(I apologize in advance. All the photos for this post were taken with my iPhone because using my regular camera would have been too inconvenient for all involved in this adventure.)
Precious Metal Clay! I know. I had no idea what the hell it was either. I'm sure there are many of you out there who are familiar with it but chances are you're reading this post while looking over your worktable filled with Precious Metal Clay pieces, ready to be sold on Etsy.
So for the rest of you, a definition:
Precious Metal Clay or PMC is tiny particles of fine silver that have been salvaged from other things. They're suspended in an organic binder that looks like clay. It's used to make silver jewellery. It isn't really clay but if you didn't know that you'd think it was. You can roll it, mould it, even fire it. But it's not really clay. You realize this when, once you fire it, all of the organic binder burns away and you're left with a hunk of silver. It's really, REALLY weird.
The silver, in fact, is purer than regular sterling silver which is 92.5% pure silver, with 7.5% filler. PMC is 99.9% pure silver. Which makes it slightly softer than regular sterling silver.
O.K. I'm boring myself with all of these explanations.
Now that you know what Precious Metal clay is, I can tell you that my mother and both of my sisters took a course in it at our local Art School last weekend.
That's Betty there. She's always the one wearing the loudest article of clothing in the room.
It was fun! Mainly because you show up for the class at 9:30 in the morning and you leave at 3:00 in the afternoon with a finished piece of jewellery.
This is a table filled with moulds, and textures and files and other things to make your jewellery with.
You can make earrings, pendants, charms ... that sort of thing. Rings are reserved for more advanced classes. As are BBQs
In fact this is the look on my mother's face when she found out she couldn't make a BBQ. It's her "pretend smile". The one she uses when she's pretending not to be upset or angry.
She decided to go with necklace pendants instead. But she wasn't happy about it, let me tell you.
Some of the tools we used.
This was our instructor Deborah. As you would imagine, she had a lot of silver jewellery on, which all looked great. As far as I could tell she was not wearing a BBQ.
At 9:30 a.m. all 12 students sat down and looked expectantly at our instructor. We were clueless. At least most of us were. A couple of people were taking the course for the second time so they had a pretty good idea of what was to come.
Deborah ran us through making a piece of jewellery from beginning to end.
The clay is rolled out, and then cut into whatever shape you want, either by hand or with something like a cookie cutter. From there you can press different textures into it, or attach other pieces of shaped clay. The piece (which just looks like a hunk of clay) is then dried on a little candle warmer for a few minutes.
The piece is then sanded and perfected.
Into the kiln it goes. After an hour or so it's removed and it no longer looks like clay. It looks like silver.
When our instructor took the pieces out of the kiln there was a collective gasp and I'm pretty sure one of the students fainted. It was a quick one ... like just her eyes rolling back in her head with a little cough, but it was pretty much a fainting episode I think.
The organic binder that holds all the tiny silver particles together just burns away, leaving the silver. When the binder is removed there's some shrinkage. That's what she said.
So your finished piece is slightly smaller than the one you formed.
Then it's just a matter of cleaning and polishing your jewellery and running home with it held high above your head while you scream I AM AWESOME at the top of your lungs. Then you casually walk back to the art school because that is where your car is.
Those are my cleavers, ready to be hung on a necklace. I ... am awesome. Just ask anyone on the streets from the art school to my house. They'll confirm it.
Obviously this isn't meant to be a replacement for taking an actual course in PMC, just an introduction to it.
So to recap ... it's a clay-type material that you can make silver jewellery out of. Not BBQs.
Emie
I've been working with PMC for about 9 years now.... I'm certified in PMC and I've taught classes. It's addicting b/c there are limitless ideas... and you can make ANYTHING you can dream up!
Mary Kay
HOLY CRAP - THAT WAS FRIGGIN' COOL!!! I have found a new crafting thing to do with my mom. Now to see if we can find supplies and someone with a kiln.
