Hello from Kent; new course next month and silver art clay in my hand :)

Hi everybody,

I've been lurking for a week or so and thought I'd best say hello now. :~:

I've enrolled on a silversmithing course at my local adult ed centre next month and am tres excited :dance:

In the meantime, having trawled this forum and the net in general I discovered Silver Art Clay and better still, a shop locally that stocks it and all the trimmings! So, I've got my 10g of the new stuff, a syringe of 650 and a template for a Mjolnir (Thor's Hammer) pendant for Mr Imp... he is a big fan of all things geeky like that :<3: I wanted to engrave 'Mjolnir' onto the shank but I'm not sure if I should attempt this prior to or after drying, if anybody is in the mood to let me know I'd be very grateful :)

If it comes out ok in the end I'll try to post a photo, if not, I'll probably be back to ask for help.

Love from Imp xx

Hi and welcome :)

I'd let the clay dry to almost but not properly dry if you want to engrave/scratch text into it. If it's wet it tends to get splodgy and if it's bone dry it is really hard!

Hi Imp and welcome,

I'd go with Medusa's suggestion, trying to do it once it's dry could lead to cracking (which you could try to fill in with slip if it's just on the surface). Doing it whilst it's almost dry will allow you to clean up the edges more easily too. Just bear in mind when you're engraving that the piece will shrink slightly when fired