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I'd like to introduce you to silver clay. Silver clay - sometimes called precious metal clay, or just metal clay - is a fascinating material which gives you amazing artistic freedom.
Have you ever wanted to create your own silver jewellery, but not been able to spend the time and money learning traditional silver smithing techniques?
Or are you a ceramic, glass bead or glass fusing, or polymer clay artist, interested in exploring new creative materials to combine with your clay or glass?
Maybe you are a traditional jeweller, silver or metalsmith artist, who are interested in new ways to express yourself?
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With silver clay you can, in a few easy steps, create fine silver or gold hand made pieces, using tools you probably already have at home.
Art Clay Silver Clay and Gold Clay, made by Aida Corporation, and Precious Metal Clay (PMC), made by Mitsubishi Materials, are the two brands of metal clays on the market. They are often referred to as metal clay, precious clay or silver clay.
You can shape it, mould it, press it, roll it, coil it, sculpt it, throw it, pull it, cut it - just as you would with any other clay. You can use slip, or paste, to glue pieces together. You can extrude the clay from a syringe to create filigree like designs. You can add fine silver wire, sterling silver, dichroic glass and other materials before firing.
And - the most amazing thing of all - when fired (in a kiln, on a gas hob, or even with a small kitchen torch!) you end up with real pure fine silver. 99.9% silver. It can be hallmarked at any UK assay office as pure fine silver - 999. Some people call it magic, or alchemy, but to tell you the truth - it is actually silver to start with. I'll explain more soon. There is also a gold version of the clay, which turns into 22 carat pure gold.
After firing you can drill it, file it, polish it, burnish it, tumble it, hammer it, enamel it, patina it, solder it - just as you would with any other precious metal. Decorate your piece with Accent Gold for Silver™ (AGS) or Art Clay Gold Paste to give you sparkling gold accents. Combine the clay with other metals or materials like copper, beads, dichroic glass, felt, leather, semi-precious gemstones, pearls, polymer clay, porcelain, wood - your fantasy is the limit.
Doesn't it sound fascinating? Take a look at the How it works page where I tell you more about the technical side of Art Clay.
Would you like to have a look at some finished pieces? Open the Gallery.
If you want to have a go yourself, we're an official UK distributor of Art Clay, and also provide all the basic tools and findings to get you started on your projects. We're a distributor and service centre for Paragon kilns. You'll find all of this on the shopping pages.
And if you would like to learn more about Art Clay Silver material from a certified instructor, just try it out while enjoying a lovely weekend break, or create your own personalised jewellery piece for a special occasion, we run regular silver jewellery making courses and workshops. See the Courses page.
I hope you find this site helpful and interesting. If you have any questions or comments, please email me.
SilverClay is the trading name for Petra Lyon Ltd. SilverClay runs jewellery making classes, workshops, and certification courses. We're an official Art Clay UK Distributor. Supplier of Art Clay and PMC jewellery tools, Art Clay Starter Kits, rotary and magnetic tumblers, cubic zirconia and lab created gems, fine silver findings. Paragon kilns. Large range of metal clay instructions books. European distributor of Accent Gold for Silver™ and Metal Clay Veneer. If you have a craft shop, pottery cafe, or run jewellery making classes - contact us for wholesale information.
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