Art Clay earrings & sterling silver post

[Lavender Blue]

Hi, First post here, so hello all!

I've made some earrings from Art Clay, and in the dry stage I made a small hole, popped in some paste & stuck in a sterling silver ear post, then a little more paste around the outside of the hole/post and fired.

However one post has come out! I did read somewhere that when it's at this stage the only way to stick it back is to superglue it (probably you'll tell me a bad thing to do!) but this hasn't worked either.

Any suggestions for what I should do would be gratefully received!

Jane

[Joe]

Welcome Jane!

I'm not an Art Clay user I'm afraid so can't offer advice - I'm one of the crowd that would recommend soldering!

[Lavender Blue]

Hi Joe, I don't mind soldering, just don't know whether this is the best option or not!

[MuranoSilver]

Firstly you shouldn't really be firing sterling silver in with the silver clay...
The 850 temp needed for strength combined with the length of time for proper firing weakens the sterling structure
Generally I make all the earring fronts seperately and then solder on the posts once the components have been fired and tumble polished,
here's a video of just that (hopefully you could rescue the earring by soldering the post back on.)

[Lavender Blue]

Hi MuranoSilver,
Ok, so if I take a new post and solder it on to the fired earring front I should be ok. Thanks for your help.
Jane

[Dennis]

Hi MuranoSilver,
Ok, so if I take a new post and solder it on to the fired earring front I should be ok. Thanks for your help.
Jane

Hi Jane,
I don't know whether Nic will agree, but if there is any glue left in your earring it might interfere with soldering, so make sure you scrape it away well, or remove it with a fine drill.
Secondly silver clay can absorb a lot of solder, so melt some onto the end of the post first. Dennis.

[Lavender Blue]

Hi All,
Thanks for all your tips. I filed away the glue, burnished the back and then soldered a flat pad post to the back with lots of solder. I then had to cut off, file down and do the same to the other so they matched. But it worked. So thank you very much :0)