Something New - Precious Metal Clay

I have been wanting to try Precious Metal Clay for years. It is pieces of sterling silver (or some other metal) suspended in clay so that you can work it like clay, mold it, shape it, impress designs on it. Then you fire it in a kiln and the clay burns off leaving a slightly smaller pure silver piece.  But it required a kiln so I put the idea on the back burner (so to speak).

Then they came out with a new version that could be fired using a torch. Hmmm... Me and a torch? Is the insurance paid up? But Robin discovered the Hot Pot and gave me one for Christmas. It's a little like a Pueblo oven crossed with a double boiler. The bottom holds a tiny terra cotta flower pot that you fill with some incredibly flammable liquid (think airplane fuel). Then you put your clay pieces on a screen suspended above the source, put on the second pot with screen flame arrestors (right?), light the sucker through the little hole in the bottom portion and run for cover. It burns at roughly twice the heat of the sun.  Fifteen minutes later - your piece is done. Am I going to be intimidated by something called a Hot Pot? Didn't I have something called that in my dorm room for making tea? Let's do this!

I decided to use a mold first. Since it's very expensive, everyone advises keeping the clay carefully covered to avoid drying it out so I only took out a tiny bit. And then a little more. And then a little more. It took an entire packet to fill the mold. Each packet costs about $40. I set the clay-filled mold aside to dry for 24 hours. Fully drying the clay apparently allows moisture to evaporate and prevents the clay from exploding thus wasting $40.

Next, I decided to try to make something that would use less clay since I only had one more packet. I rolled the clay out between stacked electronic hotel keys (you could use playing cards) so that it would roll evenly. This stuff is sticky! I put a little olive oil on my hands and my roller and the teflon work surface. I thought it would be crumbly but the texture was like too warm polymer clay. I pressed a texture into the clay and cut out oval shapes. I poked a hole for them to hang on and set them aside overnight to dry. You are supposed to save all the little bits for later use but the "bits" were more like wet paint and impossible to gather up.

The next day, I girded my loins to tackle the Hot Pot. I placed it on its safety tile on the cement back patio, far away from anything remotely flammable. It was about 40 degrees outside so I was looking forward to lighting it. Our bbq lighter was out of fuel so Chris and I devised an ingenious method involving matches and wooden skewers that allowed us to light the thing without being burned in the conflagration we expected.

It was a little disappointing. No explosions, just some toxic smelling smoke. 

An hour later, it had cooled enough to take the pieces out. The top pieces have been fired and the bottom are still raw. They shrink a little and the burned off clay forms a white residue.

I used a wire brush to clean off the residue and - Eureka! I discovered silver!
The piece on the left in the first photo has been cleaned. The piece on the right of the second photo has been cleaned and burnished. I need a better way to burnish but it does add a more brilliant shine.

So... will I be adding Precious Metal Clay to my repertoire? Probably not in the near future. The clay is so  costly that the product would be expensive and would have be really refined to be worthwhile. I would need to buy some additional tools and improve my skills for that. So when I win the lottery, I'll be all over this.