Poker chips and possibilities

I did manage to spend some time playing around in my studio yesterday.  Because it had been such a long time since I had last spent any real time in the studio, I decided to do something fun and without pressure.  So I made polymer clay poker chips.

I’m going to the Clay Carnival in Las Vegas next month and I needed to make a pile of poker chips to swap there.  I got out my Stewart Gill paints and just played around.  They’re definitely not high art, but they were fun to make.  Plus I got a chance to use translucent Kato clay for the first time.  Wonderful stuff.  Very clear, easy to make extremely thin sheets and it bakes up with a shiny finish.  The more I have worked with the new Kato clay, the more I love it.

I started the day with metals class at the Guilford Art Center.  I had a grand time soldering some bezels together.  It was so great using the studio’s acetylene torches.  Having a decent torch makes the process go really quickly.

I use 24 guage sterling strip to form the walls of the bezels, bending the shape I want with chain nose pliers.  Then I solder that closed.  File the joint smooth and solder the form to a base sheet of sterling.  Then using a jeweler’s saw I cut the shape out of the base sheet and file, file, file until everything is smooth.  It still takes a fair amount of time to make them, but at least I wasn’t fighting with my tiny torch.  Now I’ve got four empty shapes.  Think of all the possibilities!

Tagged as: bezels, metalworking, polymer clay