Art Clay Silver and Glass

Some of you already know that my background is in polymer clay. I've
only recently entered the mesmerizing world of glass via a lampworking
setup. That necessitated buying a kiln and well, it's all been
downhill from there. Now I have Art Clay Silver (along with some
pottery clay) and I want to use the silver clay and the glass
together. I have the ACS 650 which is, from what I've read,
compatible with glass.

My questions are such:

1. Should I fuse a cabachon (or whatever I'm making with glass) first
and then build around it with the ACS? It seems to me if I do this,
even though the shrinkage rage is minimal with ACS that the ACS will
crack at minimum while it's drying and likely while it's firing.

2. Can I make a setting out of the ACS first, fire it and when it
cools add a pyramid of frit (much like for a paperweight) and then
fire again letting the frit fuse and form to the setting? I know ACS
can be fired multiple times and it seems to me this would be the best
way to go.

Any suggestions?

Thanks tons in advance!
BH

Its Good to ask questions, however your best bet as your set up is so
specific to you is to run some trials yourself. that way you will get
more accurate results faster than asking others who at best can only
give you a general answer. As with any heat/ceramic process, if youve
had any friends who do real pottery ie over 1000@C work you will hear
that a lot of the time its in the lap of the gods. IE results will
always be different despite keeping everything as identical as possible.

On 3/24/04 10:59 PM, in article ,
"www.hussydesigns.com" wrote:

Some of you already know that my background is in polymer clay. I've
only recently entered the mesmerizing world of glass via a lampworking
setup. That necessitated buying a kiln and well, it's all been
downhill from there. Now I have Art Clay Silver (along with some
pottery clay) and I want to use the silver clay and the glass
together. I have the ACS 650 which is, from what I've read,
compatible with glass.

My questions are such:

1. Should I fuse a cabachon (or whatever I'm making with glass) first
and then build around it with the ACS? It seems to me if I do this,
even though the shrinkage rage is minimal with ACS that the ACS will
crack at minimum while it's drying and likely while it's firing.

2. Can I make a setting out of the ACS first, fire it and when it
cools add a pyramid of frit (much like for a paperweight) and then
fire again letting the frit fuse and form to the setting? I know ACS
can be fired multiple times and it seems to me this would be the best
way to go.

I've recently done some research into Silver Clay and bought a book. There
are 3 formulations of Silver Clay:

Slow Fi Soak 1650F for 2 hours

Medium Fi Soak 1650F for 10 min (plain clay); 1560F for 20 min if mixed
with sterling; 1470F for 30 min if mixed with glass

Quick Fi Soak 1650-1290F for 1-10 min (plain clay); 1200F for 20 min if
mixed with sterling; 1110F for 30 min if mixed with glass

The book is "Creative Metal Clay Jewelry" by CeCe Wire. From reading the
book, it seems like the best approach for mixing with glass is to create
your glass cab first, and then set it in a bezel of medium or quick fire
silver clay. There is also an example in the book for enameling a fired
piece (with low-medium temp enamel, I assume). The medium and quick fire
formulas shrink less, and dry pieces can be patched with thick slip if they
crack. Also, the book states that you should only fire when the piece is
bone dry--it will crack otherwise.

Here's the guild web address which has a technical section and a bulletin
board:

http://www.pmclay.com/

Generally, I would agree with the other poster about doing your own tests,
however, silver clay is so expensive it is certainly better to start with
some solid data.

Cheers,
Dianne


Any suggestions?

Thanks tons in advance!
BH

On 3/24/04 10:59 PM, in article ,
"www.hussydesigns.com" wrote:

Some of you already know that my background is in polymer clay. I've
only recently entered the mesmerizing world of glass via a lampworking
setup. That necessitated buying a kiln and well, it's all been
downhill from there. Now I have Art Clay Silver (along with some
pottery clay) and I want to use the silver clay and the glass
together. I have the ACS 650 which is, from what I've read,
compatible with glass.

