Karen Sullivan on mon 20 nov 00
I was in a sale this weekend and a jeweler had stunning
work that she said was made out of precious metal clay [PMC]
that she got from a supplier in ALB. New Mexico.
The material works like clay, you fire it and with
a 40% shrinkage of material, you are left with sterling silver.
Has anyone heard of this?
Can anyone provide more info. about it
Looked like great stuff.
Makes me think I could make small vessels and sell
them at jewelers prices....
It was amazing stuff.
thanks for any enlightenment
bamboo karen
CARParagon@AOL.COM on mon 20 nov 00
Contact Mary Ann Devos about the product "Art Clay Silver" for more
information.
Phone: 941-341-8006
miriam on mon 20 nov 00
Karen,
There are 2 types of this material I know of, Precious Metal Clay and
Art Clay Silver. I have used Art Clay Silver. It works like clay,
comes in paste (for syringe or brush) or in soft solid form. Stones
can be set in it, and it can be given a patina, much like silver, but
with great ease of workmanship. It can be rolled and cut, or worked all
by hand. Its chief drawback is its cost. You can find out more about
it, if the information has not changed in the two years since I used
this stuff, by getting in touch with Arnold Howard at Paragon. The e
mail address is
paragonind@worldnet.att.net.
You can get a book on it from Paragon, _Art Clay Silver_, for probably
under $20.
You'll need a very small kiln with a digital temperature readout for
accuracy in the very short firing. During firing, the material into
which the silver has been mixed burns out, leaving 99% pure fine
silver.
Mimi in New Jersey
Karen Sullivan wrote:
>
> I was in a sale this weekend and a jeweler had stunning
> work that she said was made out of precious metal clay [PMC]
> that she got from a supplier in ALB. New Mexico.
> The material works like clay, you fire it and with
> a 40% shrinkage of material, you are left with sterling silver.
> Has anyone heard of this?
> Can anyone provide more info. about it
> Looked like great stuff.
> Makes me think I could make small vessels and sell
> them at jewelers prices....
> It was amazing stuff.
> thanks for any enlightenment
> bamboo karen
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
Arnold Howard on mon 20 nov 00
Precious Metals Clay is made in Japan and is fired in a kiln to about 1600°F
for two hours. During that period, the binders in the silver clay burn out,
leaving silver particles that fuse into solid silver.
Paragon Industries began making kilns for this type of silver in 1997. At
that time we distributed a similar product to PMC called Art Clay Silver.
Since then we have discontinued selling Art Clay Silver but continue to make
the kilns.
Contact information:
Precious Metals Clay: Rio Grande 800-443-6766
Art Clay Silver: MaryAnn & Ken Devos 941-463-8006 / ken1d@iline.com
Arnold Howard
Paragon
--- Karen Sullivan wrote:
> I was in a sale this weekend and a jeweler had stunning
> work that she said was made out of precious metal clay [PMC]
> that she got from a supplier in ALB. New Mexico.
> The material works like clay, you fire it and with
> a 40% shrinkage of material, you are left with sterling silver.
> Has anyone heard of this?
> Can anyone provide more info. about it
> Looked like great stuff.
> Makes me think I could make small vessels and sell
> them at jewelers prices....
> It was amazing stuff.
> thanks for any enlightenment
> bamboo karen
>
>
______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
__________________________________________________
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Snail Scott on mon 20 nov 00
You can get this (PMC) from Rio Grande Jewellers' Supply;
known simply as Rio. (A friend of mine is the U.S. product
manager for this stuff at Rio.) It's great. I think they are
missing their market for the stuff by marketing to jewellers,
and not clay people.
The stuff is pure metal (not alloy), bound up in an organic
colloidal binding material. You form it like clay, them fire
it. The organics burn out, leaving a 100% pure metal object
behind. The shrinkage is huge (around 50%), but if small stuff
is what you've got in mind, your detail can look amazing.
The result is a bit like cast metal, without any more
infrastructure that the kiln we've all got already. It's
difficult to solder, because it's very porous, and must be
burnished to get a good shine. You can form it around a core
like styrofoam which will burn out, giving true closed forms
or beads which are tough to do with metal casting, and you
don't have any sprues to cut off as you would with cast metal.
It can be incorporated into other materials that can withstand
the temperatures (almost any clay) as long as the shrinkage is
allowed for; a good mechanical bond will induce the shrinkage to
occur more along the unrestrained axis, and less where attached.
Glass enamels work well on it for champleve and basse-taille
techniques. Some people have even added it to glazes!
It's not cheap; the price last year was $30/ounce for pure silver,
and $175/ounce for 24k gold. It works like nothing else, though.
The people at Rio have lots of good information and advice, and
even put out a newsletter about PMC.
Rio Grande Jewellers' Supply can be contacted at 1-800-545-6566
or at www.riogrande.com
Their mailing address is 7500 Bluewater Rd, NW
Albuquerque, NM 87121-1962
I've seen similar products advertised elsewhere, but haven't used
them personally. Rio is the only U.S. distributor for PMC.
At 07:43 AM 11/20/00 -0800, you wrote:
>I was in a sale this weekend and a jeweler had stunning
>work that she said was made out of precious metal clay [PMC]
>that she got from a supplier in ALB. New Mexico.
>The material works like clay, you fire it and with
>a 40% shrinkage of material, you are left with sterling silver.
>Has anyone heard of this?
>Can anyone provide more info. about it
>Looked like great stuff.
