Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea
Precious Metal Clay Artist Jeanette Landenwitch Creates Jewelry at Kentucky Artisan Center

On Saturday, June 24, Jeanette Landenwitch will be creating jewelry with Precious Metal Clay (PMC) from 10:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. at the Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea.

Jeanette has been working in Precious Metal Clay (PMC) since 1999 and has used it exclusively ever since as her main jewelry medium. Precious Metal Clay which is not clay, was developed in the early 1990’s by the Mitsubishi Company in Japan and the material was introduced in the United States in 1995. Tiny micron sized particles of precious metal, such as silver and gold, are mixed with an organic binder and water. The material is malleable and works like clay. After shaping, the work is fired in a kiln during which the binder burns away, and the tiny metal particles bond and fuse together resulting in an item made of pure precious metal. Silver PMC is .999 percent pure silver and Gold PMC is 24 karat. Items made from PMC are stronger than if they had been made of conventional metal of the same purity, and they are as much as 20% lighter in weight.

Jeanette’s BA degree in interior design informs her sense of design and pattern. She states, “Working with PMC is a wonderful, creative outlet for me. It challenges me to stretch my ideas, which causes me to constantly incorporate new methods and techniques. I get my inspiration from everywhere, but my favorite is nature.”

Jeanette’s work is all hand fabricated individually. After the work is shaped, it is set aside to dry and then it is fired in a kiln, hand polished and finished. Jeanette also adds glass enamels to her silver pieces, adding color and contrast. A minimum of three enamel applications and firings are necessary to achieve the desired colors and effects. If stones are used in the piece they are set into the metal as the very last step before firing. Only stones such as garnet, hematite and peridot, that can withstand heat and firing temperatures can be used

Jeanette is currently the Executive Director of the National Precious Metal Clay Guild and has written a book on jewelry making with PMC titled, “Creating With Precious Metal Clay.” She is a juried member of the Kentucky Craft Marketing Program, the Enamelist Society, and the Washington Guild of Goldsmiths.

Works by Jeanette Landenwitch can be regularly found at the Kentucky Artisan Center, located just off Interstate 75 at exit 77 (Berea). The Center’s exhibits, shopping, and travel information areas are all open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. and the café from 8 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Admission is free. The Center currently features works by more than 650 artisans from all across the Commonwealth. For more information call 859-985-5448 or visit the Center’s web site at www.kentuckyartisancenter.ky.gov 

The Kentucky Artisan Center at Berea is an agency in the Commerce Cabinet of the Commonwealth of Kentucky.