Art Clay Canada Store

This is for everyone who has tried Precious Metal Clay, Art Clay Silver and/or PMC. Okay you've tried it once and its broken appart. That was an expensive Lesson.

Know your product what is it?

How is it made?

What can it do? Forget about what it can't do.

                                                                                                                                
So you want to work with metal clay. Great it dries quick and its expensive. So planning is the most important step. It will save yourself heartache after heartache. Here's the key you must like organic designs - that's it that's the secret. If you like geometric shapes get the hell out of here and take up silversmithing. If you manage to achieve something with hard edges congratulations you just defied all that is metal clay. Clay we use clay for sculpting.

Start with something simple and if you don't like to draw,buy your self some modelling clay. Modeling clay is great, make your design big at first and once you get the feel for your design repeat it from scratch. After you have done your design in the modeling clay at least twice your ready for your Silver Metal.

10 grams of silver will make a nice size pendant or a fairly large ring. So a 50 gram pack goes a long way Art Clay Canada Store Any unused portion should be put back into the plastic wrap and then back into the grey packaging wrap it up with a damp to moist paper towel & put it in a zip loc bag. You can store your unused clay for long periods of time.

Because the clay does dry so fast we only carry the SLOW DRY formula. Low fire (temperature), slow dry (working time) has the most potential and can be used effectively in humid locations too. See our guide on the different packaging &    Types of Art Clay Silver.  The only thing that costal Provinces and States have to worry about is to make sure it is thouroughly dry. This can be tough if you are impatient. A candle warmer can work to dry out your piece but you need to wait at least 48 hours. If you don't and torch it the clay will bubble and crack. I will talk about torch firing the clay in another guide.

Make your Bail

Now that you know what you are making....and I suggest you start with a pendant you need to determine how your objet d'art will hang. A simple method is to take a small straw and poke a whole about 5 mm from the edge of your piece (later you can just put a jump ring through the hole). Another method is to work it into your design you can roll your clay horizontally over a straw. Leave the straw in while your piece dries (I'll try to post a picture).

Here are some other things to decide before you open your clay

Is your project mostly flat or does it have rounded edges?

If more flat - you will need the following tools:

• a smooth work surface see below for suitable work stations
• a deck of cards
• a roller (plastic tube). The tube should be a type of plastic or it will stick to the clay
• any tools you need for your textures, holes, markings etc. 

A texture plate with this type of roll out using a straw to poke a hole through is a nice basic - successfull project.

Now you are ready for your Clay

Art Clay Canada Store

Stack approx. 5 to 10 playing cards (you decide how thick). If using texture plate start off with 10 card thickness. You will basically need 20 cards. Think of the space directly in front of you. Take a 10 card stack and lay it down now take another 10 card stack and lay it approx. 4 inches to the right of the other stack. Once you take your clay out you will put it in between the 2 stacks of 10 playing cards.

• Take it out of the pack
• Kneed it
• Shape it into the basic shape (ie: cube for a square, prism for a triangle, ball for a circle) You get the idea.
• Place it down between the 2 stacks of cards
• Take your roller and pat down the shape, slowly squishing it down. IMPORTANT - make sure either side of your roller will reach and cover a portion of each stack of cards. This will make sure your little pancake shape will be the SAME THICKNESS all over. DO NOT GO THINNER THAN ONE MILLAMETER OR YOUR PIECE WILL BREAK.

Oh no its starting to dry...it looks like reptile skin. Dip your fingers in water and KEEP THE EDGES VERY WET. Just like clay mold it together. As long as the edges stay wet you will have more time to shape. If it gets drier then reptile skin and starts to break apart you will have to stop and let the WHOLE piece dry. Once dry you can fill cracks with syringe and/or paste.

Back to your pendant now that you have saved it from cracking

• If it gets to long one way, pick up the clay and turn it 90 degrees, flatten it down some more.
• If using a texture plate lay it texture side down and roll your cylinder overtop
• Let this piece dry right on your teflon aka non stick surface or do your roll over bale. If you planned on a roll over bale but your project is too dry....its to late. Let your piece fully dry and make a separate bale out of a little chunk of clay and attach to your pendant when both are dry.
  

