posted 10-23-2003 11:22 AM            

Ok, not everyone knows what PMC is:
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Precious Metal Clay

Contemporary Silversmiths have a new material to work with. It is called Precious Metal Clay. Silversmiths can create high quality pure precious metal art/ jewelry in a fraction of the time with PMC/PMC3 products.

Precious Metal Clay consists of microscopic particles of silver or gold suspended in an organic binder to create a pliable material with a consistency similar to modeling clay. PMC silver clay and gold clay both, can be worked with the fingers and with simple tools to create a vast range of forms and unobtainable or too laborious with traditional techniques. New PMC3 contains even smaller particles of silver making it the strongest and lowest fired PMC product available.

posted 02-08-2011 02:37 PM            

I am wondering if anybody has tried this and can show examples. I have thought about trying silver clay and/or copper clay as I don't have the equipment for traditional casting.

I have a couple of concerns about it:

-how porous is the final product?[list]-do the finished products feel hefty like a similar piece in sterling or copper would feel?
-since the water & clay disappears to leave only the silver, what is the degree of shrinkage?
-is the final product structurally sound? (i worry about cast metal being porous & brittle)
-can very fine detail be produced?
-how are findings, such as jump rings and pin mechanisms, attached?

I'm automatically suspicious of "easy" products that replace any real process so I have held off buying metal clay to experiment with.

posted 02-08-2011 07:03 PM            

The jewelry artist was Jeanne M. Bellone and the necklace is composed of a very heavy handmade sterling chain that she calls Queen's Chain. Additionally there is a large pendant that is made of vintage seed bead purse material that is "handset within one-of-a-kind fine silver (PMC)..." The pendant also has art glass beads and 3 sterling silver drops. The pendant is 5 3/4" long and the necklace weighs 3/4 of a pound -- very heavy.

This 3rd image is of the back which shows the PMC to best advantage.

Since I am not a designer/creator I can't really answer your questions. But, I might be able to get in touch with Jeanne Bellone and ask her to come onto the Forum if that would be of interest.

posted 02-09-2011 03:25 PM            

In the end I used it for a quick way for 8th graders to make something in silver. I went in to my sons art class and gave each kid a piece of silver PMC. They then modeled their own ideas with loops for attaching and the art teacher fired them in the kiln. What came out was silver, bright and shiny and a little keepsake each kid got to take home.

For them it was quick and fun for me it was not ideal as it is clay and the amount of detail one gets is challenging. I am used to carving in hard wax which gives very fine detail so the PMC although quick would have had me going back in the metal stage to work it further. This would have been much more time.