>Makes me think I could make small vessels and sell
>them at jewelers prices....
>It was amazing stuff.
>thanks for any enlightenment
>bamboo karen
Sabra Wood on mon 20 nov 00
about pmc... i took a 3 night workshop, and was v happy with the bracelet i made. 1
night explored designs using "regular" clay, 1 night made chosen design in pmc, 1
night cleaned pieces & did any finishing... in my case, drilling holes & assembling
with jump rings
great thing was that everyone's work was so different... and not all of it was
jewelry.
and my instructor was great.
here are 2 links...
http://www.pmclay.com/
web site set up by manufacturer. lots of info
http://www.agte.com/
web site of my great instructor... elizabeth agte. her page is also listed on
the 1st site.
> --- Karen Sullivan wrote:
> > I was in a sale this weekend and a jeweler had stunning
> > work that she said was made out of precious metal clay [PMC]
> > that she got from a supplier in ALB. New Mexico.
> > The material works like clay, you fire it and with
> > a 40% shrinkage of material, you are left with sterling silver.
> > Has anyone heard of this?
> > Can anyone provide more info. about it
> > Looked like great stuff.
> > Makes me think I could make small vessels and sell
> > them at jewelers prices....
> > It was amazing stuff.
> > thanks for any enlightenment
> > bamboo karen
> >
> >
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> > Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
> >
> > You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> > settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
> >
> > Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots@pclink.com.
>
> __________________________________________________
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Calendar - Get organized for the holidays!
> http://calendar.yahoo.com/
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
iandol on tue 21 nov 00
Dear Karen Sullivan,
Look in issues of Lapidary journal for the past two years. There are =
feature articles on the material as well as several "How to..." =
articles. Claims are that it can be thrown but they did not rise to my =
suggestion when I asked for a trial sample, foc !! It is pricey, needs a =
kiln with very precise temperature control. Sintering temperature is =
only about ten degrees below the melting point. It seems to be the =
latest developing fad on the franchise crafts circuit with special =
workshops to train instructors. I think Prof.Tim McCreight may be =
someone to contact. Or go to Lapidary Journal at www.LapidaryJournal.com =
for more information.
Ivor. Redhill, South Australian.
Dave Murphy on tue 21 nov 00
Karen:
Tuckers sells it in Ontario. I think they have a website with their info on
it. It is quite expensive as compared to clay but for jewellry I don't
know.
Barbara Murphy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Karen Sullivan"
To:
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2000 10:43 AM
Subject: precious metal clay?
> I was in a sale this weekend and a jeweler had stunning
> work that she said was made out of precious metal clay [PMC]
> that she got from a supplier in ALB. New Mexico.
> The material works like clay, you fire it and with
> a 40% shrinkage of material, you are left with sterling silver.
> Has anyone heard of this?
> Can anyone provide more info. about it
> Looked like great stuff.
> Makes me think I could make small vessels and sell
> them at jewelers prices....
> It was amazing stuff.
> thanks for any enlightenment
> bamboo karen
>
>
____________________________________________________________________________
__
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
>
ILENE MAHLER on tue 21 nov 00
The name is Rio Grande jewlers in New Mexico...Ilene in Conn
Karen Sullivan wrote:
>
> I was in a sale this weekend and a jeweler had stunning
> work that she said was made out of precious metal clay [PMC]
> that she got from a supplier in ALB. New Mexico.
> The material works like clay, you fire it and with
> a 40% shrinkage of material, you are left with sterling silver.
> Has anyone heard of this?
> Can anyone provide more info. about it
> Looked like great stuff.
> Makes me think I could make small vessels and sell
> them at jewelers prices....
> It was amazing stuff.
> thanks for any enlightenment
> bamboo karen
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
BobWicks@AOL.COM on tue 21 nov 00
Karen:
I think if you look into it that your metal clay is not sterling silver. At
one time I looked into it only to find that there was no copper in the silver
thereby the silver would be so soft that it would not last very long. That
is why they add copper to silver. Sterling Silver has 7% copper added to
make it hard and wear resistant.
If you find out differently, let me know.
Bob Wicks, Professor Emeritus HACC
Snail Scott on wed 22 nov 00
This is true; as I said, it is NOT an alloy, but
the pure metal. It will not have the tensile strength
of the standard jewelry alloys. Certain forms and
applications would be inappropriate for this material,
though for most purposes the difference between
sterling silver and fine silver will go unnoticed;
likewise the difference between 20k and 24k gold.
It's difficult to form the PMC thin enough for the
greater softness to be apparent, and also difficult
to put on such a precise finish that occasional dings
would be obvious.
PMC would be less appropriate than cast alloys in
applications where the object might be subjected to
accidental bending, or constant abrasion. Rings for
the finger, for instance, take a tremendous amount
of abuse. Pendants and beads suffer much less, though,
and sculptural objects are generally treated with more
care than 'use objects' like jewellery.
On the other hand, these pure metals will be more
accomodating to post-firing modifications such as
burnishing or engraving, and fine silver is
actually preferable to sterling for enamelling.
-Snail
At 07:36 PM 11/21/00 EST, you wrote:
>Karen:
>I think if you look into it that your metal clay is not sterling silver. At
>one time I looked into it only to find that there was no copper in the silver
>thereby the silver would be so soft that it would not last very long. That
>is why they add copper to silver. Sterling Silver has 7% copper added to
>make it hard and wear resistant.
>
>If you find out differently, let me know.
>
>Bob Wicks, Professor Emeritus HACC
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