I have been sitting back following the posts on PMC with tremendous
interest.
First of all, I don’t want this post to be taken as a negative toward
PMC nor any other material people might be using to create jewelry. I
believe there is room for anything, the more imaginative the better.
In fact I have been quite surprised at some of the terribly and what
would seem unjustifiably negative and surprisingly conservative
comments. Never having used PMC, I cannot comment on whether or not
it is a stable, strong material nor can I say how it should be
classified and therefore, I don’t have any authorative input on that
aspect. However, when I read Catherine Ondrey’s post I felt the ‘nail
hit the head’. I think the popularity of PMC and the pricing of the
work are going to and are already having a HUGE impact on our lives
as traditional silversmith’s. Whether or not we respect the material,
our ability to be competitive is and will be greatly impacted and
that has many people scared to death. Though I find the banter back
and forth on what to label it and how it should or should not be
classified and does it break when bent very interesting, I am much
more concerned with how I am going to be able to justify my prices on
a booth full of hand fabricated jewelry next to a booth full of PMC
jewelry, which whether or not you like it or think it is living up to
a 'metalsmith’s standards, is SELLING VERY WELL. Not only is it
selling very well but the people who used to be jewelry buying
customers are now becoming Jewelry Makers!!! It was difficult enough
to get through the long period of competing with beaded jewelry, but
at least the differences were obvious. So we can spend a lot of time
discussing whether or not it is good quality jewelry, meantime it is
here, getting more popular and it’s not going anywhere fast which
says to me that we have to find a way to make our work SOOO MUCH
BETTER so it really stands out in a class of its own. It is going to
have to be so much better to compete and it feels like a good swift
scary kick in the butt!!
I just see it as a product that could potentially undercut
the experience and techniques that so many have worked very hard to
acheive. The general buying public is not going to know the
difference between the two different techniques - and that's where I
And the general public----the BUYERS----really don’t care how
something is made as long as they get something they like at a price
they find appropriate. Lots of top notch buggy whip makers went the
way of the Dodo bird in the early 1900s even after getting laws
passed that “protected” them—for the “benefit” of the consumers, of
course. The marketplace WILL decide as it always has in the
past----and each jewelry provider will have to make their own
decisions and economically live or die by them.
I sadly don’t view much of this discussion to be related to PMC and
its advantages and disadvantages. I think what we have here is the
age-old fight against prejudice. It infiltrates every aspect of our
lives and has since man (and woman) was created. And reason and
quality and demonstrations of excellence won’t change things a bit
for those who persist in being prejudiced. MY way is always better
(“MY” being the “royal” my)–and no one is going to threaten it by
making it different.
I worked hard and raised four children with a school-teacher husband
who loved his job and didn’t make much money. There was never extra
for pursuing my dream of working with silver. (Nor was there extra
for buying fine, hand-made silver pieces of jewelry.) Eventually I
took pottery classes and sold enough pottery to make me happy and buy
my own kiln–then I discovered “ceramics”–the precast pieces in all
those wondrous shapes that I could glaze or paint in magnificent
colors!!! Did I discover prejudice??? I became ‘persona non
grata’ to the pottery world, although I had demonstrated my ability
to do it “their way.”
Then I discovered silver metal clay. My skills will never reach
those of Linda Kay-Moses or Elaine Luther. But I can work with my
beloved silver (and weave my chains, making my own rings that Orchid
taught me to make). I can root through my deceased mom’s button box
and create “heirloom” earrings I can make one-of-a-kind pieces that
people love and wear and appreciate.
My finished pieces AREN’T brittle–they don’t fall to pieces and my
customers (many of them returning time after time) are happy with
what they purchase. I create one-of-a-kind pure silver pieces and
part of my heart is in each piece. I am well past the age to buy the
equipment necessary to be a silversmith and learn the trade and in
many ways, I’m glad I waited so that I could participate in this
revolution. Have I encountered prejudice??? Oh yes!! It’s the same
prejudice I felt when a computer was placed on my desk and I said,
“There is NOTHING that machine will do that I can’t make a typewriter
do.”
I will always wish I knew more . . . about silver, life, and
everything else and I read EVERY communication in Orchid and go to my
metalsmithing books to try to understand something about those things
I will never do. But after my loving experience with computers, I
will ALWAYS try to be open-minded about everything. I do find myself
thinking about how much those people are missing who don’t explore
about things that bother" them–those people who make
declarations about things they know nothing or little about. You
don’t have to USE it–just accept its possibility to create new kinds
of things of beauty.
As Rodney King said, “Can’t we all just be friends??”
Craftdreams
Ann L. Lacava
158 Overton Lane
Powell, TN 37849
865.938.4180
You have nothing to worry about in so far a PMC being a cheaper or
faster way to produce work. Its cost is too high and any technique
that can be done in PMC can be done in traditional metal working
methods especially via casting. Any stone than can be set and fired
into PMC can be set in wax and cast in place. Any forming technique
used on unfired PMC can be done in one of a variety of modeling
materials that can either be directly burned out or molded, injected
and burned out. The only “advantage” that I have seen so far in PMC
is that you do not have to wait for a invest, burnout cast cycle.
