Michelle Loon

My jewelry and metal clay addiction started in college during a break from biology classes. With the encouragement of friends, family and teachers, immersion in the jewelry world continued with a gemology certificate and attending traditional metalsmithing classes.

Creating whimsical pieces with metal clay is a way to bring parts of my imaginary world to life.  Strength and grace combined with a playful twist of fancy are common elements in my pieces. I find inspiration in aerial circus arts, mechanical toys, and architectural filigree among other things.  With Cloudswing, the lampwork bird’s perch was inspired by the aerial circus apparatus.

Exploring untraditional styles of ring bands with the Neuron and Double Flower rings have been interesting construction challenges.  Many of my pieces have been torch fired as it is an interesting process to watch. The Big Wheel bike was an experiment in firing metal clay on either side of a pewter finding.  Even though it wasn’t technically challenging, experimenting what is possible to create with a torch is entertaining.

Incorporating wine corks with silver clay gives fine silver an unexpected twist.  It was a chance encounter while on vacation that a wine cork literally popped out and said, ”Hi!”.  Wine corks like metal clay are quite versatile.  Some have small artworks printed on them and some are blank canvases waiting for inspiration. I’ve been playing with different ways to decorate and set them into various types of metal clay pieces. 

Having achieved Senior level Certification with Art Clay World recently, I look forward to teaching and sharing my love of metal clay with others.  With the releases of the no-carbon fire bronze and copper clays, I am enamored with the idea of making miniature copper and bronze aerialists as aerial silks (tissu) and hoop (lyra) are my favorite apparatus to play on.  Small horned critters have been sighted in my sketches recently too, so who knows what will end up coming from the clay?

Contact:
http://laloondesigns.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/laloondesigns

Class info:
www.breabeadworks.com