Hobby & Craft Forums

I was at a craft fair a few weeks back and I was admiring some pendants, they had silver on the actual stone which looked like silver wire but wasn't, it was in a design like vines wrapped around the stone - looked amazing.
As I was touching the silver bits (as you do), the lady said - its all handmade, I moulded the silver myself by hand.
I was a bit puzzled as it wasn't silver as I know it, so am presuming its something you can buy and make, I've heard of silver clay and was just wondering whether this might be what she meant - have not looked into what silver clay is or what you can do with it, so if anyone has used it and knows anything about it and whether it sounds like what was used for this pendant then do prey tell.

Would love to have a go one day, but I thought a kiln was needed for silver. (It still might be - I don't know).

Are you sure she didn't mean she'd just heated the wire and moulded it around the stone Karen?

PMC clay is apparently fab- I've not used it myself yet though but have seen lots of video tutorials on youtube. You don't ned to kiln fire it either, you can fire it with a blow torch which eliminates the cost of a kiln!

Silver clay is a byproduct from the photographic industtry, the silver is recovered from processing solutions amongst other uses!.. The recovered silver is bound in an oil based clay which you can mould and shape like plasticine, so it is easy to work with, though it dries out very quickly, and is fragile until fired, and takes some getting used to (you can get normal set, and slow set clay depending on your project).

Once you have made your clay piece (10% bigger than you need, as it shrinks!) you fire it in a kiln, or as Nickie said, using a blow torch, or even the gas flame on your cooker. This burns off the clay carrier, fuses the tiny silver particles, and you are left with a solid silver model which you can polish, buff, etch, distress or otherwise finish..

One problem with it, is that if you dont kiln fire, you can over fire pieces, and they will melt and disintegrate - not good if you are creating a delicate object... I made some cufflinks, and sadly overfired the second one..

Having used the clay, and knowing how fragile it is, I cant see what you described being silver clay work.. it would be far easier to accomplish with silver wire I think??

Oh, and silver clay is EXPENSIVE! a block is 7g - about the size of a stick of those new chewing gums (trident?)

a block of silver for jewellery making is not overly expensive by the way, she may have just got a thin one, cut it with a jewellers saw, and then finished it off around the stone?

Hmm - both methods sound interesting. Shall have to have a look around at whats available.

Definatly wasn't silver wire, it was more sort of thick like fingers going into points like spooky branches. The effect ws stunning. Would love to have a go - possibly not a good idea to give me a blow torch though

makeitbig wrote:Hmm - both methods sound interesting. Shall have to have a look around at whats available.

Definatly wasn't silver wire, it was more sort of thick like fingers going into points like spooky branches. The effect ws stunning. Would love to have a go - possibly not a good idea to give me a blow torch though

Was it perhaps cast?

Arh I know the sort of thing you mean now...now where did I see it...goes off to have a look around...

Waits with baited breath.