Handmaking the Little Silver Cats
Precious metal clay is a relatively new option for jewelers that allows us to uniquely shape and texture our own charms and findings. Most jewelry lovers haven't heard of PMC, so I thought it would be interesting to show my process for creating my little feline friends.
PMC is available in many types of precious metals, including the fine silver I used in this project. Silver clay is made up of real silver plus water and a binding material. It can be torch or kiln fired. During the firing process, the water and binder burn off, leaving behind only the precious metal.
For this line of cat-themed jewelry, I started with a vision of a climbing cat as a pendant. I opted to sculpt the original cat out of polymer clay because it doesn't dry. Traditionally, jewelers use lost wax casting for their models, but anything works. I like polymer clay because I like the look of charms that are sculpted from clay. Polymer clay can retain really detailed textures.
I baked the polymer cat in pieces so I can assemble the pendant later. Then I mixed a silicone mold and pressed the pieces in to set. I made a separate mold just for the face.
I pressed the silver clay into the mold and then cleaned up each piece by hand. I added silver paste to build up any feature that was distorted by the mold. The final effect was a set of perfectly unique little cat faces. They all retained the essential qualities of the original sculpture, but here and there I changed a detail. PMC dries quickly, but I left these out overnight just to be sure they dried all the way through. I wanted realistic proportions so I didn't squash any features back to save some silver. Each cat stud earring contains about two grams of solid fine silver.
I sanded the edges and backs of the dry pieces before torch firing with a butane jewelry torch. I cleaned them up with a brass brush until they were shiny and beautiful.
Still at the torch, I soldered sterling silver posts onto the backs and polished them again. Finally I added some definition to their little features with an oxidizing solution. Here are the finished earrings!
I have big plans for these little cats so stay in touch. The little silver cats will be available in store soon!
PMC is available in many types of precious metals, including the fine silver I used in this project. Silver clay is made up of real silver plus water and a binding material. It can be torch or kiln fired. During the firing process, the water and binder burn off, leaving behind only the precious metal.
For this line of cat-themed jewelry, I started with a vision of a climbing cat as a pendant. I opted to sculpt the original cat out of polymer clay because it doesn't dry. Traditionally, jewelers use lost wax casting for their models, but anything works. I like polymer clay because I like the look of charms that are sculpted from clay. Polymer clay can retain really detailed textures.
I baked the polymer cat in pieces so I can assemble the pendant later. Then I mixed a silicone mold and pressed the pieces in to set. I made a separate mold just for the face.
I pressed the silver clay into the mold and then cleaned up each piece by hand. I added silver paste to build up any feature that was distorted by the mold. The final effect was a set of perfectly unique little cat faces. They all retained the essential qualities of the original sculpture, but here and there I changed a detail. PMC dries quickly, but I left these out overnight just to be sure they dried all the way through. I wanted realistic proportions so I didn't squash any features back to save some silver. Each cat stud earring contains about two grams of solid fine silver.
I sanded the edges and backs of the dry pieces before torch firing with a butane jewelry torch. I cleaned them up with a brass brush until they were shiny and beautiful.
Still at the torch, I soldered sterling silver posts onto the backs and polished them again. Finally I added some definition to their little features with an oxidizing solution. Here are the finished earrings!
I have big plans for these little cats so stay in touch. The little silver cats will be available in store soon!