Silver and Gold Metal Clay

By Sherri Haab - Artist of Precious Metal Clay Jewelry DVD Workshop.

From The Art of Metal Clay by Sherri Haab. ©2003 by Sherri Haab.
Published by Watson-Guptill Publications. Reprinted with permission.

If you want something truly unique and spectacular to add to your altered books, try making your own metal charms. By making your own metal embellishments, you don’t have to rely on mass produced designs available in stores. Your designs will be your own original works of art. Metal clay is an exciting medium with so many possibilities for altered books. You can make frames, closures, bas relief images and charms with beautiful textures to attach to your pages. Metal clay has a wonderful handmade look and you will be amazed at how easy it is to make simple pieces of fine silver or gold for your altered books.

Metal Clay is a relatively new material. It was first developed in Japan in the early 1990’s. Metal clay consists of microscopic precious metal particles suspended in a mix of an organic binder and water. The clay looks very much like modeling clay. Under a microscope, the particles of metal look like tiny little “gumballs” in gumball machine, with binder filling the spaces in between. It is smooth and pliable and can be worked with your hands. Metal Clay is non-toxic and safe to use. Metal clay can be stamped, textured, rolled and shaped into jewelry, beads, vessels and small sculptures. Once a metal clay object is fired, the binder burns away and the metal particles fuse together. The final product emerges as fine silver (.999) or gold 22K-24K.

Working with Metal Clay:
Working with metal clay requires very little space. You can set up at a kitchen table or in a studio. You will need a roller, water, olive oil or balm, texturing tools, cutting tools and playing cards or mat board for rolling sheets of clay. The best part about using metal clay is that you probably already have tools from around the house or studio that will work with the clay.

Rolling sheets of metal clay
Place a lump of metal clay on your work surface and use an acrylic or plastic roller to roll the clay into a sheet. If the clay sticks rub a small amount of olive oil or balm on the work surface and the roller. If the clay cracks and splits it may be too dry. Mist the surface with water, wait a minute and try rolling the clay again. If you see any air bubbles form as you roll out the clay, pierce them with a needle tool or toothpick and smooth the clay with your roller or fingers.

Texture on metal clay
You can use fabric, lace, rubber stamps, metal or leather tools to add textures to the clay. Transferring texture to metal clay is one of best features of the clay because the clay is so refined that it will pick up subtle details of the original textured object. There is no end to what you can use to texture clay, even found objects around the house or objects found in nature provide plenty of sources for great textures. Olive oil can be used to keep the tools or material from sticking to the clay.

about "Precious Metal Clay Jewelry DVD Workshop" with Sherri Haab

Finishing and Firing:
Use sanding papers or nail files to sand edges and finish the metal clay piece as much as possible before firing. Cleaning up the piece at this stage saves time and effort in the finishing process after the piece is fired. Dry unfired clay is fragile at this stage. Take care to hold and support the piece so that it will not cause stress that could break the piece. To sand a piece determine how much needs to be refined before beginning. Fine sanding papers are usually sufficient. Nail files are small and work very well to sand the edges of a pendant. For tight spots use fine sanding cloths cut into small pieces to sand around small details.

After you have sanded a piece, you can smooth any hard to reach areas with a small paintbrush and water. Be careful about removing textures with water, only a small amount is needed to soften edges. Damp cosmetic sponges work well to smooth the dried clay.

There are several methods for firing metal clay. A small kiln, torch or small portable firing devise reach temperatures hot enough to fire metal clay. Anyone who sells metal clay or supplies can help you with the right firing appliance that will best suit your needs. Kilns and torches are also available through jewelry and glass suppliers. Do not fire the metal clays above the melting temperatures of 1762ºF for fine silver, 1945ºF for 24K gold and 1931ºF for 22Kgold. Metal will melt into a pool in the kiln if the metal is overheated.

You can see metal start to shimmer like mercury if you are overheating while torch firing. Low fire metal clay types can be fired with a small hand held torch instead of a kiln. Small butane torches can be found at hardware, jewelry supply stores, or kitchen stores. These are the same kind of torches used to caramelize sugar for crème brûlée. Metal clay suppliers also sell torches and accessories especially for metal clay. Butane fuel for the torch is available at grocery or variety stores. It’s the fuel used to fill cigarette lighters.

Torch firing works for small pieces (smaller than a silver dollar and/or projects made with less than 25 grams of metal clay). You must also use one of the low firing clay types for torch firing. PMC3®, Art Clay® Silver and Art Clay® Silver 650 work well for torch firing.

To fire metal clay with a torch, follow these steps:

1. It is critical that your piece is completely dry before firing with a torch.
2. Place the dried metal clay piece on a firebrick or soldering block. Make sure you are working on a heat-proof table and away from anything combustible.
3. Fill the torch with butane.
4. Ignite the torch and hold the torch over the piece at a very close range. Keep the torch moving slowly over the piece, holding it about 1.5"away.
5. The binder will burn away first and a small flame and smoke will briefly appear as the binder burns out. Keep the torch moving and watch as the piece glows red-orange. It’s easier to see the orange color in a darker room, away from bright light or sunlight. Watch the piece carefully. Keep the metal glowing with even heat for proper fusing while at the same time avoid melting the piece, which can happen quickly if you are not paying attention.
6. As soon as the piece is glowing red-orange, start timing. Time for at least 1.5-2 minutes for a small piece. Large pieces can take a few minutes longer, up to 5 minutes. These are minimum times; it doesn’t hurt to fire any piece longer. Keep the torch close enough so that the piece is glowing orange the whole time. Keep moving the torch evenly over the piece the entire time. If the piece starts to shimmer or looks shiny, the silver is beginning to melt on the surface. Quickly pull the torch back to prevent the piece from melting. Continue firing, adjusting the torch distance as needed.
7. After firing, turn off the torch and let the piece cool. It should have a white surface color, which are the fired silver particles visible on the surface. After it has cooled, finish the piece as directed.

