PMC Silver lined beads anyone?

[Juliac]

I've never tried PMC but I was wondering if anyone has tried it to line a big hole bead? I have a bead I made that would look a little more finished if it were lined. I don't know where to get silver tubing in my area, so I thought it might be worth a try with pmc. So, if anyone had tried it I would love some guidance.

[Kim V]

Julia,
I've done this with electroforming and I like the way it looks. I've been contemplating trying it with PMC or Art Clay, just need to get the time to try it out. Sorry, no words of wisdom for you, but I'll be reading this thread for advise too.

[Moonlight Creations]

Julia ~ It certainly can be done. My only concern would be how thick the PMC is in the hole and if it were to be used for jewelry, how would it be hung? If you were to use a thin layer of slip, it would most likely wear off if hung from a silver chain. But, if you applied either clay or a lot of layers of slip, it would be more durable. Another thought for making it more durable, how about using fine silver bezel as the core and using PMC over that for more decorating? I don't have any large holed beads :cry: but would like to try some! Please post pics if you give it a try! Sonje

[Sue in Maine]

Sonje,

I'll work on a big holed bead for you to experiment on but, you know me, I'm a workin'on it. Don't expect it next week! Heck, we can try it with my pmc when we get together for the pmc playday.

Hmmmm, now to make a decent big holed bead. Moretti or boro? Boro melts so slow but I won't have as serious a cracking issue. Will keep you posted... ha, me? Probably not but I'm a workin'on it!

Sue

[Rose Leslie]

Gee! Can I come and play. Only to darned far away to come and do this. I will make a fugley bead and try it. Will see if any of my PMC is good any more. It hasn't been opened for ever. Let me see what you all have done.

[MaryBeth]

I took a class with Nana Mizushima and she told me she has done this. But instead of lining a finished bead with PMC she made a silver core bead with end caps (think of a tube with end caps). She then fired and finished the silver bead. The finished PMC silver tube was placed on a dipped mandrel and then the bead was built over the silver tube.

This looks really nice if you build a hollow over the silver core. I think Barbara Becker Simon has done some beads like this also. I imagine you would have to be careful to not melt the silver bead but silver does have a higher melting point than soft glass. And bead annealing temperatures will not harm the PMC silver at all.

I know this is not exactly what you are talking about but it seems like a cool way to cap a bead. It is on my list of things to do!

[SadiesJewels]

Julia ... there are a number of places in Southern CA for metal tubing - David Fell is down there I believe. Further away (by mail I presume) is metalliferous - they have an annoying pdf catalog online (I hate pdf files for catalogs) but they have a huge selection of tubing.

Not much help on the pmc but it sounds very cool too.

Sadie

[Juliac]

Thanks everyone for the ideas. I already have a couple of beads, the holes are about 3/4". A customer saw one and asked for me to make "something". The bead hole is a little unpolished-kinda rough. Which is why I want to line it or finish it better. The bead as a whole is 1" across. I'll try and take a picture. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking, maybe if I put some disks on either side w/ a nice pattern and used it in a peice like that. HMMM.......

[EvanH]

I took a class with Nana Mizushima and she told me she has done this. But instead of lining a finished bead with PMC she made a silver core bead with end caps (think of a tube with end caps). She then fired and finished the silver bead. The finished PMC silver tube was placed on a dipped mandrel and then the bead was built over the silver tube.

This looks really nice if you build a hollow over the silver core. I think Barbara Becker Simon has done some beads like this also. I imagine you would have to be careful to not melt the silver bead but silver does have a higher melting point than soft glass. And bead annealing temperatures will not harm the PMC silver at all.

I know this is not exactly what you are talking about but it seems like a cool way to cap a bead. It is on my list of things to do!

The biggest problem you're going to run into if you use PMC to line a large hole bead and then fire the PMC, is that the PMC will shrink after firing. Due to this the silver core will always be loose fitting in the silver bead. The amount of shrinkage you get will depend on the type of PMC you used. Also depending on how much you flare the ends of you're PMC core out over the open end of the bead, if the shrinkage is too much the core will simply fall out. PMC makes a good exterior bezel because as it shrinks it captures what is set in the bezel, however it does not make a good interior 'item'.
Hope that helps some....

[Juliac]

Thanks Evan- scratch that idea. That's exactly what I was trying to do.

[EvanH]

Thanks Evan- scratch that idea. That's exactly what I was trying to do.

Sorry - didn't want to spoil your fun. Check out the free video on my website on how to put a silver core into your large hole beads. The process is really fairly easy and once you learn how to do it you can put a silver core into any size hole pretty quickly. www.dawnandevan.com/tutorials.htm

[Juliac]

Thanks Evan, will do. Tour tuts are great!!!!!

[WildBird]

I have been playing with all sorts of other media along with my glass for some time now. I have found that the Thompson Gold pen fired with one or more layers, at 1100 for just a minute and then cool off kiln back down does work.
You end up with a really shiny gold surface. That might look really good on the inside for some beads.
The other idea is that I have purchase the little glass bottle of liquid PMC silver from Frantz and although I haven't tried it yet on the inside of the big hole bead,,, you can be sure that today I am going to! I have several dragon's and some florals that I have done on the big hole mandrel and you have given me inspiration to 'finish' them.
Good luck on your mission! I hope I have also given you some inspiration.

SMA
WildBird Beads

[Islandgirl]

Sonje,

I'll work on a big holed bead for you to experiment on but, you know me, I'm a workin'on it. Don't expect it next week! Heck, we can try it with my pmc when we get together for the pmc playday.

Sue


So guys when and where is this PMC play date? Actually I'm off the NC mid feb to take a PMC and enameling class...
I can make the big holed beads for play day if you want but I think based on the rest of this thread we should use tubing and PMC endcaps! What size hole do you want...(ie how big is big?) Who has some silver tubing?

Lynne
www.fireballbeeds.com