Some earrings I made today:
Shiny things first, a pair of garnet and hammered sterling silver wire earrings. I've found out my display rock also doubles as an anvil, isn't that nice?
PMC being magic, I decided to play with the last trial packet I had, and make a ring. Originally intended as a present for Paul, I didn't take enough into account the shrinkage, because it ended up too small. Fits me well though - I swear it wasn't by design!
Below are a series of pictures, at each stage of the process, from raw clay to shiny silver. (Except photos of firing - not enough hands for torch and camera at the same time.)
Raw clay:
Sanded and ready for firing:
Post-firing, covered in white crap from the firing process:
White crap now gone, leaving matte finish silver ring:
Some burnishing later, shiny silver ring:
So very shiny! I've been playing with a new toy this weekend - Precious Metal Clay. Essentially, you take what looks like white blutac, for sticking posters to walls, shape it however you like, and set fire to it with a blow torch.
Then you scratch off the crap that accumulates from the setting-fire process, and polish it, and you get 99.5% pure silver.
Although a little terrified by the playing with blow torches (although not as terrified as Paul was - I did do it outside, to minimise the risk of burning our house down), it worked! I didn't break it, or melt it, or anything!
My new pendant, a shiny silver leaf with a green cubic zircona in it.
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