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Well, I have started and all was going well - lots of happy customers. BUT THEN!! I have a piece that has cracked during the torch firing process....the crack is all the way through the piece, but not all the way accross. I don't think I did anything differently to the other pieces I have made ..........The piece has been fully fired and was cooled naturally, not dunked in water. What did I do wrong and can I fix it? If it can be fixed, how do I do it??!!
Grateful for all your advice!
Am I assuming this piece is PMC? and if it is you can mix some PMC paste with lavender oil brush it over and into the crack, refire and it will help, it will not be perfect but it will fill to a degree. Look up PMC oil paste on google to find out how to mix the stuff or youtube or even here I think Nic (MuranoSilver) may have some info on her blog but I forget, it happens. If it is not PMC you are kind of buggered and will have to redo it from scratch. ( excuse my French but well I am in France :0) )
ah but wait even if it is not PMC I seem to recall a post not so long ago about using swarf to fill little cracks, and far be it from me to teach my granny to knit pancakes but swarf is the little curly things you get from drilling and the like, I seem to remember somebody saying you can melt these into your cracks but I may be completely wrong and it may take a lot of swarf
No, it is silver clay, does that make a difference? As for your 'French' - I do prefer people to be direct and 'French' is so much easier on the ear!! Think I may try to repair it as an 'experiment and then hopefully a 'display' piece - but it is for a client, so if it is going to be less than perfect - prob best to start from scratch? Thanks for your advice, but si I do not make the mistake again, what did I do wrong?
Make sure you knead the clay to start with not too much as it dries out real quick, roll it out or mould it shape it what have you and let it dry as normal, On drying check it for the tiniest of cracks, and if you see them you can just apply some watered down clay to seal those cracks, any bumps etc can be sanded down with fine emery/wet and dry. Metal clay is much like pastry, while uncooked it is easy to repair, when cooked not so easy, and it does not like being "manhandled" treat it gently and tenderly, too quick a roll in the hay and the cracks will appear. Remember before it is fired you can always, recondition and start again, once fired it is metal and therefore can only be touched up as described before or hmmm well melted down and cast.
and yes by PMC I meant silver clay I have not used Art clay but as far as I know they are much the same thing, in as much they are 99% silver with a bit of binder and some water. Water being the most important part when unfired, do not let it dry out if you want it to stay usable, but if it does just add some water and let it reabsorb the water in some cling film till it is nice and squishy again.