Joining Sterling Silver and Fine Silver (PMC)

Hi everyone,

I wonder if anyone can help me. I am making a bracelet using ten strands of 1mm sterling silver wire which will be woven/plaited together. I want to add a starfish made from PMC (fine silver) onto the centre of the bracelet (fixed on, not hanging like a charm) so I was wondering what the best way of doing this is?

What about embedding the wire in the starfish at the clay stage, before firing? I know it's possible to do this with sterling silver findings such as gemstone settings, but again, would the temperature melt the wire when I am firing it? (I use a blowtorch not a kiln for firing).

Is it possible to solder fine and sterling silver together? I am worried that to get the starfish to a high enough temperature for the solder to flow the strands of thin wire might melt (I did a quick test and that's exactly what happened!)

Any ideas/tips much appreciated!

Many thanks,

Jayne

You can solder fine silver to sterling. I think I'd make sure the strands of sterling are very tightly woven and will sit flat on the solder block. Burnish the back of the starfish so that the solder won't just sink into it. I would then probably run quite a lot of easy solder onto the back of the starfish and reflux it before soldering it onto the wires.

Another option would be to solder a piece of wire to the back of the starfish and rivet it onto the wires. I'd probably solder the wires together where the starfish is going to give a solid piece to rivet into.

Thanks for your reply Carole.

I can't weave the wire before soldering as I will be incorporating glass crystals into the bracelet which won't take the heat. That means I have 10 individual strands of wire to solder to the back (which is my problem!) which I will then weave from each side of the starfish.

Do you have experience of PMC and know whether I could embed the wires into the back of the starfish at the clay stage? This would make it easier to position the wires but I would still have the worry about melting the wires when firing the starfish. If it's not possible to do this I think I sort of know how to solder the two elements together but I suppose the real question is how I manage to heat the solid starfish sufficiently for the solder to run without melting the thin strands of wire. Do I just need to keep moving the blowtorch to ensure no heat builds up on any particular spot on the wire?

I don't think I'd risk trying to embed the wires before firing. The sustained heat of torch firing would almost certainly melt the wire. Even kiln firing could well result in brittleness and that would make it very hard to plait the wire.

I think that, like Carole, I'd probably look for a cold connected solution, and riveting would be the obvious answer. The other alternative might be to make a little 'sleeve' for the wires and soldering that to the back of the starfish, then crimping or riveting this to the bundle of wires. Alternatively, you could incorporate a button back (squared loop) into the PMC and slide the wires through this after firing.

I'm rambling now...

I like George's idea of a button back. That would work.

Thanks George and please feel free to ramble way! I like the idea of making a sleeve or loop to thread the wires through - I think that would work well! I haven't done any rivetting before (but have a book about cold connections so can teach myself :">) but wouldn't 1mm wire be a bit thin to rivet through? I could make a square loop out of the PMC so it all ends up as one piece and then slide the wires on as you say. I think with the crystals woven into the wire the starfish wouldn't be able to move far (if at all), even without rivetting it on....

LOL - I sometimes wonder whether most of what I write is just thinking out loud :)

As for riveting, I wouldn't try to rivet through 1mm wire, but between two wires, perhaps in a couple of different places. However, a sleeve or button back would probably stay put pretty well without needing anything else. You could even make three loops staggered along the back (just use a cocktail stick or similar and remove once the clay is dry before firing) and thread different wires through to retain the plaited theme. That would definitely stay put!

Well, your "thinking out loud" is very helpful! How would you use a cocktail stick? Do you mean just to hold the clay in position while it dries? I was thinking of making the sleeve/loop separately so it can dry on its side and retain it's shape and then pasting it when dry onto the starfish before firing ...

DOH! Just realised what you meant by using the cocktail stick .... *-:) Yes that would make lovely sized little loops, rather than the one long square loop I was thinking of ...