Silver Service

摘要

It is not every day you come across a new material to experiment with, so I was excited when first introduced to Precious Metal Clay [PMC] by Jan Goodey, a jeweller friend and colleague from Cumbria Institute of the Arts. The material itself was first developed in Japan by Mitsubishi Materials. On reaching America it was marketed as a product that would revolutionise jewellery making. It looks and feels like clay, although rather shorter to handle and light grey in colour. While its actual make up is a closely-guarded secret, from what I have learnt so far it consists of tiny particles of silver which have been combined with an organic binder and water. When fired the binder burns away and what remains is 99.9 percent pure silver which can then be hall-marked. Jewellers have been able to manipulate it as if it were clay, easily producing any texture, using it in moulds and extruding it. It can even be thrown, but at 25 pounds per troy ounce you would need a minor windfall on the lottery to throw yourself a mug.