All Things Metal Clay
An Expert Guide

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Check out the heavy duty machinery involved in bronze casting! Just think, we get to play with bronze without quite so much heat.

And I wondered… what would the reaction have been if BronzClay had come out first, before Precious Metal Clay? Would sculptors have embraced it? (Not to say that they still won’t.) Since the original model for a bronze casting can be made of clay, is there a higher tolerance for sculptures in bronze to look like they were made in clay?

What do you think?

Tags: BronzClay, bronze, bronze casting

Barbara Brabec’s Quick Money Secrets: How to Quickly Raise or Borrow Needed Cash for Personal Needs, Home Business Startup, Cash Flow Problems or Mere Financial Survival.

I just finished reading this ebook by Barbara Brabec, author of Homemade Money and Creative Cash, both books you probably know already. All I can say is “Wow.”

I read a lot of ebooks, and this is the most professionally researched, written and created ebook I think I’ve ever read. It’s a real book, it just happens to be electronic. Brabec has approached it just as she would any book.

I’ve been a small business owner for 16 years, and I’ve read all of Barbara’s books already; I really wasn’t sure how much more I could learn from this book — but I did — and I learned a lot. And when I have the time to follow the many, many time saving links to additional reading, carefully selected by Barbara, I know I’ll learn even more. (I’ve already started…)

Regarding small business financing, Barbara has excellent advice that I’ve only ever read one other place (buried in a much longer book). Every new business owner needs to read the sections on business financing.

As a bonus, the information on raising quick cash will be helpful should you ever need it. It’s 12 full chapters of informative, engaging reading, with real stories from real business owners and regular folks. If you’ve been wondering what to do with your business in a tough economy, Barbara’s Chapter 2 advises you on how to make sales even in tough times.

Whether you’re a new or experienced business owner, with Quick Money Secrets you will learn top notch financial strategies, in a thoroughly researched, tightly written book.

I’ll be recommending this book to my friends who are business owners, so so I have no problem recommending it to you (and using my affiliate link).

Click here to view more details

Tags: Barbara Brabec, Business, loan, quick money, raise cash, SBA

Have you got Olympic fever? Me? Not so much, but I’m becoming more aware that it’s going on. Saw some gymnastics tonight.

But it got me thinking — I always admire the dedication of the Olympic athletes. Don’t you? Imagine dedicating so much time and years of your life to preparing for one contest.

And then I look at all the support the athletes have — the coaches, the family members, the unspoken bit about the incredible expenses over the years to get them to this point.

So what’s your Olympics? What’s your big jewelry goal? Will you try for the Masters Registry? Will you go for an MFA? Become a Certified Artisan? Take that workshop? What support do you need to get there? Who will be your coach?

What’s your gold medal going to be? Post a comment, won’t you?

Tags: goals, Masters Registry, MFA, olympics

Tags: inspiration, nature

Read Marco Fleseri’s PMC Conference Report and see his first BronzClay pieces over at his blog: Fleseri.com/blog.

New Bronze work from Gail Lannum: gaillannum.blogspot.com.

New Flickr Pool for BronzClay: http://www.flickr.com/groups/bronzeclay

Older Posts you may have missed:

Celie Fago
Jennifer Kahn
Jennifer Kahn, conference post
Sabine’s How to Combine BronzClay and silver metal clay
Sabine’s first piece in BronzClay (scroll back to July 25th)
Babette Cox

and two more, as long as we’re doing the round up:

free pdf on BronzClay at yourriogrande.com
and
see inventor Bill Struve’s presentation at PMC-Conference.com go to Tech Resources, 2008.

Bead & Button magazine and the International Society of Glass Beadmakers are sponsoring a show:

CONVERGENCE: Contemporary Jewelry Design with Art-Glass Beads — inspired by the four elements of earth, fire, water, and air.

Bead&Button magazine and the International Society of Glass Beadmakers invite you to participate in a one-of-a-kind jewelry-design exhibition in 2009! Our mission is to showcase how handmade glass beads are incorporated into exhibition-quality jewelry, to publish an ISGB catalog of the exhibit, and to publish selected jewelry with how-to instructions in a Bead&Button publication.

Read all the details here: beadandbutton.com.

Tags: art glass beads, call for entries, contests, convergence

Some of the best of what I’m reading on blogs these days:

Liz Strauss reminds us about networking in you know, the real world, aka “the computer room with the big blue ceiling,” and reaching out… She says it best, here ya go: successful-blog.com.

And if you’re new to the whole Web 2.0/social media and would like to catch up on what it all is, Connie Benson has a very helpful post here: conniebensen.com/blog/resources.

Tags: connecting, social media

Fold Forming by Charles Lewton-Brain is now available on amazon! If you’ve been meaning to order, it just got easier!

Who’s been playing with fold forming lately? Tamra Gentry has. You can see her terrific results at her blog or in her etsy shop.