Master Metal Clay Workshops
Attend a workshop with Holly Gage
You will Find a List of Live, Online, and Interactive Small Group Workshops on the Schedule,
Private 1 to 1 Live Online Classes, Group, or Retreat options for your location or onsite in my PA studio.
All classes include
• Design and technical skills.
• Hands-on, step-by-step demos.
• Detailed illustrated handout with photos for you to keep.
• Video Recordings for online classes
Live, Online, and Interactive Small Group Workshop Schedule
Classes at Conferences and Offsite
Please go to the link in each listing to Register
If you put it in the cart here on the Holly Gage website, You will not be properly registered
Private 1 to 1 Live Online Sessions or
Group, Guild or Retreat Inquiry

Unleash your creativity and express yourself in a meaningful way. We'll begin by exploring Mandalas and creating our own by hand, focusing on freely expressing our emotions. After that, we will deconstruct our drawings to add depth and transfer the design onto Scratch Foam to capture the lines in low relief. Scratch Foam has its own unique look and feel, giving our creations a distinct signature.

Bold design and delicate textures surround beautiful Fire in Place Cultured Opals with a combination of surprising techniques. You’ll create intricate open spaces and surface textures with your rotary tool and a variety of 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 having all the radiance and iridescence you love in a good quality Opal, but unlike Nature Opal

Unleash your creativity and express yourself in a meaningful way. We'll begin by exploring Mandalas and creating our own by hand, focusing on freely expressing our emotions. After that, we will deconstruct our drawings to add depth and transfer the design onto Scratch Foam to capture the lines in low relief. Scratch Foam has its own unique look and feel, giving our creations a distinct signature.
Dimensional Mandalas with Opals Using Scratch Foam
2-day Class Onsite • 4-1 hr sessions Online Private or Group
Beginners - Advanced
In this lesson, you will have the opportunity to unleash your creativity and express yourself in a meaningful way. We will begin by exploring Mandalas and creating our own by hand, focusing on freely expressing our emotions. After that, we will deconstruct our drawings to add depth and transfer the design onto Scratch Foam to capture the lines in low relief. Scratch Foam has its own unique look and feel, giving our creations a distinct signature. As we cut, shape, and dry the Metal Clay parts, we will assemble them in layers to give the Mandala a sense of depth. Throughout the process, you will learn various techniques for creating textures in Scratch Foam, assembling, setting Fire in Place Cultured Opals, and best practices for working with them. Opals symbolize hope, purity, and truth, making them the perfect fit for this project. We will start with the basics, explore creative boundaries, and explore advanced skills anyone can learn.
Materials Needed
30g Fine Silver Metal Clay, Fire in Place Cultured Opals* as needed for your design (1 large, multiple small), Scratch foam, A variety of tube cutters, Packing tape or contact paper, Pencil, Broad and fine ball point pens, Various tipped ball stylus, Tracing paper, Carbon Paper, Denatured alcohol, Grafix® Incredible White Mask Liquid Frisket, 1/8” Foam Paper/foam healing tool or Wet Ones® hand wipes (better than average baby wipes), Silly Putty®, Polymer clay, Drill bit, Super Glue® - gel type, 3M® Bristle brushes, Eve® Rubber wheels and knife edge sets, Fused silica bead firing dish or fiber bowl, Kiln and kiln furniture, Fine grain vermiculite.
Basic Tool Kit: Snake roller, Playing cards, Lubricant (Cool Slip®, badger balm), Metal Clay rolling pin tool, Exacto® knife, Pin tool or awl, Non-stick work surface, Small #2 brush, Dust brush, Overhead projector sheets cut in 1/4’s, Needle files, Sandpaper, 3M polishing papers, Polishing pads.
*Cultured Opals available at http://www.HealingPhoenixLapidary.com

Bold design and delicate textures surround beautiful Fire in Place Cultured Opals with a combination of surprising techniques. You’ll create intricate open spaces and surface textures with your rotary tool and a variety of 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 having all the radiance and iridescence you love in a good quality Opal, but unlike Nature Opal

