More or less close to the topic of this category. Caveman isn't really a jewelry kind of guy, but I'm not going to let that stop me. I made this ring for him this week. The picture is crappy, but you get the idea.
I started by making a mold out of polymer clay, rolled out to about 1/4 inch. I texturized it, and pressed a fish into the block. I baked the mold and let it cool.
Next, I took precious metal clay, shaped it by hand to the approximate size, pressing it into the mold that I had sprayed with olive oil. I removed it, used a tissue blade to trim the excess, wrapped it around a ring form, and let it dry. After drying, it gets sanded and shaped a little more.
Once I was happy with the details, I fired it with a small propane torch for about 4 minutes. The inert ingredients burn off, and you wind up with 99.9 fine silver! It's white after firing, so I used a wire brush to remove the "scale" and then burnished it to bring up the shine.
This was my first attempt at using precious metal clay, but it sure won't be my last. It's a great product to work with, and you can even fire some rocks and stones (7.5 or higher on Mohs scale?) inside the ring, as opposed to making a prong mount or bezel setting.
So, do we have any other precious metal clay users on the board?
Landslide: Stevie Nicks greatest song!
http://www.ccapnw.org
The Monster Breathes!
"Don't fall in!" Doug Richert Sr. 10/18/2008 
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