Metal Clay Jewelry & Sculpture
2010 Jan Term, St. Mary's College
Instructor: Mary Ellin D'Agostino
Abandon ideas of traditional jewelry construction and embrace an outside-the-box 21st century material—metal clay—to create beautiful objects to wear or display. Bronze, Copper, Silver, and Gold Clays, composed of very finely powdered metal, organic binders, and water, can be worked like ceramic clay. When fired, the binder burns away resulting in pure metal jewelry or sculptural objects. In this class you will learn to design and make basic jewelry forms such as earrings, pendants, bracelets, rings, and brooches. In addition you will learn stone setting techniques, combining glass, enamels, and other metals with metal clays, fine finishing, polishing, and how to apply patinas on metal.
Students will choose their media (Copper, Bronze, or Silver Clay) and purchase
materials prior to class.
Students can expect to spend $80-200 on tools and supplies, depending on the
media and scale they choose to work in.
In addition, a
course fee for incidental supplies of $30 will be paid directly to the college.
Choosing your Media
In this class, you can choose to work in any of the available metal clays. Copper and Bronze clays are made by two manufacturers: Metal Adventures and Hadar Jacobson. Silver and Gold clays are also made by two companies: Mitsubishi Materials (Precious Metal Clay or PMC) and Aida (Art Clay Silver (ACS) or Art Clay Gold). Copper and Bronze clays cost about the same (about $20 for 100g). The price of silver clay varies with the silver market, but as of 7/6/2009 silver clay is about $38 for 25g. Gold clay is about $150 for a 3g package!
The first thing you need to do is to choose the media you want to work in. Each type of clay has its pros and cons. Review the chart below to decide what type you would like to work with.
| Bronze | Copper | Silver | Gold |
| Inexpensive: $20/100g | Inexpensive: $20/100g | Moderately expensive: $38/25g | Very Expensive: $150-190/3g |
| 2 brands available: Hadar Jacobson & Metal Adventures | 2 brands available: Hadar Jacobson & Metal Adventures | 2 brands available: Precious Metal Clay (PMC) & Art Clay Silver (ACS) | 2 brands available: Precious Metal Clay & Art Clay Gold |
| 1 type of clay per brand | 1 type of clay per brand | Many types of clay (see chart below); for this class, the preference is for PMC3 or ACS650 | available as clay or paste (for accents) |
| Shrinkage is approx. 25%, but results vary | Shrinkage is approx 25%, but results vary | Shrinkage varies on type used: 10-30% (see chart below for details) | Shrinkage 15-17% |
| New product, experimental, results sometimes unpredictable | New product, experimental, results sometimes unpredictable | Well established product, results highly predictable and reliable | Well established product, results highly predictable and reliable |
| Finished product is 90% copper and 10% tin | Finished product is 99.9% pure copper | Finished product is 99.9% pure silver | Finished product is 22K gold |
| Finished color can be bright bronze or multi-colored patina; finish needs coating for stability | Finished color can be bright copper or multi-colored patina; finish needs coating for stability | Finish can be bright silver or multi-colored patina; finish fairly stable without coating | Finish is yellow gold. |
| Clay is relatively easy to work, but requires slow drying to avoid cracking edges | Clay is relatively easy to work, but requires slow drying to avoid cracking edges | Clays are very easy to work and dry quickly. Different types/brands handle slightly differently | Clay is easy to work and dries quickly |
| Great for sculpture or larger sized works. | Great for sculpture or larger sized works | Too expensive for larger pieces. | Way too expensive for large pieces |
| Good for jewelry, but many people can't wear it (turns skin green or black). Best for pieces worn over clothing or combined with other materials where it will touch skin. | Good for jewelry, but many people can't wear it (turns skin green or black). Best for pieces worn over clothing or combined with other materials where it will touch skin. | Excellent for jewelry. Unlike sterling silver, it contains no copper at all and can be tolerated by almost everyone. | Excellent for jewelry; end product is 91.66% gold and 8.33% silver and can be tolerated by virtually everyone |
