Texatdurango
Member
I’m working on a pen design and want to make a matching center band and clip. One method I want to try is to use PMC or Precious Metal Clay. The particular clay I chose is .999 fine silver and should look pretty nice when finished.
I could make a clip from scratch and will sooner or later but for this first one I already have one I really like BUT the ring is designed to show and I want to hide my clip ring and only show the clip.
So what do you do when the clip you like has too large of a ring and a clip you don’t like has the perfect ring? Easy, just make a mold of each clip, fashion some PMC then join the two pieces then fire the clip assembly.
The result is a nice silver clip with an inner ring of my choosing.
I will be working on this off and on the next few days and just started the molds for the clips tonight.
This really not meant to be a tutorial but to give anyone interested an idea of what to expect. With PMC selling for $1.50 a gram you don’t want to learn by trial and error. I would recommend getting with a PMC instructor in your area, take a lesson for a few hours then you will be where I am today. Here are some photos showing the progress to give you an idea of how things are going. I will add to them as I progress.
My favorite clip on the left and a clip from another kit.
Here you can see the large ring that I don't want and the smaller ring I do want.
Here is the clip making an imprint in the mold.
Here is the mold ready for the PMC
Here is the other clip making an impression for the smaller ring.
The mold is ready to form the small clip section
If all goes well tomorrow, I will join the two pieces and fire them as one new clip.
I could make a clip from scratch and will sooner or later but for this first one I already have one I really like BUT the ring is designed to show and I want to hide my clip ring and only show the clip.
So what do you do when the clip you like has too large of a ring and a clip you don’t like has the perfect ring? Easy, just make a mold of each clip, fashion some PMC then join the two pieces then fire the clip assembly.
The result is a nice silver clip with an inner ring of my choosing.
I will be working on this off and on the next few days and just started the molds for the clips tonight.
This really not meant to be a tutorial but to give anyone interested an idea of what to expect. With PMC selling for $1.50 a gram you don’t want to learn by trial and error. I would recommend getting with a PMC instructor in your area, take a lesson for a few hours then you will be where I am today. Here are some photos showing the progress to give you an idea of how things are going. I will add to them as I progress.
My favorite clip on the left and a clip from another kit.
Here you can see the large ring that I don't want and the smaller ring I do want.
Here is the clip making an imprint in the mold.
Here is the mold ready for the PMC
Here is the other clip making an impression for the smaller ring.
The mold is ready to form the small clip section
If all goes well tomorrow, I will join the two pieces and fire them as one new clip.