WHY I CHOSE METAL CLAY... AND HOW IT CHANGED MY ART FOREVER
I got laid off with a chance in my pocket.
Not much money. A lot of uncertainty. And a class listing from The Crucible in Oakland that had been sitting in the back of my mind for months.
Metal clay. I'd heard the term before... always wondered what it actually was. But I'd never taken the leap to find out.
I had unemployment money, a little courage, and nothing to lose.
So I signed up. That decision changed everything.
From a Shared Bench to Starting Over
Before metal clay, I was learning jewelry the traditional way. I rented a bench at a jewelry collective in San Francisco... a shared workspace full of torches, pickle pots, and people who knew things I didn't. I learned metalsmithing. Fabrication. Traditional techniques. I loved it.
Then came the layoff. Corporate bean counters, budget cuts, the usual story. I had to leave San Francisco, downsize to Oakland, and figure out what came next.
I didn't have the tools anymore. Didn't have the bench. Didn't have the budget to rebuild from scratch.
What I had was time... and that class listing from The Crucible.
The Class That Broke My Heart... and Fixed It
The Crucible is one of those places that makes you believe anything is possible. An art school in Oakland that teaches welding, glass blowing, metalsmithing, blacksmithing... the kind of place where creativity is loud and messy and completely alive.
I walked into my first metal clay class not knowing what to expect.
Metal clay is exactly what it sounds like... microscopic metal particles suspended in an organic binder that gives it the organic flexibility of clay. You sculpt it. Texture it. Shape it. And when it goes into the kiln, the binder burns away and what's left is solid metal. Silver. Bronze. Copper. Magic. And real.
In my first class I made a basic pendant. Nothing fancy... but I picked the coolest modern texture I could find and pressed it into the clay. I was hooked immediately.
Then I broke it.
While sanding the edges down... the piece snapped clean in half. Greenware is incredibly fragile and my teacher had warned me. But patience and delicacy have never been my strong suits.
My heart dropped.
Maybe it was me who cried first. 😄
My teacher came over, took one look, and said... no problem. I'll fix that for you.
As she worked, she said something I've never forgotten. "This is not easy to do. But once you can repair a crack like this yourself... you will have mastered metal clay."
I watched her seamlessly blend two cracked edges back together... matching the texture, the depth, every high and low point of that surface. Perfectly.
Once it was fired I fell completely in love with the whole process.
Why Clay Changed Everything
Before metal clay I was always planning.
To me, fabrication is calculated... sizing a piece, sawing, measuring for stones, thinking three steps ahead before you even begin. It felt more limiting than freeing for me.
Clay is the opposite.
With metal clay you add. Subtract. Roll it back up and start over. But what I love most is how organic the process feels... intuitive, intentional, alive. Sometimes you sit down with a clear vision and flow with it. Sometimes you sit down with nothing and just start... letting the piece tell you where it wants to go.
There's a trust in that. A surrender.
For years I had been collecting techniques... etching, riveting, fold forming, stone setting, rolling mills. Always searching for the one that felt like my style.
Metal clay had everything I'd been looking for in traditional jewelry making... and then some. Texture. Organic form. Intuitive process. The ability to capture nature exactly as it is and turn it into solid metal.
This was it. This was the medium.
And the tools are attainable. More so than traditional metalsmithing. The learning curve is real but forgiving. The results... solid metal, kiln fired, permanent. Felt like actual magic every single time.
I took class after class. Then I got certified to teach.
Every time I watch a student pull their first piece out of the kiln... that look on their face.
A piece born from this journey...
This piece started with a vintage button... pressed into a molding compound to capture the bird design, then silver metal clay pressed into that mold. Every feather preserved in fine silver. One of my most loved pieces.
From Metal Clay to Ceramic Clay ... How Covid Changed My Direction
For years metal clay was my whole world. Silver, bronze, copper... firing, patina, experimental layers, stones, glass. All the way to sculpting mini bud vases.
Then Covid happened.
The studio closed. My mentor Hadar... one of the most respected metal clay artists and educators in the world... suggested we keep going over Zoom. A small group of us who had been taking classes at her Berkeley studio gathered online every week just to stay sane and keep creating.
One day Hadar asked... anyone want to play with ceramic clay?
Of course we all said yes.
And that's when everything shifted.
Working with ceramic clay made me realize something I hadn't fully seen before. It wasn't just metal clay I loved. It was clay. The whole medium. That same organic flow... additive, subtractive, intuitive... was alive in ceramic too. The same surrender. The same trust in the process.
Recognizing that in myself felt profound. This was my self expression. My joy. Not a technique I'd learned... but a language I actually spoke.
Ceramic clay opened up a whole new world. Wall hangings that weren't just driftwood and stone... but clay and stone together. Ring dishes with leaf impressions pressed directly into the surface. Mini bud vases sculpted by hand.
The medium I thought I knew became something much bigger.
What the Clay Teaches
Metal clay still sets my soul on fire.
Silver roses, bronze butterflies, fennel flowers pressed into silicone molds... the texture rising up off the surface. Every time I open that kiln I feel it all over again.
And teaching it? That's a whole other kind of magic.
There is nothing quite like watching a student see their first piece out of the kiln. The look on their face. The disbelief that they made that. With their own hands. From clay.
They get just as excited as I do. Every single time.
One of my life's mottos has always been: To Inspire. To be Inspired.
Teaching metal clay is that motto in action. I give something... and I get something back. Every class. Every student. Every fired piece.
I teach at Santa Cruz Mountain Arts Center, Kiss My Glass in Santa Cruz, Blossom Hill Crafts in Los Gatos, and privately in my studio here in the Santa Cruz Mountains.
The clay teaches patience. Imperfection. Trust in the process.
In a world of mass production... this is the slow way.
And I wouldn't have it any other way.
Want to learn metal clay yourself?
I teach small group and private classes in the Santa Cruz Mountains and at several locations around the Bay Area. Come make something real with your hands.