Silver clay repair ideas..

[sparkysdad]

Hi,

Im kind of a magpie for craft techniques - none of which are ever simple.. *sigh* Last year the O/h bought me a Silver Clay kit I hinted I would like to mess about with..

So needing something to make, I decided on cufflinks to give to him..

First one turned out fine, I cut a heart out using a tiny food cutter for the front, and then rolled a shaft by hand, and shaped a small "button" for the rear.. fired it ok, and then polished it up.. When making the second one, the shaft split and melted leaving me with a front with a short shaft, and no more silver clay to make another one *waaaaggghhh* (

Anyone got any ideas how I could try and resurrect it?? there were two tiny slabs of clay in the kit, and I really dont want to buy enough clay to make a replacement.

[beckyboo]

I may be wrong but I think I read somewhere that the paint on paste can be used for repairs
I don't know if pmc works the same as normal clay and you can make a slip with the left overs you have

please don't try this,lol, wait for one of the clever pmc'ers

this post is just me thinking outloud,lol

[silvermaid]

You could use fine silver wire and fuse it to the stump, or sterling silver and solder it on.
I haven't done this myself so hopefully someone else may be able to give you a bit more guidance.

Melanie

[mizgeorge]

You could just saw both shafts off and replace them by soldering on cufflink findings? Might be easier in the long run, and they'll be a lot stronger

[crystalquartz]

Hi,- you could try some silver clay paste which I have used to mend ACS pieces.You can also buy small packets of clay - 7gm for about £7
Ideally you want to use the oil paste but this has to be fired in a kiln so not much good unless you know someone with one

[Glitterbug]

I'm no expert on silver clay, using it only occasionally. I'd say though that it's likely, if you repair it with silver clay it's likely to be weak and break again. Better to do was was suggested and solder sterling fittings to the back once you're burnished the clay pieces well. If you don't have soldering equipment you could always get a jeweller to do it for you. I'm sure someone on here would do it for you. I could do it but am up to my eyes with orders at the moment and someone else may be quicker. If you're happy to wait, pm me.

[AnnieAnna]

Does this help you decide? http://www.silverclay.co.uk/howi.htm
It explains what the different versions of silver clay can and can't do.
AnnieAnna

[sparkysdad]

You could use fine silver wire and fuse it to the stump, or sterling silver and solder it on.
I haven't done this myself so hopefully someone else may be able to give you a bit more guidance.

Melanie

yikes, I'm a bit of a ham fist for that I think!

[sparkysdad]

Thanks for all the suggestions.. Seems that the "beast" options are to either bite the bullet and buy another pack of clay, or to spend some money and have them soldered to proper link fittings.. Why are these things never simple!

[Deb]

Hi

It is quite hard to add unfired silver clay to fired silver clay and get reliable results especially to match some thing all ready made. I have tried mending rings in this fashion and it has never worked. I would go along with the sterling silver links.