ACS inlay on stone

[lennyb]

Can I use ACS to create silver inlays into my stone carvings? There are 2 questions here.
1. Will the ACS bind sufficiently to the stone?
2. Can I safely fire the stone with ACS on it?

I am a lapidary artist, starting to experiment with Jewelry making. I specialize in strange and unusual gemstones and often have only enough material of a particular stone for a single work. I want to try adding inlays into my stone carvings and cabochons by carving lines and grooves and filling them. I have carved inlay pieces, but this places significant limits on the shape and size of the inlay. I am now considering using either epoxy filled with dye or stone/metal chips, or ACS. I know the epoxy will work but I think the ACS would be classier. Can I use it for this purpose?

[Metalman]

There are a number of considerations here. I will do my best to answer clearly.

1. Will the ACS bind sufficiently to the stone? Using Art Clay Overlay Paste will allow you to bind very well to a number of materials, including ceramics, glazes,glass, cubic zirconium..... Whether a specific type of mineral or stone will bond or bind well will have to be tested. This is true for most ideas people have about the metal clays. You will need to test the materials you wish to combine with Art Clay Silver. IF the stone will tolerate 1200°F for a 30 minute firing, then it may bond very well. The Cubic Zirconium works extremely well in my experience.

2. Can I safely fire the stone with ACS on it? You will need to test your stones. There are lists around of tests of different stones used but I personally like to test things myself. One reason is that stone and gems - especially natural stones are all chemically different. This means that the stone you have and test is not the same as the stone I have and test. Also - some stones will test well for the first firing but that firing will change the nature of the stone so that on that second firing - something goes wrong. Man-made stones and stones that are listed as 'cast in place' will fire with Art Clay reliably. A rule of thumb I use is: If I have a number of stones that I can replace and are not too expensive - do the test firings and start building them into ACS if they pass the first test. If the stone is expensive and/or  'one of a kind' then I devise a cold mounting method - bezels, prongs, ??.
Regarding Inlay: The problem here will be the 8 to 10 % shrinkage of the Art Clay Silver. You could fill an inlay but after firing you will have separations around the infill. You could then refill/repair these separations [cracks] and fire again. Most likely you will need to fire a minimum of 3 times [a lot of strain on a natural stone, a CZ will take it]After all that firing, you will probably find that you need to do a repolish on the inlay area to make the stone surface and the inlay surface match. IT COULD LOOK STUNNING - but a lot or work and risk.  I do this sort of thing all the time with a variety of materials. Most of my pieces are fired between 3 and 8 times before finishing.


Hope this does the trick - ask further as need arises.