Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Gold Rush



As some of you may or may not know, in addition to fine silver, metal clay also comes in gold versions - both 22k and 24k. Given how expensive fine silver metal clay is (much more expensive than sterling silver), you can imagine how mind-bogglingly expensive fine gold (i.e. 24k) metal clay is. Trust me - it's mega-expensive, and it comes in little, eensy weensy packages (3g is a standard size package). I never expected to have the opportunity to work with it.

So, you see, I had this 30% off coupon for our local art supply store. Generally, it's much cheaper to buy PMC on-line than in a bricks-and-mortar store. However, with the coupon, and because I was going to be in the area for other reasons, it made sense for me to stop by to pick up a packet. Although the store had advertised holiday markdowns on many products, because this never ever applies to metal clay, I didn't pay much attention to it. So, imagine my surprise when one of the store clerks pointed out that the store was clearing out its stock of gold metal clay. Further imagine my surprise to find that it was the 24K version that it was clearing out and that said PMC Fine Gold had been marked down to more than 75% off the current list price (in fact, I have not even been able to find the current list price for the 24k version, only the 22k version). So I ended up walking out of the store with a tiny lump of pure gold (with clay binder) in my purse. Sure, it was still an indulgence, but I know for a fact that I'll never have this kind of opportunity to work with fine gold ever again.

So, I've been gloating in a completely unseemly way for the past couple days (in fact, some may say that I'm gloating right now - sorry, I just can't help sharing this with you). Every now and then I coo at the box, then put it away. There's only one problem, though. I'M SCARED TO DEATH OF USING IT!!! I think I'll just tuck it away in a safe place and just look at the box, from time to time for the next year. Do you ever do this? I do this with yarn all of the time - I find a really nice yarn on sale for a fantastic price, pick up a few balls, and then it ends up sitting in my stash, because I never seem to have a pattern worthy of it. So silly.

Okay, I'm off to fire another kiln load of my more standard fine silver. Thanks for stopping by!

5 comments:

Rachel said...

Sale hu??? Likely story. I think you went for the big one and held up the gold clay truck instead of the silver clay truck without me how could you? I was looking forward to the heist. I guess I will have to use the fake mustaches for something else. Your other readers and you know who they are are going to taunt you for not using it. Tear it open Seize the Day. Create and be happy with your "Sale find" lol

Anonymous said...

Wow! I'm so jealous! Just think of it this way, without the sale you probably wouldn't have had it at all and if you don't use it, it's like you never found that kind of deal. If you don't use it, you aren't taking advantage of an opportunity that came your way! Go for it!

Jenn Kelly

Mama said...

Good job you!

Anonymous said...

What a great deal! You'll know when you're ready to use it!

Melissa J. Lee said...

Thanks, everyone! I have to think pretty hard how to use it, though. I'm sure I will use it eventually...