Bold design and delicate textures surround beautiful Fire in Place Cultured Opals with a combination of surprising techniques. You’ll create intricate open spaces and surface textures with your rotary tool and a variety of 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 having all the radiance and iridescence you love in a good quality Opal, but unlike Nature Opal


Bold design and delicate textures surround beautiful Fire in Place Cultured Opals with a combination of surprising techniques. You’ll create intricate open spaces and surface textures with your rotary tool and a variety of 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 having all the radiance and iridescence you love in a good quality Opal, but unlike Nature Opal
Radiant Opal Pendant
3-day Class Onsite • 6-1 hr sessions Online Private or Group
All levels of ability
Bold design and delicate textures surround beautiful Fire in Place Cultured Opals with a combination of surprising techniques. You'll create intricate open spaces and surface textures with your rotary tool and a variety of 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 having all the radiance and iridescence you love in a good quality Opal, but unlike Nature Opals, these can be fired at 1650º F or 900º C without burning up from the extreme heat needed to sinter the Metal Clay. After being told a long firing isn't probably, I went on a quest to figure out how to fire them in place in Metal Clay. After many tests and lots of trial and error, I figured out the secret of firing long and hot for strength without cracking the stones, discoloration, or hazing. I’m really excited about the possibilities, but more than that I can't wait to teach you.
Materials Needed
30g Fine Silver Metal Clay, Fire in Place Opal Round Gems of your choice*, Gem Burr to match,
Other shaped gems need a matching template 2 – 3 mm bigger than the stone, Super Sculpey Original® or Premo® Polymer Clay, Foam Shaper/Healing Tool, Rotary Tool, Diamond Burr Set, Carbon Paper, Ball Point Pen, 3M Polishing Paper Set, Tissue Blade, Small Pottery Loop Tool, Polishing Pads, 3M Polishing Points - 3mm, Eve® Bristle Brushes, Eve® Rubber Wheels, and Knife, Edge sets, Fused Silica Bead Firing Dish or Fiber bowl, Vermiculite, Grafix® Incredible White Mask, Liquid Frisket, Basic Tool Kit, Kiln or torch.
How to Inlay Opal Shards is a "bonus" section to be discussed only.
Materials Needed: Art Resin® Epoxy Resin, Opal Shards or Crushed Opal, Toothpick, 3 Small Cups for mixing resin
*Cultured Opals and Opal Shards available at http://www.HealingPhoenixLapidary.com


Create whimsical critters from Silver Metal Class with Holly Gage

Create whimsical critters from Silver Metal Class with Holly Gage

Whimsical Critters
4-day Group Class Onsite • 8-1 hr sessions Online Private or Group
All levels of ability
Bold Critters full of personality are ready to jump right off your bench. This masterclass is for those seeking a sense of fun and whimsy in their work making it hard not to chuckle along the way. Using Photopolymer plate-making techniques you'll create your own textures, as well as utilizing found textures to form the Metal Clay body of your favorite critter. This outer layer will be laid over a “backbone” structure creating a hollow form. Using dried to dried construction you'll put the critter together allowing you to explore proper dimensional construction, forming, and carving.
Finally, you will be presented with options for including a gleaming glass eye. Either a premade eye from a professional glass artist will be fired in place in a 2-part firing, or you will learn how to hand paint your own and add it in a cold connection.
Material List:
50 g Art Clay 950, Your own original drawing or photograph, Borosilicate Glass Eye (test fire to 1250˚ F) buy or bring, UV Light, - at least 25 watt, (5) 2 x 2.75 Steel backed photopolymer plates, maybe a couple extra for practicing using your UV light, Exposure frame, Soft brush, Overhead Projector Sheets compatible with your printer, Black fine tip markers of any 3 sizes, Super Sculpey® Original Polymer Clay (Beige) or Sculpey® Premo (light color), 21 g. Sterling Wire if you are making a pinback, #0 Conical rubber shaper, Carving tools or dental tools of your choice, Needle files, Diamond drill bit assortment, 1/8” foam paper or applicator for smoothing, 3M polish paper, 400 grit sandpaper, Polishing cloth, Rotary tool, Eve® Rubber polishing wheels and knife-edge for Silver, blue (medium), pink (fine), 3M Radial Bristle Brushes 400 grit to fine for a rotary tool, Basic Tool Kit (whatever you have), Kiln
If painting your own glass eyes:
• Vitrea 160 paints, white black, and the colors you want to paint the eye.
• Glass cabochons the size you want for the eyes.
• Aves Apoxie Clay (2 part epoxy clay)
If painting your own glass eyes:
Vitrea 160 paints, white, black, and the colors you want to paint the eye.
Glass cabochons the size you want for the eyes.
Aves Apoxie Clay (2 part epoxy clay)



