Commercial findings have their place, but when a designer can meld function with form, it is the best solution and tends to make a more successful and pleasing piece of jewelry.
Since [most] PMC is fine silver, the implantation of any piece of fine silver wire will survive the highest firing schedule. [However], relying on fine silver of any gauge would be a mistake when the finding needs to have tensile strength in order to function properly. Without the presence of the small amount of copper as in sterling silver, fine silver wire cannot be work hardened for strength.
A red flag should wave when considering implanting sterling into PMC. At temperatures above 1200? F, sterling's molecular structure will begin to change... Therefore, it is preferable to use PMC 3 at the 1110? F temperature.
Another change that sterling undergoes when heated in the presence of oxygen is the formation of copper oxide, or firescale. Firescale can be dealt with in a number of ways. Click here to read more about the best ways to embed findings in metal clay and Barbara's firescale solutions.
Learn More:
Nothing compares to metal clay for making hollow forms with texture and complex forms that would be much more time consuming using traditional metalworking techniques. Whether you join for 2, 3, or 5 days, explore a variety of bead making techniques with Barbara Becker Simon, in PMC Bead-O-Rama on from July 29 through August 2.