NikiDee
Careful ladies. This fun hobby lead to bigger things for me. About 5 years ago I bought the kiln to do this. I reasoned this was smart because the kiln would also accommodate firing glass beads. I love glass. Especially if it has wine in it. Anyway, I made PMC for all my friends & enjoyed it so much I wondered about ceramics. I now own a LARGE kiln & about 55 ceramic molds. I agree with everyone... Those cleavers are the greatest!!!!
Grammy
NikiDee, so you're saying PMC is a Gateway Clay...
Karen
Lol! I love it!
Jodi T.
I was hoping you were going to give away one of the cleavers to one of your favorite fans (namely me ;)
Looks awesome. Where do you find classes such as these?
Ella
This is awesome, and you are so funny!
Melissa Leach
Very cool. I'm also wanting a silver cleaver or two. I've been wearing silver since back in the day...way before silver was cool. Great post! I, too, would also like to see more posts with Betty. She cleans up pretty good!!!
More Betty, more Will They Eat It and more Coop Cam if the camera is fixed! Just sayin...
Rebecca
Wow so cool! I have GOT to take a class!
Reg
That is just too cool. Love the cleaver pendant.
SuzyM
I think there are other metals available as well, other than silver. They are a bit less expensive as I recall.
christine
we sell that where i work (www.clay-king.com).... fair warning it is an expensive habit! :) but totally a blast to work with!
Debbie Neal
The cleavers are genius! they will also come in very handy when you go to a party and there is that last smidgeon of cheese left and you really want to cut it but their knife is too big. Well....problem solved! Baby cleaver to the rescue!
erin hall
I knew what pmc was but had never used it as I did not want to inest in a kiln or pmc oven. Which art school did u go to? Was it in hamilton or toronto? I have been wanting to go to a school for fun stuff like this.
marilyn
they look great karen, what a fun day..i went to a cooking class with my sisters this weekend, we made pate and gougere..any time with sisters is great! and of course you had the added betty bonus! so lucky!
michaele anderson
Your mom's a darned good sport to let you reveal to the whole world (otherwise known as your readership) her "pretend" smile. Hers actually looks pretty convincing...mine tends to scare little children and my 43 year old daughter. Your meat cleaver necklace is awesome and definitely a conversation starter.
nycRed714
You must sell the cleaver necklace on Etsy - it's so twee (to use one of my fav Britishisms). Great posting!
KimC
Once again Karen, I have learned something really interesting from you! My husband bought me a lovely pendant two Christmases ago which looked to me like melted metal but now I'm fairly certain it must be this PMC that you so excellently have presented here. I'm going to have to hunt down an art class now. You are awesome and I love Betty's pretend smile. :-\
Su
super cool... seriously
KariMcD
PMC+ can be torch fired for smaller pieces. Takes a while and you run the risk of having your pieces shatter if put under too much stress...like Christmas shopping on December 24th. But aside from that, if you're careful, and thorough, torch firing is perfectly fine. I use a kiln, as it makes the pieces a lot more durable.
Ev
PMT working has been on my WANT list for years. It is a bit $$$, which is why I never did it (The PMT, tools, kiln, etc). You can also buy GMT which is two arms and legs! Glad you had fun--going to make more?
Tigersmom
Now I want to be awesome, too. Once again you educate and inform. I've never heard of this stuff and have always wanted to be able to make my own jewelry. (Allow me to translate that to Canadian - jewellery)
And I would have been fake smiling right along with Betty because I would have wanted a ring, too. Although I would not have looked nearly as cool as she does in those fabulous glasses of hers. Is the reason I never noticed those before because we always see her from the back or side swinging some heavy object at your bidding? Nice to see she gets to go on some fun outings, too, if not an actual BBQ for all her labors. ; )
I especially love how you casually walked back to the Art School because that is where your car was parked.
Snort!
Love the cleavers. I hope you intend on keeping one for yourself. You know, in case you need a visual reminder of your awesomeness.