Silver Clay Slow Dry 650 and beads

[brenny]

Hi everyone!!

I am new to the group and pretty new to making jewelry!  I was wondering if anyone knew if you could fire (in a kiln or a torch) a bead in the silver slow dry 650 clay???

Your help would be greatly appreciated!!!!   

Brenda

[Russ Nobbs]

Hi Brenda, Welcome to our forums!

I'm unclear about your question. Do you mean can you make a bead out of ACS clay?  Yes you can.

Or are you asking if you can cover a bead with ACS and fire it?

That will depend on the type of material of the bead and if the ACS entirely cover the bead. Glass beads, some stone beads  and some metal beads can be ornamented with Art Clay. Because of differing rates of expansion and contraction might not work to completely cover an existing bead with ACS.

You are getting into an area that requires some experimentation on your part. Let us know what types of beads, if that is what you are asking about. We might be able to give some advice.

[Metalman]

Brenda,
 Russ has it correct there. If you are torch firing you could make a bead - probably solid [up to about 25 gms] and torch fire it.
Hollow beads can be made using cork clay as a core [or other 'organic' materials like wood or seed pods or ...] but thesemust be kiln fired - you need the combustion control that the kiln gives you. The torch causes everything to burn too fast - making for complications.
You can also build clay over porcelain, glass and ceramics - again complications and experimentation required but certainly doable.
These also need to be kiln fired. I can tell you more when you reply - there are also discussions about all of these methods deeper into the forum here.
Hope this helps
Kurt

[brenny]

Hi Russ and Kurt!!

Thanks for your warm welcome!!  I apologize for not making myself clear in my question!!  But what I was asking was could I add a bead to a pendant that I made with ACS and fire it in a kiln?  I was a little scared to try as my husband just got me the kiln for Christmas, didn't want to blow up my house that soon  !!!!  I am looking forward to experimenting, but I just wanted to make sure that placing a normal bead in a piece (like earrings or a necklace pendant)  I made by ACS wouldn't do anything crazy or hazardous to my kiln.

Do I make sense?

Brenda

[Russ Nobbs]

Hi again,
You want to add a beads to an existing piece made from ACS.
What is the bead made out of? That is, What sort of bead is it that you want to incorporate into your piece?