Secrets to Art Clay Success DVD

A How-To Art Clay DVD

Secrets to Art Clay Success presented by Tamara Honaman and published and distributed by Fire Mountain Gems and Beads ($29.95) is a 68 minute DVD covering all the basics of working with the Art Clay brand of metal clay. Along with the basics such as tools and supplies, she covers various techniques and includes 7 projects. The DVD is divided up into three sections: introduction, fundamentals, and projects.

Basics and Techniques

In the brief introductory section, Tamara covers the basics about the different types of Art Clay available and provides a ball-park figure on the number of jewelry pieces you can make with each depending on the gram weight of the package. This is followed by the techniques section which covers rolling, texturing, shaping, braiding, forming, firing, and finishing the clay. Like most metal clay lovers, she also enjoys the wonderful textures you can create with the clay, so she shows how to achieve various textures in this section of the DVD as well as the projects later on. She also goes over the tools, equipment, and other materials needed such as a roller, non-stick work surface, cutting tools, and olive oil.

Though there isn't a lot of information provided on how to use a kiln for firing, she does discusses the use of a kiln as well as demonstrate how to use a hand-held torch for the low-fire variety of Art Clay. So, anyone who may be a little uncertain about how to use the torch will find that part helpful.

Jewelry Projects

Finally in the projects area of the DVD, she shows how to make seven different jewelry designs: a textured bracelet, a sand dollar charm, earrings with gold accents, vintage brooch, braided ring with gemstones, seed pod pendant, and box pendant. All of these include other techniques on top of the basics she previously covers such as how to attach pieces of clay to each other using clay paste, how to add stones to metal clay, how to use 24kt gold paste, and how to cover natural materials in clay which are burnt out later during the firing phase.

As she shows how to make each piece of jewelry, Tamara emphasizes the importance of spending time finishing the piece after it has dried and before it has been fired. She uses jeweler's files and various grits of sand paper to illustrate how to clean a piece so that you have less clean up and finishing to do after it has been fired.

One added bonus to the projects are printable pdf files provided on the DVD which consist of step-by-step instructions (which she has demonstrated on the DVD) as well as a list of needed tools and supplies.

Concluding Thoughts

Tammara Honaman is a natural in front of the camera and does an excellent job as she demonstrates each project. Plus, I think her projects would appeal to a large number of people because they are not overly difficult and thus intimidating, and the finished pieces look very wearable. You can tell she put a lot of thought into creating projects that would allow the viewer to practice a number of metal clay methods. The printable instructions and list of supplies is also a great idea.