mirror finish

[Metalman]

High polish finishes are hard to do.
It is critical to have very clean work habits.  When you are finished with one grit size, you want to rinse well and carefully so as to remove all of that size grit before you start the next smaller size.  You will not save any time going to a smaller grit before the proper finish work is done at the coarser level.  Going smaller to soon will make your sanding take longer and potentially cause other problems.  I generally try to change sanding directions each time I change grits, that way I can get the light across the piece and see if I have removed all of the scratches from the previous grit. This is painstaking work to get to a high quality finish.

With ACS, if I want a high finish. it starts in the design phase and as I start the piece.  You need to make absolutely sure there are no bubbles or gaps in the clay as you start to build the piece.  I do a little extra kneading to make sure.  Once it is built and dry, I burnish the dryed  clay [careful here as it is delicate at this stage] then i sand with 400 grit, 600grit, 1200 grit [sometimes 2000 grit] and then I burnish again.   [check and make sure your burnisher has a high polish as well]
Once i have gone through all of these stages and inspected for flaws and scratches, I am ready to fire the piece.  After firing, I check for flaws and scratches and decide if I need to do paste, clay repairs and fire again or sand out the flaw.  When I start sanding after firing I burnish, then 600grit, 1200 grit, 2000grit and at this point I hand polish with one of the various polishing clothes.  I have had good results with this method but finishes on metal clays are inherently slightly duller then those you can get in hammered, machine rolled sterling silver.  It has to do with the molecular structure.
Hope this helps

[Metalman]

You can get sets of rubber polishing wheels which usually have 4 stages of grits from coarse to extra fine. This is something to get used to.  Your dremel speed with a coarse grit can/could really tear through the Silver Clay which tends to be somewhat soft.  You will want to be careful here.  I rarely use coarse, I usually start with medium grit.  You will still need to do you beginning work with the sand papers.
There is/are no easy outs on this.  If you want a high polish, its just work.

[kfrazi]

PLEASE HELP. For some reason I cannot seem to be able to get a mirror finish, no matter how I try to finish my piece. I have used up to a 1200 grit paper and a branisher. any suggestion???

[Metalfairy]

How would I use a dremel tool to get a mirror finish?

[dubmblond]

I got good result on a high gloss by as you already said before firing. I look at the work with a verry strong magnifing glass and a wet paintbrush. After fiting I work the silver "tite" with a bunisher and after that buff with a buffing machine and a fine woven linnen buff(a dremel will work to but the buffing wheels are smaller and tend to make more marks than a big wheel) I use white fat polish for the first buff and finally buff with a lose cotten hairy buff with rouge
Hope this will help you good luck