Glass Bead Making has been around for a little while - the first known instance of glass bead making was as early as around 2300 BC in  Mesopotamia. Beads were being made using a flame or a heat source and melting glass around a mandrel, which has had a layer of mud or clay wrapped around it in what is known as 'core forming'.  Actually - things haven't really changed that much in four thousand years, although with kilns and electricity it is quite a lot more easier and fun to make glass beads.

Precious Metal Clay (PMC) is a much more modern invention and represents a dramatic development in the handling of precious metals. PMC consists of microscopic particles of silver or gold suspended in an organic binder to create a pliable material with a consistency similar to modelling clay. PMC can be worked with the fingers and simple inexpensive tools to create a vast range of forms and surfaces that would be unattainable or laborious with traditional techniques.

When heated to a high temperature, the binder burns away and the metal particles fuse to form solid metal that can be sanded, soldered, coloured and polished like conventional material.

Precious Metal Clay was developed by scientists working at the Mitsubishi Materials Special Products division in Sanda, Japan. After years of experimentation the first patents were awarded in the early 1990s with many additional materials joining the family of products. The principle ingredient of PMC is gold or silver, reduced to tiny flakes smaller than 20 microns in size. As a point of reference, it would take as many as 25 of these particles clumped together to equal a grain of salt.

The other ingredients in PMC are water and an organic (naturally occurring) binder. After firing, the water and binder have completely burned away so what remains can be hallmarked as .999 silver or gold. Dried out or unwanted objects can be recycled / refined just like conventional precious metal.

That's the technical bit over with - here's what you can achieve with modern glass beadmaking and PMC:

We're rather proud of Leigh's SeaHorse necklace - it has just picked up an award for third prize in the PMC Studio National Design Competition at Earl's Court. All the silver in the necklace is Leigh's PMC and all the glass beads are handmade by RedHotSal.

But as well as using PMC and glass beads separately as in the stunning Seahorse, you can also use both together. Have a look at the pictures below:

The first image has PMC applied to a bead and then fired, the middle image was made by wrapping hot glass onto a premade PMC base and the third image shows PMC applied to various beads prior to kiln firing.

What we aim to do with Redhotminx is to introduce you to glass beadmaking where Sally will show you how to make glass beads using a gas fired torch. Then Leigh will show you the "silver alchemy" of PMC. Finally - we will put them all together so that you have some wonderful finished items to take home.

Don't worry if you haven't done anything like this before - Leigh and Sally are both experienced and patient teachers and the atmosphere of Studio 19 is always warm and welcoming. And if you have a little experience at either beadmaking or PMC you'll still learn a great deal. We're pretty sure that absolute beginner or experienced professional you'll be amazed at what you can achieve and will probably become as addicted as we are!  

So if you're interested and want to know more about the next course just click the course details on the menu.