I finished my first PMC jewelry project a couple of days ago. We spent about 140 dollars on PMC and tools. Karl and I hovered over a test firing. The small strip bent about 30 or 45 degrees and then snapped. It had a uniform look to its interior so that seems alright. We took the two pieces and fired them longer to see what the beginnings of melt looked like. Then we completely melted one of them. The ball danced around and tried to make a run for it.
My first item is a rectangle of clay with a fish stamped into it. I had made a starter hole for the jump ring but felt it was too low and just slightly off center as I had done it by eyeball. I puzzled over how to fix this for hours. I thought about sawing off the top edge, filling in the hole with slip and starting anew. Then I hit on fish bubbles. I drilled several more holes including one in the correct spot for the jump ring. I made the holes in two sizes and I think it really enhances the piece. I used liver of sulfer to darken the fish and a fiberglass brush to give it a brushed finish. I like the finish but I do think I need to buy some sanding products for the next project. Scratches were a problem. I burnished them and then brushed the burnished area out again.
I am fairly satisfied with the outcome. Some things to work towards would be better technique finishing the work at each step, preventing the slight warp it has (if possible), learning how to correct warpage, and photography. Karl took some shots of it after it was finished. All my shots of it as greenware were totally unusable. He spent hours at photographing the thing as a finished item. Looks like we need to buy or build some kind of dome to put over the thing so it can be lit by lighting the sheer fabric of the dome. And maybe we should look into a grey or gradient grey background of some form.
