Metal clay, or precious metal clay, is a type of clay metal compound used for making jewelry, art, and crafts. It is metal in clay form.
Significance
With the advent of metal clay in the 1990s by metallurgist Dr. A. Morikawa of Japan, a whole new branch of art and jewelry creation and design was formed.
Function
Metal clay's function is primarily for jewelry making, and arts and crafts.
Types
There are two basic types of precious metal clay. One consists of particles of .999 fine silver; the other is 24-karat gold.
Benefits
The benefits of using metal clay are that it allows for malleability and workability with fine silver and 24kt gold metals, as opposed to previous strenuous processes of sheet metal fabrication, casting, and other difficult, costly and time-consuming processes.
Potential
Working with metal clay is similar to working with polymer clays in that almost anything that a person can create with polymer clay can be created with metal clays. As of 2009, there were two primary manufacturers of metal clay: Precious Metal Clay (PMC) and Art Clay Silver (ACS). A beginning source of information on the subject is available at pmcsupply.com.
