| Our Silver
Precious Metal Clay (PMC) is an exciting material developed and patented in the 1990s by Mitsubishi Materials of Japan. Microscopic particles of silver are mixed with a moist binder to create a material that has the feel and working properties of modelling clay. Using simple tools, objects are easily given shape, texture, and character. After air-drying, the objects are kiln fired or torch fired to temperatures approaching the melting point of the metal, where the particles fuse together to make a dense, fully metallic object. Fired PMC work can be polished, soldered, enamelled, and enjoyed like any other silver item.
PMC items are of the hallmarked quality referred to as Fine Silver 999 or 99.9% Fine silver, that means it has 999 parts per 1000 of pure silver. As a comparison Sterling Silver is known as 925 silver which means it has 925 parts per 1000 of pure silver the other 75 parts are made up of other base metals. Silver is a soft metal, so to make it durable for industrial purposes, it has other stronger base metals added which can be anything from copper to nickel. It is this product that is described as Sterling silver.
The piece pictured is a Commission that Sian recently finished. The main advantage of PMC is it's ability to be sculpted unlike Silver sheet, meaning that designs like this Calla Lily can be modelled like clay. It has been coloured with Liver of Sulphur which turns the silver dark grey. This was used to accent the design and make the Calla Lily stand out, along with making the scene look Moonlit. This process is often used to 'age' silver. The Moon is a Cubic Zirconia (these can be fired with the silver)
Prices for this style of design, start from £220 |  |
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