process
I create jewelry using precious metal clays along with other more traditional metalworking techniques. I work with sterling silver, fine silver and argentium silver and also incorporate elements such as 24K gold accents, semi-precious stones, acrylics and polymer clay into some of my pieces.
what is metal clay?
Metal clay is an eco-friendly material made from recycled metals that produces next to zero material waste during the entire making process. It became available to jewelry makers in the 1990’s after advances in powdered metallurgy made it possible for metals that were previously only obtainable in the form of sheet, wire, ingots or casting grain to be available in powdered form. It consists of powdered metal particles, a small amount of inert binder, and water. Once moistened, dried and refined, pieces are kiln-fired where the binder burns out and the metal molecules sinter together resulting in a piece of pure metal.
It’s an incredibly versatile material allowing the artist to texture and sculpt while the metal particles are in a clay state, carve and refine while in a greenware state, and then finish using more traditional metalworking techniques after firing.
silver
Fine Silver is the purest grade of silver. It contains 99.9% pure silver with the remainder being trace amounts of impurities. Because of it’s purity, fine silver is highly resistant to tarnish, is unlikely to react with the skin and can receive a high polish but is too soft to be used in all jewelry. It’s usually only suitable for pieces receiving less wear such as earrings or necklaces.
Sterling silver is a silver alloy that contains 92.5% pure silver with the remaining 7.5% consisting of copper or other metals. The addition of the other metals makes sterling silver harder than pure silver alone. This added strength makes it more suitable for applications such as rings or bracelets which receive greater wear than earrings, for example. A drawback is that the addition of other metals makes sterling silver susceptible to tarnish, however with proper care tarnish can be minimized, see Caring for Silver.
Argentium silver is a relatively new silver alloy that consists of at least 93.5% pure silver with the remainder being made from other metals such as copper as well as a small amount of germanium. Germanium is an inert metal that creates a thin barrier between the copper and the air, making argentium silver hypoallergenic as well as more durable and significantly more tarnish resistant than sterling silver. Argentium silver is more expensive than sterling silver.
keum boo
Keum-boo is an ancient Korean gilding technique for applying thin sheets of 24k gold to silver by applying heat and pressure to bond the metals together.
The potential for bonding is possible because gold and silver have a similar atomic structure. When the metals are heated and pressure is applied by burnishing, an electron exchange occurs between the two metals, creating a permanent diffusion bond.