All About Precious Metal Clay with Moondog Treasures
by Susan Reeves.
(Moondog Treasures)
Precious metal clay in its raw form, before firing
PMC is Precious Metal Clay. This material was created by the Mitsubishi Corporation in the early 1990s as a way to recover silver, gold, and platinum from old computers, medical instruments and photography supplies.
A method was developed that allowed the combination of precious metals into a type of clay that could be used to make jewelry and other products.
The PMC comes to me in clay form. It contains of particles of pure silver mixed with an organic binder.
I take images and letters and press them into the clay (see photos above), then fire in my kiln at 1200 degrees. When the binder is burned away during firing, it leaves a pendant of 99.9% pure silver.
PMC in its finished form
It’s nice to know that PMC is made with sustainable/recycled materials. I am even able to use the leftover clay and “mistakes” again by re-constituting the clay and creating a new product.
I’m adding a few new designs to my PMC pendant collection: Mahatma Gandhi’s quote, “Be the Change” / “harmony” with lotus flower / tiny om pendants / “moksha” (sanskrit word for freedom) with om symbol / “ananda” (sanskrit word for bliss) with lotus flower.
Some other best-sellers I’m including are the “namaste” ring pendant, Ganesh pendant and om symbol pendants.
Susan Reeves
Moondog Treasures on Etsy
Moondog Treasures blog
Comments:
All about PMC
by: Rena
Thanks so much for sharing your post and photos, Susan! I didn’t know that early history of PMC – how interesting.
I enjoyed your before and after firing photos also.
PMC is an excellent medium for your yoga jewelry niche!
Thank you, Rena!
by: Susan Reeves
I feel honored to be included on your site. It was on your web-site that I first found out about Etsy over 4 years ago. Many sales later, I thank you!!
Susan
