Congratulations to Antonia Loysen, winner of the Beginner Category in the Hidden Beauty Challenge! Her winning entry is a fine silver clay enameled pendant moulded from a whelk shell entitled, “Fruit de mer.” The whelk was part of her traditional plate of Fruits de Mer (seafood) on New Year’s Eve – Fruit de Mer is one of the most popular items on a French New Year’s Eve menu. Join us for an interview with Antonia about her amazing piece.
“When I was eating Fruit de Mer, I spotted this shell that had some barnacles on it and thought it might make a great mould for metal clay. I washed the shell many times before I made the mould. I tried to cover all the barnacles so I can use different parts of the mould for future projects,” said Antonia.
Many challenges ensued; Antonia continued, “It was quite difficult to make the mould since the whelk had a lot of crevices, and some bits of barnacle fell off when I pulled the mould off. Then, getting the clay out of the mould was also fiddly. After I had torch-fired the piece, I wasn’t sure how much of the ‘white’ had to be removed before I could enamel it. I burnished the piece with a small metal spike and a pendant drill.”
For enameling the piece, Antonia said she first had to decide whether to “use transparent or opaque enamels. I chose transparent. When I had finished enameling the piece, I found it hard to polish, and I’m still not really happy with the finish as I would like it very, very shiny! I’m going to make other versions of it using opaque enamels and with liver of sulfur.
I plan to use a smaller part of the mould to make some small earrings.” To extend her skills, Antonia recently “made small decorative pieces in silver and copper metal clay to add to earring wires and bails for the enameled copper pendants and earrings I make to sell at craft fairs and on Etsy.”
Antonia lives in the center of France next to the F1 circuit of Magny-Cours. She is an enameller, and a member of the Guild of Enamellers in the UK. Antonia says she got into metal clay later: “last year I wanted to do some plique-à-jour enameling and wondered if it would be easier to make a frame in metal clay rather than cut it out of a sheet of silver. So, I made some moulds, made the frames, and then filled them with transparent enamel; it worked quite well. I learned a lot from that, as they were torch-fired. I think my plique-à-jour earrings and pendant are some of my best works.”
Antonia loves to learn. She says it is not difficult, that “Most of my learning is on the Internet, YouTube and Zoom.” She continued, “In the UK, there are always lots of classes, so I try to take a class when I come over. But in France, there is not much in the way of instruction and classes for any sort of craft, especially around where I live. But that is slowly changing. I completed the Art Clay level 1 diploma with Julia Rai last week, which I really enjoyed, and I hope to teach some classes in enameling and metal clay soon.”
The Hidden Beauty Challenge is the first metal clay challenge Antonia has entered. Apart from competing in the annual Guild of Enamellers exhibition, Antonia submitted a piece for a fold forming contest last year. She had spotted the opportunity at the last minute, so she didn’t have anything suitable for it. Antonia plans to enter that competition again this year after properly preparing something.
Antonia continued, “I just joined AMCAW this year. I wish I could have come to SINTER in Bradford last year, but I had no time or money. I saw this challenge and thought I would join and have a go! The title ‘Hidden Beauty’ immediately made me think of my pendant, as it had been hidden in the sea. I always think you should participate in things if you have the opportunity. Also, I love challenges since you can always learn a lot from them.”
Her advice to other people considering entering a challenge? “Go for it!”
About Antonia
Find Antonia online at metalmagique.com, on Facebook at facebook.com/metalmagique, and on Etsy at etsy.com/shop/MetalMagique
