Metal Clay Day

As part of the Jewellery for Business week I did at London Jewellery School in July, we spent two days playing with Metal Clay. This was something I was really excited about using as you get great effects, I was just a bit scared of trying it on my own. I bought some extra clay while I was there as I thought I might need some more but never used it. The little packet actually stayed in my handbag up until last weekend when I finally ripped it open. I had asked for some clay stuff for Christmas, some cutters, texture mats and polishing cloths and I've recently treat myself to a blow torch for my silversmithing class so I had everything ready and just waiting for a bit of free time. To be on the safe side (and because my class notes went walkabout) I bought a book so I could swot up before going wild. I got 'Magical Metal Clay' by Sue Heaser.



Metal Clay Treats - Lump Clay, Paste and Syringe. Crystals, Roller, Paintbrush, Cutters, Texture Mat and Letter Stamps

I love anything star shaped so I played with those cutters first. I had a bit of clay left over so rolled it out over a swirly patterned texture mat. I then wanted to experiment with the syringe clay so I drew a star and a heart outline (nothing too taxing for my drawing skills) and filled them in with a swirly pattern. I also added a little red crystal to the heart to bling it up. I want to do some jewellery inspired by card suits, as I had run out of clay I used the syringe but didn't have enough control or do it thick enough so those shapes became my torch practise pieces. After the cutting, everything needs to be sanded super smooth. Boring, but neccessary to get a shiney piece.



These are the succesful pieces, before they were sanded.

I have been desperate to play with the blowtorch since I got it a few weeks ago. There's something about flames... Anyway, the blowtorch is what turns the clay into silver. Ultimately, I still like to believe its magic but the part of my brain that chose to do Chemistry at A-Level wants me to understand the heat burns away the binders and leaves behind sintered metal (where powdered metal becomes a solid). Once the piece is cooled you brush away the burnt powder, it leaves a white ashy coating, then tah-dah! You have silver! Just like magic...

The idea is to heat up the piece, the binder will burn away (there will be smoke, maybe flames) and then to keep the piece glowing orange for about a minute depending on the size. It's quite easy to get a bit carried away and go from orange to runny silver, meaning you've melted it. None of the playing card pieces survived. But never mind, I got the silver to form a ball which I will use in something else. I fiddled with the torch a bit, as I think it was too hot, then got started on the other pieces.

Once you are finished with the flame, the piece gets put in cold water to quench it, makes an awesome sound. Then brush of the white powder and start polishing... Another boring part but it makes it shine!

Shiney stars... Not so shiney everything else. All down to lazy sanding. Partly because I was scared of snapping the syringe work and didn't want to sand the pattern off the swirly piece, partly because I just really wanted to play with the flames...