My questions are such:

1. Should I fuse a cabachon (or whatever I'm making with glass) first
and then build around it with the ACS? It seems to me if I do this,
even though the shrinkage rage is minimal with ACS that the ACS will
crack at minimum while it's drying and likely while it's firing.

2. Can I make a setting out of the ACS first, fire it and when it
cools add a pyramid of frit (much like for a paperweight) and then
fire again letting the frit fuse and form to the setting? I know ACS
can be fired multiple times and it seems to me this would be the best
way to go.

I've recently done some research into Silver Clay and bought a book. There
are 3 formulations of Silver Clay:

Slow Fi Soak 1650F for 2 hours

Medium Fi Soak 1650F for 10 min (plain clay); 1560F for 20 min if mixed
with sterling; 1470F for 30 min if mixed with glass

Quick Fi Soak 1650-1290F for 1-10 min (plain clay); 1200F for 20 min if
mixed with sterling; 1110F for 30 min if mixed with glass

The book is "Creative Metal Clay Jewelry" by CeCe Wire. From reading the
book, it seems like the best approach for mixing with glass is to create
your glass cab first, and then set it in a bezel of medium or quick fire
silver clay. There is also an example in the book for enameling a fired
piece (with low-medium temp enamel, I assume). The medium and quick fire
formulas shrink less, and dry pieces can be patched with thick slip if they
crack. Also, the book states that you should only fire when the piece is
bone dry--it will crack otherwise.

Here's the guild web address which has a technical section and a bulletin
board:

http://www.pmclay.com/

Generally, I would agree with the other poster about doing your own tests,
however, silver clay is so expensive it is certainly better to start with
some solid data.

Cheers,
Dianne


Any suggestions?

Thanks tons in advance!
BH

I don't know much about clays, but I do know a little about glass. This much
I know about your quest. It all boils down to the coefficient of expansion.
How much the glass/clay moves when heated and cooled. If the two mediums are
not matched close enough, they won't stay together. There are many different
types of glass to choose from. They all have different expansion rates.

Randy Hansen
SC Glass Tech.
Scam Diego, Comi-fornia

Well, the clay I'm using (ACS 650) is compatible with soft glass I know.
I'm not sure about borasilicate. But it matters not since I'm using soft
glass in this project. I do plan on trying it with stained glass scraps as
well to see what I come up with.

Hussy


"Randy" wrote in message
...
I don't know much about clays, but I do know a little about glass. This
much
I know about your quest. It all boils down to the coefficient of
expansion.
How much the glass/clay moves when heated and cooled. If the two mediums
are
not matched close enough, they won't stay together. There are many
different
types of glass to choose from. They all have different expansion rates.

Randy Hansen
SC Glass Tech.
Scam Diego, Comi-fornia

The folks here will certainly be able to help you:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/metalclay

Lot's of them are working with glass and PMC.

Good luck,
Paul

Paul Tarlow
Izm Studio

------------------
Kiln-formed glass
for jewelry artists
http://www.izm.com
------------------




(www.hussydesigns.com) wrote in message
. ..
Some of you already know that my background is in polymer clay. I've
only recently entered the mesmerizing world of glass via a lampworking
setup. That necessitated buying a kiln and well, it's all been
downhill from there. Now I have Art Clay Silver (along with some
pottery clay) and I want to use the silver clay and the glass
together. I have the ACS 650 which is, from what I've read,
compatible with glass.

My questions are such:

1. Should I fuse a cabachon (or whatever I'm making with glass) first
and then build around it with the ACS? It seems to me if I do this,
even though the shrinkage rage is minimal with ACS that the ACS will
crack at minimum while it's drying and likely while it's firing.

2. Can I make a setting out of the ACS first, fire it and when it
cools add a pyramid of frit (much like for a paperweight) and then
fire again letting the frit fuse and form to the setting? I know ACS
can be fired multiple times and it seems to me this would be the best
way to go.

Any suggestions?

Thanks tons in advance!
BH