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kalihaHis Lordship bought me a rather ace PMC kit a while back and this week I decided to bite the bullet and have a go at making something with it. I was off-put for while because I was worried that it would go all wrong and I'd end up with a pile of worthless silver slag.
For this hobby you'll need the following items:
[x] A clean Teflon-coated baking tray
[x] Plastic spaces to help you roll out the clay to the right thickness (can also use bits of card)
[x] rolling pin (preferably plastic)
[x] Clay cutters in your chosen shape. (I'm using star cutters)
[x] Precious Metal Clay (obviously)
[x] Badger Balm (used to stop the clay sticking to everything)
[x] Some weak lemon drink
The precious metal clay. It comes in a creamish colour and an 18g block (like this one) is about the size of a 50p piece. It's depressingly small for something you've spent £18 on.
Pull off a bit of clay.
Rub Badger Balm onto your rolling pin to stop the clay sticking to it, and using the spacers roll out your clay to the desired thickness. (My spacers are 1mm thick)
[x] Coat the edges of your cutter in Badger Balm and cut out your shape. This is going to be your pendant.
[x] I used a cocktail stick to make my little pendant hole (but you can also use thin straws like you get with cheap pop cartons (Y HALO THAR Panda Pop) to punch out a hole.
[x] Using my littlest star cutter I gently pressed into the pendant to give it a bit of texture.
[x] Either dry the clay using a hairdryer, putting in the airing cupboard, or by being lazy like me and leaving it on the firing board for to days.
[x] Once the clay is dry use an emery board to file the edges of the pendant getting rid of any sharp/rough edges and making it look a bit nicer.
This is the part where you actually 'cook' the clay. I didn't have enough hands to fire the clay and take photos at the same time. Woes. I'll have to get His Lordship to take over lensing duties the next time I fire something so you can take a look.
[x] using a hand-held butane pencil torch start to heat the clay.
[x] It'll go sooty first as the binding agents burn off
[x] Then it'll turn white
[x] Then, and this is the coolest part, it'll start to glow an orangey colour. Leave the heat on for about a minute. No longer else your piece starts to melt. If it goes shiny or starts to melt then YOU GONE TOO FAR!
[x] Take the heat off the piece and allow it to cool. It takes 15 or 20 minutes to cool off.
Now, if you fire it properly it'll got a matte white colour.
If you cock up like I did you'll end up with crispy shiny silver blotches where it has overcooked. Case in point: the legs of the star. Oops.
But if you think that looks bad, you should see the back...
Arsebiscuits.
I think I made a bit of a mess with it. Ho hum. If your piece looks like this then you've gone wrong.
Next the cleaning. Again no pictures, for I only have two hands.
Wearing rubber gloves, put your pendant into the palm of your hand, run some water into your cupped palm to make a pool of water with your pendant submerged in it and add some washing up liquid/liquid soap.
Using a brass bristled wire brush (must be brass - like the brushes you have for cleaning your sparkplugs or your BBQ) gently scrub at your piece. The white will disappear and be replaced with a lovely burnished silver.
Make sure you do the front and the back of your pendant.
Wash with water and the dry off with kitchen roll or a tea towel.
Ta Da! Your pendant is done.
The finished piece, all shined up and on a copper tigertail chain with copper findings. I wore it to work today and got lots of nice comments about it. Hoorah! And now it i all shiny, you can't tell that I overcooked it either, so it'll be our secret, okay.
And you, dear reader, are made of awesome if you spot the Richard not Judy references
For this hobby you'll need the following items:
[x] A clean Teflon-coated baking tray
[x] Plastic spaces to help you roll out the clay to the right thickness (can also use bits of card)
[x] rolling pin (preferably plastic)
[x] Clay cutters in your chosen shape. (I'm using star cutters)
[x] Precious Metal Clay (obviously)
[x] Badger Balm (used to stop the clay sticking to everything)
[x] Some weak lemon drink
The precious metal clay. It comes in a creamish colour and an 18g block (like this one) is about the size of a 50p piece. It's depressingly small for something you've spent £18 on.
Pull off a bit of clay.
Rub Badger Balm onto your rolling pin to stop the clay sticking to it, and using the spacers roll out your clay to the desired thickness. (My spacers are 1mm thick)
[x] Coat the edges of your cutter in Badger Balm and cut out your shape. This is going to be your pendant.
[x] I used a cocktail stick to make my little pendant hole (but you can also use thin straws like you get with cheap pop cartons (Y HALO THAR Panda Pop) to punch out a hole.
[x] Using my littlest star cutter I gently pressed into the pendant to give it a bit of texture.
[x] Either dry the clay using a hairdryer, putting in the airing cupboard, or by being lazy like me and leaving it on the firing board for to days.
[x] Once the clay is dry use an emery board to file the edges of the pendant getting rid of any sharp/rough edges and making it look a bit nicer.
This is the part where you actually 'cook' the clay. I didn't have enough hands to fire the clay and take photos at the same time. Woes. I'll have to get His Lordship to take over lensing duties the next time I fire something so you can take a look.
[x] using a hand-held butane pencil torch start to heat the clay.
[x] It'll go sooty first as the binding agents burn off
[x] Then it'll turn white
[x] Then, and this is the coolest part, it'll start to glow an orangey colour. Leave the heat on for about a minute. No longer else your piece starts to melt. If it goes shiny or starts to melt then YOU GONE TOO FAR!
[x] Take the heat off the piece and allow it to cool. It takes 15 or 20 minutes to cool off.
Now, if you fire it properly it'll got a matte white colour.
If you cock up like I did you'll end up with crispy shiny silver blotches where it has overcooked. Case in point: the legs of the star. Oops.
But if you think that looks bad, you should see the back...
Arsebiscuits.
I think I made a bit of a mess with it. Ho hum. If your piece looks like this then you've gone wrong.
Next the cleaning. Again no pictures, for I only have two hands.
Wearing rubber gloves, put your pendant into the palm of your hand, run some water into your cupped palm to make a pool of water with your pendant submerged in it and add some washing up liquid/liquid soap.
Using a brass bristled wire brush (must be brass - like the brushes you have for cleaning your sparkplugs or your BBQ) gently scrub at your piece. The white will disappear and be replaced with a lovely burnished silver.
Make sure you do the front and the back of your pendant.
Wash with water and the dry off with kitchen roll or a tea towel.
Ta Da! Your pendant is done.
The finished piece, all shined up and on a copper tigertail chain with copper findings. I wore it to work today and got lots of nice comments about it. Hoorah! And now it i all shiny, you can't tell that I overcooked it either, so it'll be our secret, okay.
And you, dear reader, are made of awesome if you spot the Richard not Judy references
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(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:45 pm (UTC)This stuff is classes as fine silver and is .999
Once all the binding stuff has burnt away you're left with pretty much solid silver. And it sounds all metally and everything.
(no subject)
Date: Thursday, November 8th, 2007 04:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:28 pm (UTC)That looks awesome. I love the sort of textured effect you got from the smaller cutter. So how many things of that size do you get from your 50p piece lump of stuff? Tis v shiny, anyway.
Hello, you are awesome, fact.
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:34 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 11:00 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:54 pm (UTC)Well done and very nice work!
(no subject)
Date: Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 10:59 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Thursday, November 8th, 2007 12:13 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Thursday, November 8th, 2007 07:28 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: Thursday, November 29th, 2007 06:19 am (UTC)