Finishing Fired Metal Clay
Silver metal clay comes out of the kiln or torch firing with a powder white surface color. Gold reflects a matte light yellow color. This is not a coating, but rather the silver particles themselves in an un-burnished state. The white appearance of the piece is due to tiny silver particles sticking up like bristles of a brush. Light reflects on the particles from different angles to appear white in color. As the particles are “flattened” or burnished the surface will reflect the bright silver. The more the surface is refined, the brighter and shinier the silver will become. After firing, the finished metal pieces are pure silver (.999) or gold (22K-24K).

The same traditional tools and techniques that are and used to finish silver and gold are applicable to finish fired metal clay, except for a few modifications. Fired metal clay is more porous than regular silver and gold. Finished pieces will soak up patina or solder and must be handled a bit differently to compensate for porosity.

Burnishing Tools
Stainless steel burnishing tools are available at jewelry or metal clay suppliers. Burnishing ads sparkle and shine to the high spots of texture on the metal. This is usually the final step in finishing a piece. High spots can be burnished immediately following scratch brushing to complete a highly textured piece. Flat pieces can be progressively polished with papers first before using a burnishing tool as the final step. You can use other household items such as knitting needles, stainless steel kitchen spoons or paper clips to burnish the metal, especially tight spots.

To burnish an item, hold the piece firmly and apply pressure while rubbing on the surface of the metal with the tool. The burnishing tool will compress and flatten the metal particles for a high shine.

Metal Clay for Altered Books
Altered books can be embellished with handmade silver elements made with metal clay. You can make molds from old coins, buttons and other textured pieces to cast silver clay pieces. Frames and borders fashioned from the clay provide a way to make custom designs for vintage photos. There are a wide variety of metal and rubber metal stamps on the market that can be used to stamp letters in the clay to make word or name plaques. By leaving holes in the pieces you can add jump rings and they can be used as detachable jewelry. The best part is that the metal elements are miniature pieces of art in and of themselves.

Project:

Picture Frame Charms

Supplies:

• PMC®-any type
• Metal clay tools-Plastic roller Two strips of mat board or playing cards, plastic roller, Teflon baking sheet or plastic work surface, olive oil, water in a spray bottle, cocktail straw, small paintbrush
• Small cookie cutters or Kemper Klay Kutters (smaller cutter for the inside of the frame and a larger one for the outside dimension of the frame)
• Images or photos reduced on a copier
• Decoupage glue
• Paintbrush for glue
• Envirotex Lite® two-part epoxy resin
• Toothpicks or old paintbrush

Steps:

1. Roll out a thin sheet of PMC® about 2-3 playing cards thick. Cut the PMC® sheet in half to make a sheet for the base and one for the frame. Texture the frame sheet and cut out the inside shape of the frame from the textured clay with a small clay cutter.

2. Brush water between the two sheets of clay and place the cut textured sheet on top of the base sheet of clay. Press the layers to adhere.

3. Use the larger clay cutter to cut out the frame through both layers of clay. Use olive oil to prevent the cutter from sticking. Check to make sure the cut is even all the way around the frame; remove the excess clay.

4. Use a needle tool or straw to make a hole in the top of the frame. You can use fine silver eyelets or make clay loops instead if you do not have room to make a hole. Let the frame dry on a flat surface until bone dry. Sand the edges of the frame with a nail file until smooth. Fire the frame on a kiln shelf in kiln (1650°F for 10 minutes or torch fire if using PMC3). Finish the frames with a brash brush and burnishing tool to bring out shine on high spots. Patina the frames if desired before gluing images in place.

5. Reduce pictures or images on a copier or printer. Seal both sides of the pictures with a coating of decoupage glue using a paintbrush. Let the glue dry.

6. Cut the pictures to fit inside the frames. A few hints: If you press a scrap piece of paper into the finished frame you can see where the paper conforms to the edges of the frame. The paper can then be cut to use as a pattern. Check the fit of the pattern and trim if necessary. Use this pattern piece to trace around for your final image.

7. ;Mix the two-part resin according to manufacturers instructions and use the resin to glue the image into the frame. Use a toothpick or an old brush to add a layer of resin to coat the surface. Let the piece dry (preferably in a warm room to speed drying). Refer to manufacturer instructions for more details on curing epoxy resin.

8. Add a jump ring after the frame has dried. Hang the frames from a chain to make a necklace or attach multiple frames to charm bracelets.

more about "Precious Metal Clay Jewelry DVD Workshop" with Sherri Haab

From The Art of Metal Clay by Sherri Haab. ©2003 by Sherri Haab.
Published by Watson-Guptill Publications. Reprinted with permission.