To make the original for the pictured piece (Shooting Stars) I rolled out a piece of copper clay 3 cards thick. I then used a "cookie cutter" to cut a circle. I then rolled out a new piece of copper clay 2 cards thick and then I cut all the individual flower components out of it. I attached them to the original circle with copper clay slip (homemade from scraps and tap water). I set the piece to dry on my warming tray in the interior curve of a soup spoon to get a concave affect. When dry, I filed and sanded until satisfied that my piece was ready to be fired. After it came out of the kiln I tumbled it for 1/2 hour in my Lortone tumbler. I then used Liver of Sulpher to add a dark patina and polished with polishing paper to a fine shine. I then used the copper original to make a silicone mold and I am using that mold to make both copper and silver pendants. For matching earrings I make two molds of a silver pendant to shrink it slightly so that my earrings are smaller than my pendants.
I'm very happy with this new method because I am getting cleaner originals with crisp details. They look just as I imagined them and I'm enjoying wearing the pictured piece as I type.