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Metals such as silver, bronze, copper, gold, and steel have been made into materials known as metal clay. These materials are used by artists and jewelers to make art objects in a home or studio setting. When fired the organic binder burns off and the microscopic metal powder in the clay is sintered. Silver and gold metal clays can be fired in a normal kiln environment while most base metal clays must be fired in a reduced atmosphere using activated carbon to prevent oxidation from inhibiting proper sintering.
Metal clay first came out in Japan in 1990[1] to allow craft jewelry makers to make sophisticated looking jewelry without the years of study needed to make fine jewelry.
Silver and gold metal clays have been available to the public since the mid-1990's. Mitsubishi and Aida Chemicals make Precious Metal Clay (PMC) and Art Clay Silver respectively. The ingredients are just fine silver particles, an organic binder and water. They can be worked in the same way as ceramic clays - rolled, formed, textured and cut. When the water is allowed to evaporate and the dry piece is fired, the result is a 99.9% fine silver item which is hallmark quality. There is also a gold variety of metal clay which works the same way. To find out about the history of PMC, click here.
Bill Struve was the first person to develop bronze and copper clays which come as ready mixed lumps of clay and have the brand name Bronzclay™ and Copprclay™. These were released in mid 2008.
Hadar Jacobson has produced bronze and copper clays that come as powders which you mix with water. Both these products work in a similar way to the silver and gold clays although the firing is more complicated. The original bronze and copper clays require an oxygen free environment to fire so the dried pieces are buried in activated carbon in a stainless steel pan and fired in a kiln. They cannot be torch fired and require a very long firing in the kiln.
The makers of Art Clay, Aida Chemicals launched their own copper clay, called Art Clay Copper, in September 2009. This has a much simpler firing schedule than the other copper clays available and can be torch fired or kiln fired. Find out more about Art Clay Copper here.
Prometheus Copper Clay is also now available. Prometheus Copper Clay fires in 30 minutes at 850 degrees C and requires no special firing pan. And it comes as syringe clay as well as lump clay.
Hadar Jacobson launched a copper clay powder and a bronze clay powder with a simpler firing schedule in December 2009. They are called Quick-Fire Copper and Quick-Fire Bronze.
Prometheus™ bronze clay is also available. Developed in Europe, this bronze clay has a shorter, lower temperature firing schedule without the need for activated carbon. It still needs a kiln to fire it. Available as lump clay and in syringe form.
Hadar Jacobson has also developed Stainless Steel Clay which became available in December 2009. It comes in two forms, traditional and Quick-Fire. Hadar launched White Bronze Clay in early 2010. In June 2010, Pearl Grey Steel clay powder became available. In July 2011, Hadar launched Rose Bronze Clay.
Bill Struve launched Fast Fire Bronzclay™ in July 2010. Mitsubishi launched PMC Pro in July 2010. Both these products were launched at the PMC Conference.
In December 2010, Meteor bronze clay was launched by a French developer and then Meteor copper clay was released in January 2011. Meteor white bronze clay was launched in July 2011.
Metal Clay Mania Clay has developed bronze, copper and brass clays that come in powder form.
In early 2011, Lisa Cain developed hallmark quality Sterling silver metal clay by combining the existing commercial clays. She shared her method of mixing and firing this clay with the metal clay community through the March 2011 edition of Metal Clay Artist Magazine.
Check back often to find out what's new in the world of metal clay, send us your questions and we'll add them to the FAQ page.
If you are a complete beginner, check out our metal clay beginners page. You'll find basic information, links to more resources and a useful article about how to work with metal clay without spending lots of money on tools and equipment.
SILVER METAL CLAY
Silver metal clay results in objects containing 99.9% pure silver, which is suitable for enameling. Although gold metal clay is more expensive, it provides richer color. Lump metal clay is sold in sealed packets to keep it moist and workable. The silver versions are also available as a softer paste in a pre-filled syringe which can be used to produce extruded forms, in small jars of slip and as paper-like sheets, from which most of the moisture has been removed. Common brands of silver metal clay include Precious Metal Clay (PMC) and Art Clay Silver (ACS).
PMC was developed in the early 1990s in Japan by metallurgist Masaki Morikawa.[3] As a solid-phase sintered product of a precious metal powder used to form a precious metal article,[1] the material consists of microscopic particles of pure silver or fine gold powder and a water-soluble, non-toxic, organic binder that burns off during firing. Success was first achieved with gold and later duplicated with silver.
The PMC brand includes the following products:
ACS was developed by AIDA Chemical Industries, also a Japanese company. ACS followed PMC Standard with their Art Clay Original clay (more like PMC+ than PMC Standard), which allows the user to fire with a handheld torch or on a gas hob. Owing to subtle differences in the binder and suggested firing times, this clay shrinks less than the PMC versions, approximately 8–10%.
Further developments introduced the Art Clay Slow Dry, a clay with a longer working time. Art Clay 650 and Art Clay 650 Slow Dry soon followed; both clays can be fired at 650 °C (1,202 °F), allowing the user to combine the clay with glass and sterling silver, which are affected negatively by the higher temperatures needed to fire the first generation clays. AIDA also manufacturers Oil Paste, a product used only on fired metal clay or milled fine silver, and Overlay Paste, which is designed for drawing designs on glass and porcelain.
In 2006 AIDA introduced the Art Clay Gold Paste, a more economical way to work with gold. The paste is painted onto the fired silver clay, then refired in a kiln, or with a torch or gas stove. When fired, it bonds with the silver, giving a 22ct gold accent. The same year also saw Art Clay Slow Tarnish introduced, a clay that tarnishes less rapidly than the other metal clays.
Lump metal clay in bronze was introduced in 2008 by Metal Adventures Inc. and in 2009 by Prometheus. Lump metal clays in copper were introduced in 2009 by Metal Adventures Inc. and Aida. Because of the lower cost, the bronze and copper metal clays are used by artists[5] more often than the gold and silver metal clays in the American market place. Due to Hallmarking requirements laid out in the UK Bronze and Copper are not regarded as highly. Furthermore, due to the complex firing process and the fact that during the firing process acidic vapour is emitted and can result in extreme wear and tear on your kiln eventually leading to the requirements of a replacement kiln, it is often regarded as not as economically logical to use these cheaper metals. The actual creation time of a PMC Bronze or Copper piece is also far greater than that of its PMC3 counterpart.
Base metal clays, such as bronze, copper, and steel metal clays are best fired in the absence of oxygen to eliminate the oxidation of copper by atmospheric oxygen. A simple means to accomplish this (place the pieces in activated carbon inside a container) was developed by Bill Struve.