Tuesday
I took a silver jewelry making class today that was offered through the Shanghai American Women's club. I met several ladies from all over the states. Most of them are newcomers to Shanghai. Ahhhhh...I remember those days soooooo well!!!!

Our teacher, Rita, is a fabulous jewelry artist and she shared some "tricks of the trade" with us. We each made a pendant out of silver clay. The clay is 9.99% silver when it is fired. All the "binding" material burns off in the kiln.

First we rolled out our clay, stamped it, cut it, added some balls and snakes (like we made when we were kids) and then put the pieces in the kiln.

The silver had to be in the kiln for about 25 minutes...

That was fast.....time to take them out!!!

They are really really hot.....so...Rita dropped them into a bowl of water. After they cooled we brushed all the white chalky residue off the silver.....it was like magic...suddenly they looked like expensive artsy jewelry.