Expert Consultations

Stephanie Chavez is a certified metal clay artist and instructor. She is a diverse artist, proficient in many jewelry mediums, although her love, passion and expertise remain in metal clay. She is honored to be one of the first Principal Instructors through the new Camp PMC Certification Program. Originally certified through Rio Grande, she has been working with metal clay for over 11 years.

With national and international recognition through her online courses in metal clay; Stephanie has been considered an expert in her field. From beginners to advanced; she believes we each have the capacity to be inspired artists. Many people just need a safe and fun environment to explore their own creative limits. That is what she provides and shares, bringing joy to all those who attend her workshops.

Students travel from around the U.S. to take workshops with Stephanie, where she teaches locally at her studio in South Jordan, Utah. She also enjoys traveling throughout the United States teaching.

Robert Dancik has been an artist/teacher for more than 30 years. He is the originator of Faux Bone™, a new, wonderful material for artists involved in jewelry, artist’s books, sculpture, and many other artistic disciplines.
He is also the author of the book “Amulets and Talismans: Techniques for Creating Meaningful Jewelry”.

He teaches workshops nationally and internationally and has work in numerous museum, public and private collections both here and abroad. He has artwork published in many books including, in the Lark series, “500 Pendants”, “500 handmade Books and “1000 Rings”. Other books his work is featured in are “PMC Decade”, “Fine Art of the Tin Can”, “The Art of Resin Jewelry,” “Zilver Klei” (Denmark), and “Creative Metal Clay Jewelry”.

He lives in Connecticut, teaches around the world, is an avid cook (I didn’t say good) and collector of toys, maps, and compasses.

Pam has been an invited speaker, giving classes and lectures at such gatherings as the Metal Clay World Conference, The Pan-European Metal Clay Conference, The Metal Clay Artists Symposium and the Enamellist Society Biennial Conference. Pam has appeared on the highly acclaimed Carol Duvall Show on HGTV, and on Jewelry Making on the DIY Network.

Pam’s first book “Enameling on Metal Clay”, was published in 2007. She was a contributing author for Metal Clay & Color published in 2012, and The Art of Fine Enameling published in 2019. She has written numerous articles for such magazines as Art Jewelry Magazine, Metal Clay Artist Magazine, Lapidary Journal, Glass-on-Metal, and Step-by-Step Beads.

Born and raised in Southern California, Pam now resides in Atlanta, Georgia with her husband and Porsche the wonder dog.

She taught metal clay for a few years at a prestigious Dallas crafts school, before creating her own teaching studio in the North Dallas area. She loves helping new students discover the wonders of metal clay, and watching them blossom as they gain confidence in themselves by finding their own creative style.

After a long banking career Pam discovered metal clay in 2009, it quickly became her passion. Working at her new found love day and night she quickly perfected her craft. Pam provided training during her Banking Career and was excited by the possibility of sharing her passion with other creative souls. Pam became an Art Clay Instructor in 2010, a Senior Art Clay Instructor and a Hadar Jacobson Instructor in 2011 and 2012.

Pam was juried into the Metal Arts Guild of NS in 2010 and Craft Nova Scotia in 2011. Pam taught at the Nova Scotia Centre for Craft & Design, Halifax Bead & Metal Clay and from her 2 studios as well as travelling and teaching at various venues. Pam sells her work at numerous Art shows in NS as well as the Art Gallery of NS. Pam continues to enjoy introduce new students to metal clay, she specializes in intermediate classes. She loves working with all types of metals, she has an affinity with base metals and teaches many classes using bronze, steel, and copper as well as silver.

Holly Gage of Gage Designs is a 2015 Saul Bell Design winner recognized for distinction in jewelry design. She creates contemporary jewelry and teaches her unique techniques with a gentle blend of design instruction and technical proficiency. Holly brings her innovation, creativity, and gift of helping others find their artistic voice through classes, mentoring programs, and master workshops. Classes are available live Online, throughout the US, and abroad. She is a full-time jewelry artist, Certified Metal Clay Instructor, author, and conference speaker.

In addition, Holly holds a BS in Fine Art and Education. Her jewelry and articles on techniques and design can be found in over 75+ regional and national publications including the Best of America Jewelry Artists; Named 3rd in Handmade Business: Top 12 Makers, Movers, and Shakers; Metal Clay Today; Art Jewelry and Lapidary Journal Jewelry Artist; Making Jewellery: among others. You can find more information about Holly’s jewelry, classes, and awards, along with numerous Metal Clay tips, tutorials, and blog on her web site at HollyGage.com

Corina’s background lies in economical studies, but she has always worked in the artistic field. Her creative journey has led her through painting, sculpting, and graphic design, to modeling polymer and other clays. In 2012, she discovered metal clay. It has provided her with the perfect medium to apply her technical experience and develop her own style. Corina enjoys learning and testing and is currently using metal clay along with traditional metalsmithing, enameling, and other mixed media. 

