WEST GARDINER — The Center for Maine Craft, off I-95,  is hosting a precious metal clay studio day with South Portland artist Lynda McCann-Olson, from 12 noon to  3 p.m., Saturday, July 18. The studio Day will bring McCann-Olson’s  jewelry studio to the center and offer the opportunity to observe precious metal clay techniques and to see objects in various stages of completion.

Precious metal clay, PMC, is a material developed and patented in the 1990s by Mitsubishi Materials of Japan. Microscopic particles of silver are mixed with a moist binder to create a material that has the feel and working properties of modeling clay. Using simple tools, objects are easily given shape, texture, and character. After air-drying, the objects are heated to temperatures approaching the melting point of the metal where the particles fuse together to make a dense and fully metallic object. Fired PMC work can be polished, soldered, enameled, and enjoyed like any other silver item. PMC is available in three different versions of silver and in a 22k gold alloy.
McCann-Olson is inspired by the textural qualities of nature, rhythms of the ocean and personal adornment of other cultures. She records her impressions in fine silver. Her work is hand-cast in pure silver or bronze with metal clay or traditionally cast in argentium and incorporates a variety of techniques. In addition to designing jewelry McCann-Olson is a painter and works with ceramic clay. She enjoys the challenge of combining common materials in unusual ways.
The precious metal clay studio day event, and all summer programming, take place at the Center for Maine Craft in West Gardiner and are free and open to the public. On a sunny day please join us out on the lawn.