Workshop: Radiant Opal Pendant
Bold design and rich textures surround beautiful Fire in Place Cultured Opals. With a combination of surprising techniques, you’ll form your piece using dry-to-dry construction to create dimensionality. Then, can create intricate open spaces and surface textures with your rotary tool. At the same time, I will demonstrate the various surface treatments you can achieve with diamond burs in the greenware stage of your Silver Metal Clay. Yeah, your rotary tool! And it’s easy on your hands!
Then you’ll capture the allure of Heat-Resistant Cultured Opals, which have all the radiance and iridescence you love in a good-quality Opal. Still unlike Nature Opals, these can be fired at 1650º F or 900ºC without burning up from the extreme heat needed to sinter the Metal Clay. What a breakthrough!
Techniques Covered:
- Dry-to-dry construction to form the base and walls
- Texturing Metal Clay
- Using a rotary tool with various diamond burs for carving into the greenware
- How to fire Cultured Opals in Metal Clay
- Creating Unique bails
Kit Fee: $40-75
Kit Includes:
Cultured Opals (fee depends on the choice of stone)
Basic Tool Kit List: View and Download
Workshop Specific Tool Kit: View and Download
Holly Gage, the founder of Gage Designs, is a celebrated jewelry designer. She has been honored with the Saul Bell Design Award for her distinction in jewelry design and the AMCAW Innovation Grant Award for her groundbreaking work in developing firing techniques for Fire in Place Cultured Opals in jewelry.
Holly is a pioneer in the Metal Clay community, specializing in creating contemporary jewelry and sharing her unique techniques through a blend of design instruction and technical proficiency. She is dedicated to fostering innovation, creativity, and helping others find their artistic voice through her classes, mentoring programs, master workshops, and retreats, which are available live online, at her studio in PA, in the US, and internationally.
Holly holds a BS in Fine Art and Education and is a full-time jewelry artist, Certified Metal Clay Instructor, author, and conference speaker. Her jewelry and articles on techniques and design have been featured in over 80 publications.
She is the recipient of the 2025 Lis-el Crowley Vision Award from the Alliance for Metal Clay Arts Worldwide (AMCAW). This award recognizes leaders in the Metal Clay community for their spirit of generosity, support for the advancement of Metal Clay artistry, and efforts to promote Metal Clay beyond its traditional boundaries.
Website: hollygage.com
Facebook: holly.g.gage
Instagram: gagedesigns
