I create my pieces using a mix of traditional silver jewellery skills and some more unusual ones and Metal Clay is one of those that gets peoples attention!
If you haven’t heard of it before, Metal clay started in Japan in the 90s so it is a relatively new method of jewellery making. It feels much like a normal clay except that it is made from very fine particles of silver plus a binder. You can mould it, cut out shapes and is amazing for picking up textured details. It needs to be left to dry then the binder is burnt away and you are left with a silver version of what you created - like actual magic!
Learning to work with metal clay was my first venture into working with any metal over 10 years ago and I still enjoy moulding and shaping clay to this day.
The Finished Pieces
Button - a mould taken from a vintage button, I love raiding old sewing boxes to find interesting patterns and this is one of my favourites! You can create a mould from almost anything then press the clay into it. Star - the texture on this one is actually from an anemone, again a mould was taken and the clay picks up all those beautiful details. Swirl - created from a textured paper, I love a swirly pattern! This paper was made for working with metal clay but wallpaper can also be used.
These have been added to my store if any of them have caught your eye!
Is it real silver?!
Yes! Once the clay has been fired, all you are left with is silver. This is classed as fine silver which is 999 parts silver (compared to sterling which is 925 parts silver). It can be worked with as a normal metal, drilled, soldered etc and Hallmarked as fine silver.
