshop is in Taos, New Mexico, just a few hours north of us. We’ve made a habit of dropping in on his facility every once in awhile, and we try to bring a video camera with us, when we go.
In the previous three parts of my series on Designing a Jewelry Collection, I've talked about what a collection is, design principles, designing for your customer and the … [Read More...] about Designing a Collection part 4
Manhattan jewelry designer and entrepreneur Sandy Baker is the owner and creative force behind Sandy Baker Art Collection. She claims she has been in the business for … [Read More...] about Influencers in Jewelry Design: Sandy Baker
