i’ve just discovered pmc!!! bought a kiln and pmc just a few stupid
beginner questions to anyone out there. can you put a stone into a clay
design and fire it??? or do you have to calculate shrinkage??? more
stupid questions to follow and any comments on pmc gladly appreciated
thanx
I strongly reccomend you purchase Tim Mcreigh’ts new book about PMC
(available through Rio Grande) or buy one of the PMC videos and join
the PMC Guild, you’ll get a subscription to the Studio PMC news
letter, it’s full of helpful sugesstions.Also.Art Clay has several
books out on their Silver Art Clay and there are some really beautiful
projects in them. You’re really better off reading as much as you can
or taking classes in PMC before you try more complicated projects. I
for one decided I could set diamondsin PMC Gold, I mean you can cast
diamonds in place, it made sense to me that you could fire themin
place as well. Unfortunately the diamonds burned out while firing. Even
Rio Grande was surprised but I guess it has to do with all the carbon
in diamonds as well as the length of firing. Anyway,my experience
hasshown that I can fire rubies and sapphires in place.Most synthetic
stones work, emeralds turn brown and glass will melt. You might have
to experiment a bit and be willing to sacrifice your materials.You
must sink the stones deeply into the PMC because the shrinkage will
cause the stones to pop out if they’re not set down deap enough. Also,
the edges of your piece may become some what distrorted as the
material shrinks around an object. Have fun, read up,be willing to
take some risks and enjoythis unique and exciting material, I love it!
Yes, you can set stones in the PMC, but… you can only use
synth. stones . There is a great sight for PMC users on line. PMC
Guild is the key word. Once in the sight go to the community talk
area and join in!!! I would recommend a certification class. They
will teach you everything you need to know. If you are in an area
where there are no teachers Tim McCreigh has published several books
and is the rep. for PMC and it’s company. I have also soldered bezels
on to the PMC after it has been fired with good results with
min. warpage. Haven’t tried prong settings !!
Hi, You can fire cz s in place but I would NOT do stones. Once you
become experienced and creative with this new media you can adapt
setting principals to using material.
Nancy (teaching PMC in Michigan)