| base metal; perceived value of jewelry is lower than for "precious metal" jewelry | base metal; perceived value of jewelry is lower than for "precious metal" jewelry | precious metal; perceived value is higher than base metal jewelry | precious metal; perceived value is higher than silver or base metal jewelry |
| Firing: requires multi-phase firing in reduction atmosphere (buried in activated carbon) to 1550°F. Firing time takes 5-9 hours | Firing: requires multi-phase firing in reduction atmosphere (buried in activated carbon) to 1550°F. Firing time takes 5-9 hours | Firing: Shedules vary according to type used. Shortest firing for PMC3 is 10 minutes at 1290°F. Longest firing is 2 hours at 1650°F | Firing: Schedule varies by type, brand, and use. |
| Inclusions: Can fire some lab grown gems and CZs in place; combining with silver & copper clays possible | Inclusions: Can fire some lab grown gems and CZs in place; combining with silver & bronze clays possible | Inclusions: Some natural stones, lab gems, CZs, glass, bronze, copper, gold, steel | Inclusions: natural corundum (ruby, sapphire), lab gems, czs. PMC gold clay can be combined with PMC silver clay. Gold paste can be applied to any pure silver. |
| PMC | PMC 3 | PMC Plus | PMC Standard |
| Low fire Clay. Highly workable, slightly flexible even when dry, shrinks 12-15% | Second generation clay. Highly workable, stiff when dry, good for carving, shrinks 12-15% | First generation clay. Very workable, great for carving, shrinks 28% | |
| Firing schedules | 1650°F for 10 min
to 2 hrs |
1650°F for 10 min
to 2 hrs 1560°F for at least 20 min 1470°F for at least 30 min |
1650°F for 2 hrs |
| Types | Clay, Paste, Syringe | Clay, Paste, Sheet/Paper | Clay |
| Art Clay | ACS 650 (Low Fire) | ACS Slow Dry (Low Fire or Standard) | ACS Standard |
| Low fire clay. Good workability. Shrinks approx. 8-15% depending on firing schedule | Low fire clay. Needs to be conditioned prior to working. Takes longer to dry. Shrinks approx. 8-15% depending on firing schedule | Equvialent to PMC+. Shrinks approx. 8-15% depending on firing schedule | |
| Firing schedules | 1435-1650°F for
5 min to 2 hrs 1380°F for at least 10 min 1290°F for at least 15 min 1200°F for at least 30 min |
See ACS 650 or ACS Standard schedules | 1600-1650°F for
10 min to 2 hrs 1470°F for at least 30 min |
| Types | Clay, Paste, Syringe | Clay | Clay, Paste, Syringe, Sheet/Paper |
| Note: Art Clay also sells a variety of special purpose silver clay products that will not be used in this class | |||
Supply List
Students are responsible for bringing the following items to class on the
first day.
Supplies can be purchased online from any of the vendors listed below:
Basic Metal Clay Working Tools:
Roller
Thickness Slats (playing cards, stir sticks & etc.)
Cutting & carving tool(s)
Clay shaping tool(s)
#3 round paintbrush
Fine stainless steel or brash brush
AA tweezers (or equivalent)
Stainless steel burnisher
Note: Any basic or deluxe toolkit from one of the metal clay suppliers will include
these tools)
Metal Clay (minimum quantities):
200-400 g of Copper or Bronze clay
-or-
25-50g of low fire Silver Clay and 1 Syringe
optional: silver clay paste, silver
sheet/paper type (sheet/paper is great for origami)
Note: if using multiple types of clay, most tools can be cleaned and used for different clays, but paintbrushes should be dedicated to particular metals.
Any of the following suppliers (in no particular order) will have the clay
and tools. Note that this is not an exhaustive list, but all have competative
pricing on clay and tools..
Suppliers:
MED'A Creations.com--this is the instructor's
website; look for St. Mary's Kit under the "Kits Link"***
ArtInSilver.com--maker of bronze
& copper clay; only sells bronze & copper
clay, no tools
PMC123.com
MetalClaySupply.com
PMCConnection.com
WholeLottaWhimsy.com
ArtClayWorld.com
CoolTools.us
RioGrande.com
***Please note that St. Mary's bars instructors from selling supplies in class. Orders can be placed and paid for online and can be shipped or delivered to students in class.