Mona,
You will be limited to the melting point of fine silver, I am
afraid, which is 1760F. Once you cross the melting point, it will,
uh, melt. I would expect that you would experience deformation as you
approached the melting temperature, as well. You’d also have to think
about possible problems caused by the shrinkage of the metal clay and
different COEs in the materials.
In addition, be aware that ceramics kilns typically do not feature
highly accurate temperature control, and often have “hot spots,” so
if you’re trying to flirt with the limit of what the silver can take,
and fire to 1750, for example, you may well find you’ve melted the
silver when part of the kiln soared way above that temp. That’s why
ceramics kilns are normally not recommended for PMC.
That said, there are artists out there who are experimenting with
different ways of incorporating metal clay into ceramics, with some
success. There was an article in the Winter issue of Studio PMC
about using PMC almost like a glaze on ceramics. I can send you a
copy, if you like, and I’d be happy to forward an e-mail to the
author, if your friend would like to get in touch with him. There
was also a presentation at the PMC Conference by Tonya Davidson about
using ceramics as a base for PMC: you can find a description of the
process among the 2004 conference handouts at www.PMC-conference.com.
(The presentation title was “Ceramics as Armature.”) On the same
site, you might be interested to read about Noortje Meijerink’s
reflections on PMC and ceramics entitled “A Dutch Ceramicist’s Vision
on PMC.”
I know there are also a number of other people experimenting with
metal clay and ceramics, and there may be some other approaches out
there. You might also want to post the query on the PMC Guild forums
at www.PMCguild.com and see what the folks there have to say about
it.
There’s also a FAQ with a lot of basic info about PMC on the site,
which your friend might find interesting if he’s inclined to
experiment.
Good luck!
Suzanne
Suzanne Wade
Writer/Editor
Phone: (508) 339-7366
Fax: (928) 563-8255
@Suzanne_Wade1
http://www.rswade.net