As an artist, Corina likes creating complex pieces.  As a teacher, she dedicates time to make the whole creation process easier and comprehensible to her students. Corina has taught throughout Romania, Spain, and Belgium. She is the founder and director of Argila De Metal, the main supplier of metal clay and tools in Romania. She is also the creator and organizer of an enthusiastic Community: Metal Clay Romania.

Sian Hamilton is a freelance web designer, jewellery teacher, editor and author in the UK. She has a BA in 3D Design specializing in silver and ceramics and has been in the design industry for over 25 years. Sian was introduced to silver clay in 1998, and has loved it ever since. For the last 10 years, she has been the freelance Editor of Making Jewellery until the Spring 2019 when it closed.

Since 2014 Sian has written 10 craft books. In 2016 she branched into the world of web design, and now runs her web design company Sapphire Blue Web Design from home alongside her jewellery teaching and publication work. She built the AMCAW website as a volunteer and now maintains the site as the AMCAW webmaster. Sian also heads the Web & Tech committee for AMCAW and loves volunteering for such a great association.

Sian is also a keen photographer and likes to teach others how to get the best photos possible without spending a fortune on cameras and lights.

Hadar Jacobson is a jewelry artist and instructor specializing in base metal clay. She has been teaching metal clay for the past 20 years and has published six books on the subject. She also manufactures her own line of base metal clays such as copper, bronze and steel.

Linda Kaye-Moses, studio jeweler since 1978, has shown at juried fairs. She taught metal clay workshops 1996-2017. She was Jewelry Dept. Head at Interlaken School of Art 1994-2001. She teaches private lessons in her studio.

Kaye-Moses was the Curator for: Millennial Metal;The Art of Precious Metal Clay (Bignell Gallery); & Re-Collected/Re-Invented; the Narrative Craft Object (Bignell Gallery). She was a final juror for The Saul Bell Design Awards.

She’s been published in: In the Picture; Framing the Visual Arts (Oxford University Press, Australia); Art Jewelry Today & Art Jewelry Today 2, 3, & 4; Fabulous Jewelry from Found Objects; Metal Clay Fusion. Authored two books: Pure Silver Metal Clay Beads & Roots, Stems, and Branches; a Recollection. Received two Massachusetts Arts Lottery Council Grants, three Massachusetts Cultural Council Professional Development Grants; a Niche Award; was twice a Saul Bell Design Award Finalist. She was invited to the first Metal Clay Master Class, 1996.

Anna is a jewelry designer from Cracow, Poland who began making jewelry in 2008. Her pieces are hand built and full of fine details. They have a slightly dark, fantasy vibe, combined with a refined organic feeling and are inspired by nature, ancient cultures, and literature.

Anna’s materials of choice are silver and bronze and she often combines metal clay with metalsmithing. Photos of Anna Mazoń’s jewelry have been published in a variety of books and magazines, including the covers of Handmade Business (twice), Metal Clay Artist Magazine and Making Jewellery. Anna has been either a finalist or winner in the Metal Clay Category of the Saul Bell Design Award in 2015, 2014 and 2013.

A renowned metal clay teacher, Anna has taught in different venues and events throughout the world since 2013. You can find her on drakonaria.com (brand of jewelry sculpted in metal clay and cast in silver), annamazon.com (personal site with exclusively OOAK pieces) and drakonarium.com (teaching studio).

Paula is a second career jewelry artist, utilizing metal clay, traditional metalsmithing and mixed media techniques to create wearable objects that echo nature’s textures, forms and movements.

Paula has worked with metal clay since 1999 and began teaching in 2003. She is an Accredited Teacher for Hadar’s Clays and holds PMC certification from both Rio Rewards and PMC Connection.

“I like to explore with metal clay, pushing its limits. I also love the technical aspect of why metal clay works, and even more importantly, what to do when it doesn’t work”

Paula regularly attends workshops to broaden her own skills and offers metal clay and metalsmithing classes regularly in her studio in Lafayette, LA. She is one of the Founders of L’esprit du Metal (The Louisiana Chapter of the PMC Guild) and AMCAW.

