What Is Precious Metal Clay (PMC)?

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by: clickthrough
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Date: Sun, 7 Nov 2010 Time: 12:50 PM
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Precious metal clay is used to make Jewellery, beads and small sculptures. It contains small particles of metals for example silver, gold, platinum or copper which are mixed with an organic binder and water.

It originates from the Mitsubishi Materials in Japan and had the feel of modelling clay making it popular for jewellery making.

Making jewellery using precious metal clay is simple and can be created by using simple tools to create shape and texture. After the pieces have been air dried, they are heated to temperatures approaching melting point and the particles fuse together to make a dense, fully metallic object or piece of jewellery. It can be worked in the same way as any other silver item. Precious metal clay is available in three different versions of silver and in gold alloy.

Silver metal clay results in objects containing 0.999 pure silver, also known as fine silver, which is ideal for enameling. Although gold metal clay is much more expensive to use, the color and richness is phenomenal. It can be used to make stunning solid gold objects or used sparingly to make beautiful accents on silver pieces.

Art Clay Silver or ACS was developed by AIDA Chemical Industries, another Japanese company. Art Clay followed PMC Standard with their Art Clay Original clay, which allows the user to fire with a handheld torch or on a gas hob. Due to subtle differences in the binder and suggested firing times, this clay shrinks less than the precious metal clay (PMC) versions, approximately 8-10%.

About the Author

Adam Hunter – E-commerce Marketing Manager of cooksongold.com. Cookson Precious Metals offer a choice of supplies from over 10,000 products including gold and silver wire, jewellery findings, tools, precious metal clay and precious metal sheet - gold, silver, platinum and palladium plus technical information for jewellers, jobbers, designer, craftsmen, artisans and students.

For interviews, quotes, images or comments contact:

Adam Hunter

E-commerce Marketing Manager

Tel(DDI): +44 (0) 121 212 6491

E-mail: adam.hunter@cooksongold.com