Nefertem Perfume Bottle: God of Perfume
2 or 3-day Class Onsite • 5-1 hr sessions Online Private or Group
All levels of ability
The earliest use of perfume bottles is credited to the Egyptians with Nefertem being the god of perfume, beauty, and healing. Our lesson will focus on creating an original bottle design by using radial symmetry and balance concepts in our planning. We’ll start with a combustible core in which to form our hollow construction, apply a foot to the bottle, and a flange at the top. Repetitive design elements of varying sizes will be used in dry to dry construction techniques to decorate the surface of the bottle, and an ornamental bottle stopper and stem will finish it off elegantly. I think you will be surprised you can achieve complex construction with step by step instruction and proper planning.
Materials:
Art Clay Silver 25 g and PMC Sterling 925 25g (we will mix to make our own 960, which s 50/50 of each clay), texture sheets, Wood or cork clay, Elmer® Gel glue, 3M polishing papers, Eve® Rubber polishing wheels and knife edge for Silver, blue (medium), pink (fine) for rotary tool, 3M Radial Bristle Brushes 400 grit to fine, A block of polymer clay to make "props" for dimensional forms, Basic Tool Kit, Kiln.




Jorvik Viking Purse
2 or 3-day Class • 6-1 hr sessions Online Private or Group
All levels of ability
This chain draw-string purse was inspired by the Viking history of York, England. It’s a twist on leather pouches carried during the Viking era. Our warrior conquest will start with learning to make your own patterns and designs for embellishing the front and back panels of your Silver Metal Clay using photopolymer plates. Then you will learn to make all-in-one “castle” knuckles and rivet a pin to secure it. Next, you will cut and punch soft supple sheepskin leather and attach it to form the clever purse bag. In the final step, a chain is threaded through the leather to make a functional Silver purse.
Materials Needed:
960 Sterling (25 g Art Clay or PMC3 and 25 g PMC Sterling 925), 2mm small link chain - should be flexible, smooth, rounded links, used for the draw string so as not to abuse the leather, another matching chain for the necklace -- size optional, 2 head pins, 2 small gems or pearls, 4 - 5 mm, 14 ga straight junk wire, 16 ga sterling, 20 ga sterling, 6” square thin sheep skin leather, 2 - 3 mm leather punch, Striking hammer, Bench block or hard surface, Tracing paper, UV light, Set of pliers, round nose, chain link or flat nose, wire cutters, 3M polishing papers, Metal back polymer plate, Overhead projector sheets, Clear report cover, Scotch guard for swede, Clear tape, Masking tape, Deodorant contain with a nice long curve, Sharpie® Black Pen, A compass (optional), Basic tool kit, Eve® Rubber polishing wheels and knife edge for Silver, blue (medium), pink (fine) for rotary tool, 3M Radial Bristle Brushes 400 grit to fine, Kiln.

A beautifully sculpted brooch of Misty Copeland dancing showing her beauty and strength