Given a PMC metal price that is three times the silver market price
I can wait to get my cast piece.
Jim Binnion
James Binnion Metal Arts
Phone (360) 756-6550
Toll Free (877) 408 7287
Fax (360) 756-2160
@James_Binnion
Member of the Better Business Bureau
Are the customers going to understand why one artist selling
sterling silver or gold designs (traditional methods used) has
higher prices than the artist next door who has designs set with
stones using PMC priced for less?
As someone who has sold both metal clay pieces and traditional
sterling work in the same case, I priced the metal clay higher than
the sterling. The original cost of material plus a calculated
firing cost are enough to bump up the price.
It’s been said before. Metal clays are a tool. They have some
nifty attributes and some definite limitations. Useful for some,
worthless for some, and overall generating lots of discussion!
Someone said there is no bad publicity… metal clays are really
getting lots of attention in this thread.
“And that’s all I have to say about that.”
Judy in Kansas, where it’s a gorgeous day - sunny, low '60s with
light breeze. WHY am I cooped up inside???
But what about the customers? I think that's an issue. Are the
customers going to understand why one artist selling sterling
silver or gold designs (traditional methods used) has higher prices
than the artist next door who has designs set with stones using PMC
priced for less? Granted, there are many customers that are
educated about art and jewelry - but there are others that are not.
In most cases, one can easily see the difference between hand
fabricated jewelry, and what is being sold by those using PMC. What
I’ve seen is very nice, but, hand fabricated is so much nicer. . . .
(just my opinion.)
Actually, the shrinkage of original PMC is why I sometimes still
use it, in spite of the improved density with the later versions of
the product. It is possible to get tiny detail that might otherwise
be difficult to acheive, but is very easy with PMC.
I think that the high level of shrinkage in the original PMC might
be one of those idiosynchratic edges that PMC can offer…
At the risk of again coming across as negative, I think that some
people see some of the users of PMC as relying on mostly one aspect
of the material: its ability to approximate cast or fabricated work.
When I taught casting, I would often have a student who would
carefully clean a piece of sheet wax, sprue and invest it and then
cast it in silver. They would end up, of course, with a fairly
adequate piece of sheet that they might fabricate with but which was
vastly inferior to a piece of milled sheet and was much more time
consuming and materially expensive. The light bulb would really go
off for these students (as it did for me when I first took casting)
when they realized what casting had to uniquely offer: casting
organics, the widely diverse and “immediate” qualities of the huge
range of waxes, production possibilities, etc. There are things that
you can do in some waxes that exploit the qualities that the material
has; things that might be possible to do in metal but would be
inefficient or unpleasant to do. Simply using casting as a means to
create duplicates is fine but, in my opinion, just scratching the
surface of the technique.
It’s been said over and over on this forum in regard to PMC and
casting: these techniques are only tools and it’s the end product
that should be considered.
PMC's difficult entry into acceptance. I'm flat-out cynical
about PMC. But I'm very clear on my prejudices. I feel you are
pretentious to call yourself an artist without an MFA or some
equally strenuous level of suffering in your history.
OK, that right there is enough.
Get serious. Only a tiny minority of artists have ever had any
formal education, and frankly what I see coming out of “art schools”
these days tends to be pretentious and ugly. I spent a week on a
gallery crawl in Memphis this past summer with a friend, and the
number of Art Majors who have set themselves up in business with arty
little galleries full of their pretentious, poorly executed crap was
just apalling. I’m talking people who obviously don’t know how to
mix colors, know nothing about composition, haven’t bothered to learn
how to throw a pot but churn them out anyway, the list just goes on.
Every time I’d about given up hope, I’d find a stunning piece of
work stuffed off in a dusty corner. I’d ask about it, and every
single time, it was attributed to “an amateur”. Apparently technical
excellence is considered “amateurish” by these snooty MFAs.
I know there are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but thinking
that ONLY someone with an MFA should be allowed to call themselves
an “artist” - that’s BS. And I don’t mean Bachelor of Science.
It was difficult enough to get through the long period of
competing with beaded jewelry, but at least the differences were
obvious.
First off, I don’t really think this thread should be ended. I
think it’s interesting and there’s a major change in the market and
it’s good to discuss it. Afterall, that is what this forum is all
about. I hope no one has taken my posts as being negative toward
those that enjoy working with PMC. I see this situation as a real
challenge to those that have been making a living, or attempting to
make a living, with their jewelry designs. I am by no means an
experienced metalsmith - I’m working on it, but I’m not even close.
I think the statement made by Grace and Tom Stokes speaks volumes.
There really is no way to tell the difference between PMC and
traditional fabrication methods. But seriously, my biggest expense
is my labor, and I already underpay myself as it is to be able to
compete.
Maybe in the future there will be those that use PMC to come up with
great designs that sell like crazy and there will be those extremely
talented metalsmiths that sell their designs using traditional
methods. I think it’s those of us that fall in between the two
categories that better step it up a notch or we will fall by the
wayside.
PMC - Gold clay is not new. It has been available in the US for
as long as the silver has. In Japan you can even get the gold clay
in different colors. In Japan, you can also get PMC Platinum.
