More on PMC Sterling: Keum-Boo and Soldering

I wanted to try more keum-boo on the new PMC Sterling and since I’m down to my last bit of fresh clay, I thought I’d rehydrate some dry clay.

I had a rolled out rectangle of dry PMC Sterling that I’d practiced carving on with gouges. It had been sitting in the open, on a shelf, in my studio since the summer. Using passive rehydration, I spritzed it with distilled water, then stashed it under cover in my super re-hydrator (this crazy plastic gizmo that transports my cupcakes from the super market to my kitchen without mashing the icing). It’s small, airtight, and has a perfect spot to tuck a wet sponge in securely, and it’s free (all I have to do is buy the cupcake).

I call the technique “passive rehydration” because I don’t do anything to the clay I’m rehydrating except put it in an environment in which it can’t help but soak up moisture. If I’m in a hurry I might spritz it once or twice with water but that’s it. I just leave it alone until it’s the consistency of workable clay. If it goes too far, and gets mushy, I pop off the gizmo cover and let a little air intervene. I use this technique with all the clays, both for bringing dry clay back to fresh and for changing or re-forming shapes of dry clay.

(My desktop and re-hydrator)

Later that same day, when the clay had returned to a good working consistency, I made two disks, textured on the back, smooth on the front. After air drying, I polished the smooth sides with 600, then 1200 grit micron graded polishing paper and fired them surrounded by 10-15mm of carbon on all sides (1000F for 30 in air on a kiln shelf, then 1510 for 45 minutes in well used, and well proved, coal carbon). I use a stainless steel container with a lid.

(Two fired disks, after being domed slightly)

Keum-boo:

The disks were oxidized from taking them out of the carbon while hot but I’ve experimented enough with alloy silver metal clay to know that it will oxidize when heated and the gold foil will bond regardless; without my having depletion gilded the sterling. Nor does there seem to be much point in cleaning off the oxidation since the Sterling begins turning colors the instant it’s placed on the Ultra-Lite.

I burnished on two layers of 24k gold foil in preparation for the likelihood of some degree of “fade” (diffusion of the gold foil into the surface of the silver) during the sustained heat of soldering. Both layers bonded beautifully, no gaps or bubbles.

(The disk on the left has been brass brushed. The one on the right has not.)

I prepared the disks for soldering by filing the backs to clean metal. I also hammered (to increase surface area) and sanded the bent wires so they would lie flat against the disk backs.

I used medium solder and the soldering was uneventful, no different from soldering any other sterling.

However, even moving as quickly as I did, the gold foil developed some tiny bubbles during the soldering process. This is typical for keum-boo-ed sterling; it does tend to develop little bubbles when reheated. My solution was to flip the disk over as soon as the solder flowed and burnish down the bubbles while the metal was hot. This worked well and no gold came off during subsequent brass brushing.

Although I do plan on focusing on rings in the new PMC Sterling, I am also working on other high wear adornments that I think should be made from Sterling clay. Both the silver and the polymer on my bracelets need to be sturdy as they do get bumped around on a wrist.

Pictured here are a group of bracelet decorations I made last week in the new material. Interrupting the edge, as I’ve done on several of the “back to back” lentils is more appropriate in Sterling than fine silver since I’m weakening it with the cuts.

I can’t believe I’m working with Sterling PMC! It’s very exciting and now, as I write, the mail is delivering this same excitement to all of you waiting with bated…

I look forward to hearing your thoughts and seeing your ideas come to fruition.

Gravity, Gravitas: The Weight of Silver

I'm not going to write about the high cost of silver because everyone is doing that and nobody really knows what's what and I certainly don't have a clue. But I would like to describe my personal response to this meteoric leap in cost.

First, I wrote students in my upcoming classes to say I wouldn't be selling PMC in my classes. Figuring out when to buy clay and how to price it is beyond what I want to do. Second, I sold my scrap silver and that made me feel A LOT better about the price of silver. I suffer no qualms of contradiction for celebrating the price I'm getting for my scrap on the one hand, and carping about the cost I'm paying for silver on the other.

But here's the real response I want to describe:
The cost of silver was worming its way into my studio life. It was inhibiting my work; there was a big green dollar sign hovering just under my desk light, over my desk whenever I sat down to work. It was off putting and fast becoming a serious deterrent to rolling out clay. Then I started thinking about it in a different way; as a call to action of sorts. After all, I do use other materials in addition to PMC; why not take this as a challenge and let the other materials do the heavy lifting? The silver is not diminished by being lessened. Rather, it's celebrated. Cherished.

For many years I've made this toggle clasp (Ouroboros, pictured below) out of carved solid snakes of PMC.

It's heavy, very heavy. It uses a lot of precious metal clay. So, last week I remade it out of polymer then embellished it with little bits of PMC.

As soon as I finished it I began to see other ways I could have accomplished the goal of using silver less automatically, and other toggles I could make. Now I have many ideas I intend to pursue, all of which serve the dual purpose of nourishing my creativity (I love a challenge) and saving my precious silver.

Above is a photo of polymer toggles in process.

Above shows a carved PMC toggle ring and carved wood sticks that have been rubbed with paint and will be embellished with silver and fashioned into toggle bars.

Many years ago, when I first discovered these materials, adding metal to polymer was my starting point. I loved polymer clay but until I began mixing metal with it in the early nineties, it lacked something, for me anyway: it lacked gravity; it lacked gravitas.

A little PMC goes a long way to enhancing polymer. It adds weight, which in my opinion the polymer needs, it adds dynamism, it adds value. I love the way the combination looks and feels.
But there are so many other materials that are so enhanced by that dash of silver; wood, rusty metal and old tin, broom straw, etc.

Although I made these sample toggles for my upcoming Treasures Bracelet class, all of my upcoming classes incorporate polymer to some degree. Because silver prices are a concern to anyone likely to come to my classes, I expect these ideas will find an enthusiastic home among my students, and although I won't actually get into my studio to pursue these ideas myself until July, I will have the opportunity to talk about them with the creative crowd in my classroom.