Dinosaurs Aren't Extinct -they are just quite tiny and standing on my workbench!
Behind the scenes - a step by step peep at the making of the dinky dinos...
The process started with me opening a tiny packet of silver clay and beginning to soften the lump with my hands to mould and shape it. I always try to get everything out on my work bench first as the working time isn’t very long and as each pack is so expensive it is important not to let any go to waste. But I am sure I am not the only person who seems to develop workbench blindness and inevitably each time I make something I hunt for a tool - only to discover it was there on the workbench all along!
For this I used Project X Fine Silver Clay., I used to love PMC Flex and so like a lot of metal clay artists I am having to adapt and change since this is no longer in production. I use a mixture of Project X and Art Clay depending on what I am making, for this I wanted to utilise the shrinkage of Project X to get smaller dinosaurs.
Once the clay was more malleable I rolled it out to the required thickness, using coloured spacers (my spacers were from Metal Clay) .to help keep the depth consistent and used my tiny dinosaur cutters to create pairs that were as identical as possible.. Other times I make my own stamps or use a needle tool to cut out the shape, Here I am cutting out a Stegosaurus! The edges need a lot of refining to get a neat shape.
Can you spot the tiny dinosaurs glowing red?
Then I let the dinosaurs dry out, turning them occasionally so they don't get stuck to the mat or warp out of shape, before sanding and filing the edges to make them smooth. At this stage the pieces are quite fragile and as I sand any rough edges this is when the dinosaurs were at their most delicate and a few limbs were lost along the way! However those bits can get ground down and later be mixed with water to use as paste to be reused, so nothing is wasted.
Once I am happy the dinosaurs look as good as possible then firing can take place in my small kiln. The clay shapes went into the kiln, reaching 700°C where they were held at this heat for about 10 minutes. You can see through the window how they literally glow red hot with the heat.
The kiln burns the organic binder away, leaving behind silver dinosaurs. It felt exciting opening the door to see what survived.
After firing the silver actually looks white, in fact silver only starts to look shiny once you begin to burnish it. The first step after firing is brushing it with a wire brush – not good if you are wearing nail polish! Then lots and lots of polishing to get a high shine.
Now I have four different designs. – the Roarsome T-Rex, a spiny Stegosaurus, Diplodocus with its iconic shaped head and a horned Triceratops. I sought the options of some palaeontologist pals on the shapes and which dinosaurs to go for. I still rememember being fascinated by dinosaurs as a child and the little people I know have a vast font of knowledge about them. If you want to find out more then The National History Museum in London is a good place to start and they have lots of info online too.
As these dinosaurs were destined to become stud earrings I finally had to solder the earring backs on using a small blow torch, before I cleaned and polished them once more, to get the pretty look you see below. Do you know anyone that loves dinosaurs - these could be the perfect gift for them.
I hope you enjoyed reading about the process.
Esther 🦖
Diplodocus
The shape of this huge neck is distinctive, it must have had strong muscles to hold that up! Handy for reaching the top of trees to munch.
Stegosaurus
This slow-moving plant-eater has distinctive bony plates along its body - no-one quite seems sure what they were for!
Triceratops
This plant-eating dinosaur probably used its horns for defence against fearsome predators.
Tyrannosaurus
This infamous carnivore was one of the most fearsome creatures that ever roamed the planet. A top predator.
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