This workshop meets Friday and Saturday, August 27 & 28, 2027, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm with a lunch break each day
 
This workshop takes you from a flat sheet of scratch foam to a fully dimensional lily pad pendant, complete with a sculpted lotus blossom, a resting frog, fireable gemstone "water droplets," and a hidden bail that keeps the construction seamless from every angle.
 
In this class, you'll learn how to:
• Draw and texture a lily pad form using scratch foam
• Use molds, cutters, and drying forms to create separate components lotus flower, frog, and stems
• Dry-to-dry construction
• Fire silver and copper clays on separate schedules, then join them with cold connections
• Set fireable gemstones
• Heat-patina copper
• Construct a hidden bail
 
This class is a great fit for intermediate-level students ready to combine sculptural techniques with mixed-metal construction.
 
A kit fee of $170 will be collected by the instructor during the workshop.
 
This workshop is part of MCAS 2027 and requires the purchase of the MCAS General Registration.
 
AJ Newell is a metalsmith, enamelist, and metal clay artist based near Richmond, Virginia, where she runs AJ Newell Studio. She has worked in metalsmithing for two decades and in metal clay since 2015. Her practice includes silver, bronze, and copper metal clay; enameling; keum-boo; digital pen plating; and traditional metalsmithing. She teaches hands-on workshops and online classes for venues including Metal Clay Live, Craftcast, Sawtooth School of Visual Art, Cool Tools, and Charmtree Studio. Recent presentations include a demonstration at SINTER 2026 and classes for MCL and the AMCAW Virtual Guild. She co-leads Marketing and Communications for AMCAW, and her work has appeared in the Metal Clay Expressions Exhibit. She holds a BFA from Virginia Commonwealth University and an MS in Marketing from West Virginia University.