My sister complains that it is hard to find Judaica jewelry. I decided to make her a Star of David with metal clay. The picture doesn't do it justice.
I had made a stamp of this design for Rosh Hashanah. I used the stamp to make a mold with Mega Mold. It took me four tries to get it right! I suggest letting it dry for another 15-20 minutes without the object being used for impression to make sure it's solid.
Then I used the mold with the clay. After removing the clay, I used my tissue blade to cut away the excess. I wanted to add a crystal in the middle, but they don't hold up under firing. I knew I'd have to glue it in later. But the center impression was perfectly sized, and I knew it would shrink with firing. So how to hold it open? I had a jump ring that was the perfect size of the opening, so I stuck it in and fired it in place. Of course, that meant it wouldn't come out, and the firing changed the color to black. So to fix that, I painted oil paste over the top of the jump ring and re-fired it. Now it was silver like the rest of the piece. Then I glued in the crystal.
The one thing I forgot to do was to use my acrylic block to press the design before drying to smooth it out somewhat. So it ended up being a little rougher than I would have liked. However, overall, I'm pleased. and my sister loves it, so that's what matters!
I had made a stamp of this design for Rosh Hashanah. I used the stamp to make a mold with Mega Mold. It took me four tries to get it right! I suggest letting it dry for another 15-20 minutes without the object being used for impression to make sure it's solid.
Then I used the mold with the clay. After removing the clay, I used my tissue blade to cut away the excess. I wanted to add a crystal in the middle, but they don't hold up under firing. I knew I'd have to glue it in later. But the center impression was perfectly sized, and I knew it would shrink with firing. So how to hold it open? I had a jump ring that was the perfect size of the opening, so I stuck it in and fired it in place. Of course, that meant it wouldn't come out, and the firing changed the color to black. So to fix that, I painted oil paste over the top of the jump ring and re-fired it. Now it was silver like the rest of the piece. Then I glued in the crystal.
The one thing I forgot to do was to use my acrylic block to press the design before drying to smooth it out somewhat. So it ended up being a little rougher than I would have liked. However, overall, I'm pleased. and my sister loves it, so that's what matters!
