Using silver clay to coat clay/wire object

[SallyR]

Hi all. I'm new to the forum but have been experimenting with silver clay jewellery for a while. My question is - I'm making a tree sculpture using clay and silver wire and wondered if it would be possible to use silver clay to coat the finished tree. The tree would be about 30cm high with several branches.

[Dennis]

Hi Sally, and welcome to the forum.
When exploring an idea possibly not tried before, it's best to experiment with scrap first, or make a separate mock up. Presumably the coating would be in the form of a slurry. Silver wire begins to disintegrate at about 850°C.

If the result is disappointing, you might decide to make the whole thing in silver clay, or explore electro forming: https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&sxsrf=ALeKk00vy94vl0BMBMNlibXHt2owtGzVSA%3A1607608 373224&ei=NSjSX9-eDYPFgQb3tYrYBg&q=silver+electroforming&oq=electrical+silver+forming+for+jewellers&gs_lcp=CgZwc3ktYWIQARgCMgQIABBHMgQIABBHMgQIABBHMgQ IABBHMgQIABBHMgQIABBHMgQIABBHMgQIABBHUABYAGCqpQFoA HACeACAAQCIAQCSAQCYAQCqAQdnd3Mtd2l6yAEIwAEB&sclient=psy-ab
Dennis

[misspond]

Is the tree being made with silver clay and silver wire? If so then coating it in silver clay shouldn't be a problem so long as you have a kiln big enough to take the finished item.