Website of the Week - PMC Supply

Yesterday I celebrated the big 3-0, so happy birthday to me. We celebrated by going out for dinner (steak, mmmmm) and when we got home, I ordered my birthday present - goodies from PMC Supply. So I figured, why not highlight them as Website of the Week?!

Since it was one of my Crafter's Resolutions for the year (see January post) to buy a starter kit and begin working with PMC, I figured I'd take advantage of my birthday and do just that. I purchased the basic kit and some other tools and a book, to get me started. Hopefully that will arrive next week and I can start sharing my experiences with that media.

The website itself is great. Not only can you shop (they require a minimum $25 order, but you get free shipping on orders of $100 or more), but they also have instructions, tip and tricks, and free online instructional videos. You can buy all you need to get started, from tools to metal clay to firing options (torches or kilns), and even extras like gemstones and dichroic cabochons and silver findings. There's even a Wholesale page for those of you out there lucky enough to have yourself a license.

There's a wonderful gallery of finished pieces by various artists. Its eye candy for hours and inspiration for days. And their instruction and project sheets are easy to follow and include plenty of photos so you can really see what they're talking about.

If you're even just interested in learning more about metal clay, check the site out. Do some reading, and see what you think. I enjoy working with clay in general, so I'm looking forward to using the metal clay. I already have some ideas for first projects floating around my head (and a few I've gotten down on paper).

Look for more entries on metal clay in the future!



As for beading this week, I managed to finish a choker I was asked to make. But I may rethink how I finished it. The choker is a simple even-count peyote band, using pearl-white, clear and clear-AB size 6 seed beads (its about 1 1/4 inch wide). It looks nice in general, but I'm not happy with the clasp attachment. I'll probably work on it some more tonight. I have that and a couple of other pieces I'm working on for someone, and my goal is to finish them before Sunday evening.

I also finished up some more of my Rawhide earrings. I'm going to put two pairs up for sale on my Etsy shop, see how they do. I'll donate the proceeds to RESCUE if they do sell. I plan to post those later today (if the photos I took last night turned out that is). So look for them later today or sometime over the weekend.

Speaking of RESCUE, our little foster dog Buttons was adopted on Saturday. She's spending the week with us while her new dad is out of town, but she'll be heading off to her forever home on Tuesday, so wish her luck.

That's all for this week's edition. Thanks for reading and happy beading!