Here are some photos of what Precious Metal Clay Silver looks like in various stages. If you don't already know what PMC is, I will tell you! PMC is made from silver particles and a binder. You work it like clay and then fire it in a kiln at 1650 degrees F for two hours. All the binder burns out and you are left with pure silver! During the process the peices shrink a little. It is pretty amazing and a super fun material to work with. These ones were carefully rolled out thin, then rolled on a rubber spiral texture template. Then they were cut into circles using various shapes of circle cutters, similar to very small cookie cutters. The holes were made with straws. Finally the edges were cleaned up a little and they are ready to be fired. After they were fired they are slightly domed and polished. Then they are blackened in a stinky liver of sulfer bath, rinsed and polished again to highlight the spiral texture. From there they are connected to the end of a bead with a silver tube rivet.
Silver Precious Metal Clay before firing:
After firing in a kiln at 1650 degrees F for 2 hours:
After doming:
After tumbling to remove the white residue:
After being blackened in liver of sulfer:
After polishing:
After being connected to handmade glass beads with a tube rivet:
After firing in a kiln at 1650 degrees F for 2 hours:
After doming:
After tumbling to remove the white residue:
After being blackened in liver of sulfer:
After polishing:
After being connected to handmade glass beads with a tube rivet:
