Jean Wydra

I am especially excited by the possibilities of a very new form of metal called Precious Metal Clay. I describe this material as "Silver that is pretending to be clay", or "Silver that doesn't push back". PMC is fine gold, fine silver or platinum in clay form and it allows working directly and spontaneously in the precious metals. The clay gives all of my silver work a casual, slightly organic, softly modeled sensibility, so that no matter how formal the designs are, the hard sheet and wire aesthetic is preempted. After firing, the clay forms have become fused into solid fine silver. PMC also allows me, a traditional hard metals studio jeweler, the exhilarating experience of using color in a lavish manner in the form of traditional glass enamels. I find that PMC has an organic plasticity that allows relationship to all gemstones in cabochon and bead form as well as to the liquid nature of glass enamel.