Hinged Metal Clay Box Pendant - Part 1, Tear away Technique for Surface Design

by Celie Fago

Using the tear away technique for surface design. Part 1 of 3.

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During the past several years I have tried many approaches to making many different
types of hinges in PMC®. Engineering a hinge on a jewelry scale is an exacting endeavor.

In part 2, I detail the steps in making this hinged box. In this section, I’ll cover the decorative technique, which has to be done before assembling the box.

Tear away is the name of a technique I first learned as a way to make pictorial elements and texturing materials of, and for, polymer clay. Also known as “etching on polymer,” it was taught to me in the mid-1990s by its originator, polymer artist extraordinaire, Gwen Gibson.

My first application of tear away to metal was at the bench. I discovered that the
delicate etched paper part of tear away worked well for embossing metal sheet
through roll printing. Later in the decade, when I first discovered PMC®, it was a
short jump to the idea of using it for texture on metal clay.

At the time, the other primary method for putting my own designs on the surface
of metal clay was having rubber stamps made. Although I did this several times, I eventually tired of the rubber stamps, for a few reasons. First, the time it took to have them made; from making the drawings to using them for texture took weeks.

Even though they were made from my own designs, the surface of metal clay textured with a rubber stamp had a mechanical quality to it that I found unsatisfying.