Precious Metal Clay for CRAFTY CSers

[iLander]

RH Parker asked me about PMC in another thread, so I thought I'd explain it to everybody in case you guys haven't heard about it.

It was developed a few years ago by Mitsubishi and it's basically microscopic particles of pure (99.9%) gold or silver suspended in clay. You mold and work the clay, hit it with some heat and voila; a solid metal object! Cool, cool stuff!

Here's some pics from REALLY advanced users: http://www.pmcguild.com/gallery/pmc-decade-exhibit/index.html

Here is a kit with a small alcohol kiln, some clay and the whole she-bang:
http://www.delphiglass.com/metal-clay/kits/pmc3-deluxe-jewelry-clay-kit?source=froogle

You can use a little oven like the one in the kit (it can be refilled with alcohol gel fuel) or you can hit it (lightly) with a blowtorch. You want to burn off the clay but not melt the object. The tricky part is polishing it, since at this point it's raw dull silver; the best way is to rub it with a stainless steel knife or fork. If you have a buffing wheel, great. If not, no problem, elbow grease works fine.

Stones CAN be set into it, but only high heat stones. Most people use CZ's or just leave a post sticking out of the piece and glue on a half-drilled pearl.

Be warned though, the little packets only contain a dime-sized chunk of silver or gold. A big guy ring will require three packets, a slender ladies stacker-type ring will usually come out of one packet. There are videos on youtube if you want a demo, or there are tons of books out there.

VAPID-I expect to see your first project by the end of next week!

THIS finally brings me all the way around to fitting into this thread: Any ideas on which natural stones will stand up to a blowtorch?

 

[innerkitten]

Double post. Oops!

 

[innerkitten]

I really like some of the stuff in the link you posted by advanced users. Very creative. I haven't tried metal clay myself. One of these days. I have to say I see way to much of the tiny cut out shapes with a stamp on it on etsy :-/ So it's nice to see that some people do get very creative with it. On the other hand I guess part of the fun of it would be that almost anyone can create a fun piece with out lots of tools etc.

 

[deorwine]

It is pretty interesting stuff, and was responsible for my taking some jewelry classes and getting into fabrication (which I LOVE).

Note however that (as iLander said) PMC is FINE silver (almost-pure) which means it is very very soft, so I wouldn't try to set any sort of even-near-valuable stone in it (and anyway it will scratch super-easily, even more easily than sterling). There are techniques (see "depletion gilding") for embedding sterling silver into PMC, but that may get kind of complex (I've never tried it).

I personally think the sort of stuff Vapid does is way more fun than PMC, but lots of other people feel differently. I think it has a lot to do with what turns you on -- PMC is more crafty, and fabrication/forging is more tool-oriented.

Standing up to a blowtorch... hmm. Corundum might? But not if it were included, probably, which takes it out of the cheapie-stone category. Now I think I might want to try this with my piece-of-gravel sapphires that I am not using for anything else ever

 

[texaskj]

FYI, to any PS'ers interested in this stuff, the finished product is very lightweight, perfect for earrings. I bought the necklace below on Etsy and while it's pretty, I like everything but my earrings to have a little heft. I've done some research and it sounds like it would be really fun to work with.
The store is
http://www.etsy.com/shop/homespuncity
but she's on hiatus right now.