How to Create Designs in Precious Metal Clay

One of the things that makes working with Precious Metal Clay so innovative is how easy it is to add design motifs to the material. PMC has several states, and as a designer you can add design elements at each stage.

Raw, wet clay:

This is the easiest stage to design with PMC. PMC is soft enough to press or stamp designs in. Many artists make their own molds or stamps to add designs to the raw clay.


Raw clay is also great for etching designs with a stylus or any pointed tools. Artists can deepen impressions that they etch or carve out designs in the wet clay. Wet, the clay can also be cut into any shape or molded.

Applique techniques can be used with PMC, adding pieces of cut out lump clay or PMC sheet.

Pieces of any organic material can be embedded into the clay. At the firing stage it will be burned away.



Green, dry clay:

There is still much that can be added to the PMC piece at this stage. One thing to keep in mind is that PMC is much more fragile when it is dry and unfired.

Dry clay pieces can be sanded, filed, and smoothed until perfect. Wet slip or paste can be added at this stage, dried, then blended in with the rest of the piece.

Two pieces of clay can be put together with slip or paste.

Holes can be widened with a round file. It is not recommended to create the hole after the clay dries. It is better to start the hole when it is still at least damp.

A lighter style of etching can be added to dry clay. This is a good point to sign the piece.

With care, applique techniques can still be used and may be preferable for some designs. For instance, it might be better to add metal wire or leaf at this stage. Stones can be added to a dry piece. Some artists prefer to add syringe designs on dry clay. The key here is to make sure that the connection between the dry piece and the new addition is wet enough to hold.

Unpolished, fired clay:

PMC can be fired more than once, and for some designs this is the best way to add to the piece. To add to a fired piece, do not polish it. The binder that is left at the surface of the clay helps hold the unfired clay to the fired clay. Add the raw clay with slip just as if both pieces were raw.

Once fired, PMC can be drilled with a metal drill, hammered, sawed, or soldered. It's best to do these before you polish and clean the piece. PMC is fine silver or 18K gold, so the metal is softer than sterling. Take care to not hit it too hard when hammering.

Polished, fired clay:

After the piece has been cleaned and polished, an artist can add patinas. This works best with silver. The most popular patina is liver of sulphur which applies an oxidation to the surface in colors ranging from light gold to black.

Author: Paula Atwell