A beautifully sculpted brooch of Misty Copeland dancing showing her beauty and strength
Carving and Sculpting in Metal Clay
3-day Class • 6-1 hr sessions Online Private or Group
All levels of ability
Taking it to the next Dimension by learning how to create 2 and 3-dimensional jewelry pieces. We will explore two different, but similar ways of sculpting. You have a choice of working directly with Metal Clay or with Polymer Clay. The Polymer Clay option gives you endless working time. You would then mold it and fill it with Metal Clay. Finally, you will carve and detail the dried Metal Clay. We will cover how to convert your ideas, into a dimensional form; use the additive and deductive process for creating depth; learn various carving, refining and detailing methods; and the best tools and methods for each process.
Materials Needed: 25 - 50g 960 (this will be our own hand mix of Art Clay Fine Silver and PMC 925 Sterling - great carving ability and for designs with thin appendages needing strength) Ball stylus, #0 Conical rubber shaper, Dental tools/carving tools, Diamond drill bit assortment, Needle files, 1/8” foam paper or applicator for smoothing, Super Sculpey® Original Polymer Clay, Toaster oven, Drawing, photograph to scale, 2-part molding compound — MYOM® molding silicone plastique compound, great for detail. www.makeyourownmolds.com/, Wood or cork clay, 3M polishing papers, Eve® Rubber polishing wheels and knife edge for Silver, blue (medium), pink (fine) for rotary tool, 3M Radial Bristle Brushes 400 grit to fine, Props for dimensional forms, Basic Tool Kit, Kiln.

The influences of old Yorkshire architecture with richly detailed arches, towers, stained glass and gable windows meet modern interpretation as we explore making a graceful pendant balancing beautifully in motion. Our new explorations into kinetics will also include a reversible focal design, unique gem setting techniques, and the romance of pearls.


The influences of old Yorkshire architecture with richly detailed arches, towers, stained glass and gable windows meet modern interpretation as we explore making a graceful pendant balancing beautifully in motion. Our new explorations into kinetics will also include a reversible focal design, unique gem setting techniques, and the romance of pearls.
Pivotal Moments
2-day Class • 6-1 hr sessions Online Private or Group
All levels of ability
The influences of Old Yorkshire architecture with richly detailed arches, towers, stained glass and gable windows meet modern interpretation as we explore making a graceful pendant balancing beautifully in motion as the center spins to reveal a reversible focal design. A Repoussé Effects in Metal Clay technique is used to create the beautiful relief texture, and a unique gem-setting technique for setting all stones at once will wow you. It's punctuated with the romance of pearls and will become a keepsake for sure.
Materials Needed: 960 Silver Metal Clay (PMC Sterling 925 and Art Clay Fine Silver mixed 1:1 ratio), 2 – 5mm fire in place gems (dark colors, no nano gems), 2 half-drilled pearls 3 – 5 mm, 18g hard sterling wire, 16 junk wire, Super Sculpey® Original (beige) polymer clay, Carving tools or dockyard tools, Dental tools, Ball stylus, 18 g drill bit, Elmers gel glue, Steel bench block, Rubber or nylon mallet, 5 min. 2 part non-yellowing epoxy, Tracing paper. Rotary tool, Eve® Rubber polishing wheels and knife edge for Silver, blue (medium), pink (fine) for rotary tool, 3M Radial Bristle Brushes 400 grit to fine, Kiln.

The influences of old Yorkshire architecture with richly detailed arches, towers, stained glass and gable windows meet modern interpretation as we explore making a graceful pendant balancing beautifully in motion. Our new explorations into kinetics will also include a reversible focal design, unique gem setting techniques, and the romance of pearls.



The influences of old Yorkshire architecture with richly detailed arches, towers, stained glass and gable windows meet modern interpretation as we explore making a graceful pendant balancing beautifully in motion. Our new explorations into kinetics will also include a reversible focal design, unique gem setting techniques, and the romance of pearls.
Romancing the Stone: Reverse Stone Setting
2-day Class • 6-1 hr sessions Online Private or Group
All levels of ability
Delicate gems need special treatment and an extra-special setting. Many beautiful stones can not be fired in place, so when you wish to overlap the stone with details you add an additional challenge to the design of your piece. My solution is to set the gem from the back. It may sound as if you have to design the whole piece backward, but this is not the case. Not only that, but you can even make a reversible pendant if you so desire and it is much easier than you might imagine!
We will discuss a successful design to enhance the stone, bezel setting, tube bails, tube set gems, flush set gems, buds, snake charming, finishing techniques, and more. This is like my Bezel Setting Like a Pro Class on steroids!
Bring to class a 15 – 25 mm flat stone or faceted stone w