Lois Horler

Entry 1 – “Autumn”, Table Decoration

This piece is a combination of autumn leaves, seed pods and dried mushroom pieces from a bowl of pot pourri, I used leaves from my garden and painted on 20 layers of PMC paste, the mushrooms pieces took considerably more silver clay and are very heavy. After firing I then wire brushed all of the pieces, leaving the white residue from firing in the depressed areas and burnished the most prominent surfaces and edges, giving the whole collection
a frosted appearance.

 

Entry 2 - Seedpod Pendant with Moonstone and Pearls

I first used cork clay, pressed into the seedpod, to make a 3D mould, so that the finished piece would be an exact replica of the seedpod, rather than a mirror image. I then painted on many layers of PMC paste to produce a thick shell, after firing, and wire brushing, I burnished the back and the raised striation inside. I drilled a hole at the top of the pod and hung a moonstone droplet bead and freshwater baby-pink pearl in the centre. I have also taken some pictures of the back of the pendant, as the back is my favourite thing about this piece.

 

Entry 3 – “Ingot” pendant

I made this pendant by rolling out PMC3 and using a craft knife, created the three shapes for the pendant, I then embedded sterling silver jump rings to connect each block, and fixed them in place using PMC paste. I then filed
and sanded the dried pieces, after firing I then connected the blocks together using smaller jump rings.

Entry 4 – Carved Cylinder pendant

I made this pendant by rolling PMC3 into a cylinder and pressed down to flatten the back, I then used a craft knife to cut out the pattern. When the piece was dry I used a round file to make a channel for the snake chain, and then filed the surface. I left the firing residue in the excavated areas, and wire brushed the surface to a matte finish.