Sandra Quell is a Luxembourgish physicist and artist. During all her life, science and creativity have been complementing and balancing each other. After working with many different materials over the years, Sandra discovered metal clay in 2011 and hasn’t looked back since.

Her jewellery work centers around silver. For non-jewellery objects she works with different bronze and copper clays.

Sandra likes to create one-of-a-kind pieces and includes stones and other materials to tell a new story with each piece.

Sandra has been teaching metal clay classes since 2013. Her tutorials have been published as well in print as online.

Julia Rai is an artist, writer and teacher working predominately in metal clay. She has a teaching studio based in Cornwall, UK. Well known in the international metal clay community, she has been working with metal clay since 2004 and teaching it since 2007.

She is the Director of the Metal Clay Academy, an online resource for everyone interested in metal clay. Launched in 2008, Julia has been the webmaster, editor and researcher for this metal clay resource website from its launch.

Between 2008 and 2019 Julia participated in the metal clay Masters Registry programme, creating 50 pieces of work across five levels of mastery. She is the only person in the world to achieve level five of the Registry programme and submit a master work. The Registry programme closed at the end of June 2019. You can see all 50 projects plus the master work on Julia’s website.

She teaches Metal Clay and Lampworking workshops as well as being a Camp PMC Principal Instructor Precious Metal Clay Certification Classes. She has taught workshops at craft and art venues such as Haystack, Penland and Arrowmont and various venues in the US. Her international teaching has included many cities in Japan; Sydney, Melbourne, and Adelaide, Australia; Zurich, Switzerland, Weil, Austria, and Cornwall, Yorkshire, and Edinburgh in the UK.

Barbara’s work has won recognition and awards (Saul Bell Awards, 2007 & 2011) and has been featured extensively in periodicals and books, including PMC Decade , 1000 Glass Beads and Showcase 1000 Beads. Barbara’s book, Metal Clay Beads, (Lark) has been given high praise as a valuable and informative book for all levels of metal clay

Tracey Spurgin is a qualified Senior Art Clay & PMC instructor having completed courses with Art Clay World UK, PMC Connections & Rio Rewards. She is a member of the AMCAW Advisory Panel.

With more than 20 years’ experience, Tracey teaches out of her own studio based in East Yorkshire in UK, as well as travelling extensively in UK and internationally to deliver courses, workshops & master classes in colleges, museums, galleries & shops. She is also a long established Guest Designer on Jewellery Maker TV in UK delivering demonstrations and workshops in silver clay jewellery making.

In addition to her studio workshop programme, Tracey runs an Online Distance Learning Course Programme where students can subscribe to a variety of courses at all skill levels.

Tracey is keen to share ideas and knowledge & writes for national magazines with more than 100 published articles to date. She also exhibits, demonstrates and teaches at all the major craft and jewellery shows and events in UK.

Meropi Toumbas is a jewellery designer from Nicosia, Cyprus, who has developed her own style and signature pieces using metal clay.

Meropi has trained to the highest level with some of the world’s leading metal clay artists and instructors. She qualified as a certified Art Clay Senior Instructor since 2008, when she also started running her own MeropisArt School of Jewellery. In 2012, she became a New Mokume Gane Certified Instructor and in December of the same year, she started an Etsy e-shop.

Meropi also taught masterclasses in Europe.

Meropi was honoured with a number of prizes as part of international competitions:
• Second Prize, ACWUK Guild Annual Conference, Jersey Island, 2009
• First Prize, ACWUK Guild Annual Conference, York, 2010
• Third Prize, 1st European Artclay Festival Competition, Prague, Czech Republic, 2011
• Second prize, 2nd European Artclay Competition, Zurich, Switzerland, 2012.

I was lucky enough to discover my love for jewelry making early in life in a high school jewelry making class where I was introduced to the basics of metalsmithing. I pursued my passion for making and attended Ball State University, where I fell in love with enameling while studying under the President of the Enamelist Society, Pat Nelson. I received a BFA before continuing on to get my Master of Fine Arts with an emphasis in metalsmithing and enameling from the University of Wisconsin- Madison.

After graduating with my MFA, I shifted my making emphasis from traditional metalsmithing to working with precious metal clay, falling in love with the accessibility and diverse possibilities of projects possible resulting from the flexibility of the material. I was hired on as Cooltool’s resident artist where I’ve had the opportunity to share projects and my ideas with others. Through that position, I’ve learned that I love sharing creativity and empowering others as makers.