The new Gold paint stuff is new… and from what I’ve read, it
flakes off of everything. Why pay for stuff that doesn’t really
adhear??? Not being nasty, just wondering. Of course, paying $$$$
may be the big factor here.
Though I find the banter back and forth on what to label it and
how it should or should not be classified and does it break when
bent very interesting, I am much more concerned with how I am going
to be able to justify my prices on a booth full of hand fabricated
jewelry next to a booth full of PMC jewelry
Grace, knowing your work, I don’t think you have to worry about
competing with those who work in PMC. We’re talking “apples and
dried grapes!” HUGE difference!!! Although, you may be right in
the perception about clients buying work, they don’t usually care.
The only reason PMC stuff is inexpensive is because those working
with it aren’t charging a ‘living wage price’ . . they are charging
an HSN (Home Shopping Network) price . . per gram (whatever that
means) and they don’t add on PER HOUR or actual cost of making the
pieces! It’s kind of like buying stuff from China vs the USA or
Canada.
Some people figure out clever ways to make cuff bracelets from
sheet stock, pre cut from their supplier, and they get $200.00 for
it.
And? You’re saying that PMC should be worth than a clever way to
make cuff bracelets from sheet? How about counting the amount of
time it takes to cut pieces out of that pre cut sheet stock? Ok, we
know, it’s not even worth $10.00 per hour??? In Reality, it take
longer to cut pieces out of pre cut stock from suppliers than it
takes to roll out some PMC.
Wow! Not often reading a post leaves me breathless and lacking words
to respond. Offended? Not a chance. I have to agree with you even
Oh yes, my copy of March’s AJM just came. (Late?) I am looking
forward to reading about you some more.
Maybe identity crises are good. I think they can keep us from being
complacent and self- satisfied…boring. As I find most jewelry and
jewelers.
War? Breeds innovation. Especially if the warrior is going to
survive. I am in business to prevail over my competition, not get
along with them.
PMC? I too am not particularly interested in it yet. I am more
interested in the PMCers who like a few beaders go as far as they can
and see that they need to move up to another level to expand their
language. When they are ready, I am there with the torches and
hammers. Then the fun begins again.
“I can raise, braise, granulate and laminate…” Love it!
While reading your post, my NorthEastern sarcastic brain was
spilling over…beader…wire twizzler…oops! but that was 15 years
ago…uh-oh, don’t have that degree, in fact, don’t have any
degree…never considered myself a jeweler, ok…but also never
tried mokume and…blacksmithing?? ack!! People used to label me a
hippie, but not since I cut off all my hair and quit coloring it,
and, never sold tie-dye -whew, skated through that one! But, I like
dichroic glass!! OH-NO!!!
Enjoyed reading your post, and point taken.
Nancie
(an ex-hippie beading wire twizzler now self taught metal WHAT??
ar-teest e-tailer!)
I used to be a pooh-pooher of PMC too. I’m a traditional metalsmith
and I’ve worked very hard to build up my skill sets in traditional
areas of fabrication, casting, repousse, granulation, reticulation,
etc. Most of what I saw initially in PMC was in the hands of
amateurs, both in the area of design and execution. However,
wonderfully talented artists have taken the medium to new levels,
and as such, has earned a new sense of respect from me.
Now I begin to see the possibilities of PMC for production work. I
can use a mold made from a master model of reticulated silver and
use it to make reproductions. I can cut away the bits I don’t need
for a design, and not waste precious materials. I can make a master
model and mold from an etching, put the PMC in the mold and make
multiples. Instead of piece costing $100 or more because of labor
costs, it can now cost 1/2 of that. PMC has the same properties of
clay, so I can make things I that are not feasible with traditional
methods, or that I don’t have the equipment for.
Is it cheating, or is it being a smart business person? I’m an
artist, but I don’t particularly care for the starving artist role
model. I have to compete. Whether I set stones faster and better
than 90% of others doesn’t much matter if I can’t get the price of
the labor. I look at it as another tool, and embrace it as such. It
hasn’t diminished my creativity or my design purpose, and each piece
is still made one at a time. By addition or subtraction of details,
I change the look of a basic piece.
I know there are, of course, exceptions to this rule, but
thinking that ONLY someone with an MFA should be allowed to call
themselves an "artist" - that's BS. And I don't mean Bachelor of
Science.
Hiya Zen;
I guess you didn’t read the rest of my post, or maybe you didn’t get
the jist of it exactly. In fact, you don’t seem to get the tone of
the first paragraph. Go get a dictionary and look up the words
“parody” and “sarcasm”. If after that, it makes some sense to you,
pick up something by Tom Wolf to read, or if you like a blunter
instrument, try Hunter Thompson.
And? You're saying that PMC should be worth than a clever way to
make cuff bracelets from sheet? How about counting the amount of
time it takes to cut pieces out of that pre cut sheet stock?
Me thinks you missed the point. The point was: people are saying
people who use PMC have an unfair advantage in the marketplace. I
was saying: anyone who is clever has an unfair advantage in the
marketplace. There are many ways to come up with products that are
fast, keep costs down, yet they appear interesting and complex.