Sanding will Make the Finishing Easier

Do 80% of your finishing BEFORE IT IS FIRED - Once it's fired it is just like Silver Smithing

The best cloths to use are these cloth finishing papers. However if you have a big area to sand - NAIL Emery boards work great! You can usually get a big pack of 20 for a dollar at the dollar store. You can sand in one direction very gently. YOU CANNOT RECYCLE YOUR EMERY BOARD FILINGS.

Using the 400 grit - get it a little damp and all of your cracks and minor imperfections will slowly go away. Please don't let your clay get too wet as it will be easier to break. You can move your clay around a lot with these sanding cloths.

You are ready to go to 600 when most of the major pits and cracks have disappeared. Continue on doing the same process with each grade of polishing cloth. You can actually get your piece so smooth that it will look like silver BEFORE you fire it.

The more you polish it at this stage the less you have to do after it is fired. Trust me it is worth the extra effort.

MAJOR REPAIRS: Any digs, scratches, bumps, lumps etc can be removed if you take your polishing cloth 400 (green sheet) and dip it in water...don't be afraid to get your project damp. Slide, push and move the clay around, smoothing and shaping it. DON'T FORGET to let your piece dry in between doing this. If you have a big divet or hole fill with Art Clay Silver paste or Syringe. If you don't let it dry in between major shaping your piece will break or crack.  Once clay doesn't seem to be getting any smoother go to the next grit 600. Repeat wet procedure. Then move to 1200 grit and so on. Once you are done with the 4000 your piece should pretty much look like brushed silver.

If the 400 doesn't seem to remove major bums use 150 reg. sand paper. REMEMBER you can't save the left over shavings when using reg. sandpaper.

FIRING your PROJECT:
Before firing your project make sure that it is COMPLETELY DRY. Use a cup warmer or a candle warmer. See my guides on clay to buy for humid areas. If your clay isn't completely dry it will pop and your piece will explode. Drier climates don't have as much problem with this.

1. Put your project on a fire brick.
2. If you have gemstones that are fireable and are less than approx. 5mm you can hand fire them with out a torch. You should cover the gemstone with fibre blanket just to make sure the temperature on your stone stays evenly distributed.
3. Use a torch with a wide billowy flame.
   
4. Start about 5 inches from your piece making slow circular motions to evenly heat your project.
5. Now with your flame about 3 inches from your project continue to heat until a nice salmon colour appears (try dimming the lights to see this better). If your piece is getting orange....move your flame away this is almost the melting point.
6. Once piece is salmon, lift your torch to about 4 to 5 inches away from project. Your piece should not be getting oranger, but cooler. Make small circles over your piece and count to 60.
7. Repeat steps 5 & 6 at least one more time. I prefer 2 times just to be sure.
8. If you don't have gemstones - pick up your piece with tongs or tweezers and quench (dunk) your piece in water. You can now touch the project....it is room temperature.

BRUSHING THE SINTER & POLISHING YOUR SILVER:

1. Using a nice wire brush. Brush your piece in one direction to remove the white sinter.
2. Next burnish your piece with an agate burnisher. This will strengthen the pure silver piece. Sterling is stronger because it also contains copper and/or nickel. Compressing the silver with your burnisher will strengthen your piece and also remove any remaining scratches on the surface.
   
3. You can now polish you piece with wenhol or another compound and a polishing cloth.
   

SAVING YOUR LEFT OVER CHUNKS:
Make sure you save all your chunks, rejected projects and sludge in the bottom of your syringe container. You can recycle this into paste. Email me and I'll send you info.

Good luck with your projects. Enjoy and have fun. Customers can email me for online support and I will respond within 24 hours.

Cheers,
Canadian Carrie, B.Ed.
Senior Art Clay Silver Instructor
Art Clay Canada