This workshop meets Friday and Saturday, August 27 & 28, 2027, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm each day with a lunch break
 
Brooches are back and stronger than ever! The earliest known brooches are from the Bronze Age, they were simple, functional pins made from different materials to hold tunics together. Brooches have been used as personal expressions that will communicate feelings or social standings. They can be a beautiful art statement piece and a decorative piece of jewelry we can attached to clothes, hats, bags, etc.
 
During this two-day class the students will create a personal brooch design with their own creative voice. They can choose to create a beautiful Folk Bird, a Heart or a Tree of Life that could be a single or double pin finding. Each element in the brooch, including the pin findings, will be made using bronze metal clay. The students will create their piece by combining different techniques like sculpting, carving, stamping textures and attaching metal clay elements (dry to dry and dry to wet) into their designs. A kit fee of $6 will be collected by the instructor during the workshop (stainless steel wire for the pin back and some polymer clay 3D forms to create pieces with volume like the Folk Bird or Heart.)
 
Students should bring to class these tools and materials:
Five Star ProjectX Bronze Clay (100 or 50 grams package.)
Craft mat
Acrylic roller
Needle tool
X-Acto knife
Small Spray Bottle (to add water)
Badger Balm
Speedball Lino Cutter or a Micro carving tool "V" tip.(OPTIONAL if you want to carve)
Metal Clay Silicone Tapered-Point Shaper
Snake Maker Acrylic Sheet
Non-stick work surface (Teflon sheet non stick)
Small #2 brush
Dust brush
Small bowl to add water
Color-Quick thickness Guide set or playing cards
Candle or coffee warmer
Needle files
We will share a rotary tool with 3M Radial bristle disks (80 grit yellow,) texture sheets, templates and molds to be use during the class. If you have your own you are welcome to bring them with you too.
 
This workshop is part of the Metal Clay Artists Symposium and requires the purchase of the General Registration.
 
Lorena Angulo began studying metalsmithing at Southwest School of Art in San Antonio, Texas, where Claire Holliday introduced her to metal clay. She has since made much of her work with the medium and become active in metal clay wearable art. Her work has appeared in gallery exhibitions, books, magazines, and online publications. She served as a juror for PMC Guild Annual 5 alongside Robert Ebendorf, Celie Fago, and Kelly Russell. Lorena is the author of *Behind the Brooch*, published by Schiffer Publishing in 2014. In 2022, the Racine Art Museum acquired two of her brooches for its permanent collection through a craft acquisition grant from the Windgate Foundation.