[Jewelry making - Article 00300] - Re: [Orchid] Article: Minimal Metalsmithing

[Lisa Orlando]

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Hi Marty,

    I admit that my attraction to PMC (I've never used Art Clay) comes
    in part from having started out as a potter. And my metalsmithing
    experience doesn't come close to yours. But I honestly believe that
    the major problem with PMC is that people who use it all too often
    want instant results, and that the manufacturer has fallen into the
    trap of encouraging this mindset. 

    Most of the problems I have encountered with durability in PMC
    pieces result from one simple mistake: under-firing. I would never
    follow Mitsubishi's recommendations for how to fire the newer
    versions of the clay. In fact, I find that one of the things I love
    best about PMC--how much it shrinks--is lost in the newer versions,
    so I have rarely used them. As a potter, I was used to taking
    shrinkage into account, and taking advantage of it when designing, so
    I don't see shrinkage as a problem. 

    I also think it's possible to join e.g. a bail to a pendant,
    strongly, and without solder, if you approach the technique as a
    potter will approach attaching a handle to a mug. There is a learning
    curve, but people who are willing to accept this fact when it comes
    to e.g. soldering, ignore it when approaching PMC. 

    And the tumbler is PMC's best friend. Having tumbled both PMC and
    fabricated fine silver--to work harden and burnish them--I am not
    surprised to learn that Tim McCreight finds that PMC has the density
    of cast fine silver. And, as far as I know, most jewelers don't forge
    cast silver pieces, either, so we could always go back to an argument
    that casting isn't "real metalsmithing" any more than PMC is.
    (However, I'm surprised that people have trouble filing it. I
    originally learned to use traditional finishing techniques--filing
    and various flexshaft attachments--on PMC and never encountered
    problems. Of course, if you file it carefully before it's fired, you
    often have no reason to file it again. Just like wax!) 

    But there are at least two issues in this thread, so far. One is
    about durability-is PMC durable enough to be used for jewelry, or
    will it fall apart? I have some related questions: will well-made
    sheet-to-sheet solder joins occasionally fail? I think the answer is
    yes. Will poorly-made solder joins frequently fail? Definitely yes.
    Can the surface porosity of PMC be overcome with burnishing? In my
    experience, yes. Is "underlying" porosity a problem? Why? Can "great"
    jewelry" sometimes be made from less than durable materials? I can
    only point to millennia of jewelry made from 24K gold. 

    The other issue has to do with "senselessness" and "offensiveness."
    This, dearest Marty, borders on flaming--just because you don't have
    someone in particular in mind, doesn't mean they won't feel attacked
    by these words. And the discussion of why it does or doesn't make
    sense to use PMC, given the long history of metalsmithing, or how
    offended some who feel part of this tradition feel by the use of PMC,
    has a long history on Orchid. If there were a way to have a
    productive discussion about this, I would be all for it. But I
    haven't seen much evidence that there is. Recent levels of courtesy
    on this forum have not been high, so I doubt any current discussion
    will be fruitful. 

Just my two cents.

Lisa Orlando
Albion, CA, US
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