This week I had a few custom and personalized Precious Metal Clay orders to create. PMC is my latest artistic medium, and I am IN LOVE with it. I use PMC Sterling and PMC Gold, and when I am finished, I end up with a pure precious metal piece of jewelry. The clay itself can be a little tricky to work with and one of the purposes of this blog will be to share the methods I have both learned and stumbled upon. But the joy of PMC is that you can make almost anything a traditional metal smith can make, it is truly amazing.
Here are the basic steps of my process:
I start by designing my work with a graphic design program on my Mac.
Then I invert the image and print off a negative on a laser transparency.
Next I create a photopolymer plate from the negative. (I will do a separate post about photopolymer plates down the road).
Photopolymer plates are surprisingly easy to create.
I then roll out my clay, press it into the plate and cut out my design.
Once the piece has been sanded and finished, I pop it into the kiln for the first of two firings. (30 minutes at 1000 degrees)
After it has cooled, it is fired again in a bed of coconut carbon. (30 minutes at 1500 degrees)
Et Voila! After a little brushing and oxidizing, here are 2 of the finished pieces for a client,
she will wear them on a charm necklace in honor of her 2 dogs, halfpint and gracie!
Let me know if you have any questions about working with PMC!