In September 2011 I was given Sterling Silver metal clay by Mitsubishi
to test. I am now going to start posting these tests for you all now
that it isn't confidential information.
Made clay disc 2mm thick, 20mm wide. Imprinted it with a rubber stamp, and then carved into the center area. The clay chipped easily when carving lines close to each other.
Fired clay per instructions:
On Kiln shelf for 5 minutes at 840˚ F in Evenheat PMC kiln. Fired it in charcoal at 1500˚f holding it for 30 minutes.
Removed and placed into stainless steel container with provided charcoal. Container sat in kiln 24mm up off the kiln floor.
Allowed it to cool for a 5 minutes, and then removed pan from oven using gloves. I opened pan, and using copper tongs I quenched the disc in a bowl of water.
Disc sintered perfectly and kept all textures and carving detail.
It shrank from 20mm in diameter to 16 1/2mm diameter.
I then tested its malleability by doming with a steel dapping block.
There was no cracking. It formed perfectly.
I then polished it with a 3M red Radial Bristle Disc at 220 Grit.
I wanted to see if it would accept Aura 22 gold.
I painted three coats of PMC3 slip on the flower areas, allowing each coating to dry completely. I then applied 3 coats of Aura 22 gold, allowing each layer to dry completely.
I then torch fired the disc until it was a peach color. Allowed it to air cool.
I then burnished the gold and polished the silver areas with the same 3M disc.
The gold sticks in some areas and flakes off in others.
Next week I will publish another test I completed in this series.
Test 1
- Simple Firing SS Clay in my kiln
- Carving the clay
- Doming after firing
- Will SS Clay accept Aura 22 gold.
Made clay disc 2mm thick, 20mm wide. Imprinted it with a rubber stamp, and then carved into the center area. The clay chipped easily when carving lines close to each other.
Fired clay per instructions: On Kiln shelf for 5 minutes at 840˚ F in Evenheat PMC kiln. Fired it in charcoal at 1500˚f holding it for 30 minutes.
Disc sintered perfectly and kept all textures and carving detail.
It shrank from 20mm in diameter to 16 1/2mm diameter.
I then tested its malleability by doming with a steel dapping block.
There was no cracking. It formed perfectly.
I wanted to see if it would accept Aura 22 gold.
I painted three coats of PMC3 slip on the flower areas, allowing each coating to dry completely. I then applied 3 coats of Aura 22 gold, allowing each layer to dry completely.
I then torch fired the disc until it was a peach color. Allowed it to air cool.
I then burnished the gold and polished the silver areas with the same 3M disc.
The gold sticks in some areas and flakes off in others.
Next week I will publish another test I completed in this series.
