Use masking tape to hold pieces of fired metal clay together, it will burn off in the kiln. Some pieces don't sit nicely by themselves because of shape irregularities. So I used long strips of masking tape to hold them together and then I applied oil paste. Oil paste doesn't have much pre-firing grab, so you want to avoid moving things around before it goes into the kiln. This is especially true when joining two or more large pieces. You can always apply more oil paste on a subsequent firing to increase the strength, if needed. I didn't use a whole lot of tape, just enough to provide stability. The masking tape left a small bit of ash. Anyway, just a little construction strategy you can use .
~ Gordon Uyehara, http://home.hawaii.rr.com/energies/

If you have a similar problem, but taping does not seem to be working for you, you can create a form fitting nest with cork clay, jeweler's investment, fiber blanket, or some other material that can either take the heat or burn out nicely to help hold the pieces in the right configuration long enough.
~ Mary Ellin D'Agostino, PhD, http://www.medacreations.com

According to instructions, you're not supposed to fire Oil Paste higher than 1560 F. I've been told that at higher temperatures the Oil Paste might pit or distort your repair/addition. I did fire at 1600 F. once, a while ago and did have some discoloration/slight pitting, so have not repeated that temp. You might do well 100 times but that 101st time may have problems. So, there's no reason to fire that high anyway. Once the piece is silver, you might as well
follow the directions, right?

Jackie Trudy, http://www.artclayworld.com

Setting A Gem in a Fired Metal Clay Piece with Oil Paste
I needed to fix a cracked gem in a finished piece. The challenge was to remove the gem and reset another one. I removed the gem by cracking the rest of it and grinding out the the rest with a diamond bit in a dremel. I then filed the silver clean with a needle file.
I lined the new hole with oil paste and put the gem in (so it would
stay and not move around). Then I added the gem. Finally, I put four
evenly spaced dots of paste overlapping the stone and the edge. They
were to act like little prongs. The paste needed to touch finished
silver to work, I assumed. I cleaned it up, Fired at 1470 for 30 mins.
The paste adhered to the gem as well as the silver.
If I get some time, I'll post a picture.
~ Holly Gage

Balls of Clay
Even sized balls. I roll out a nice uniform snake of clay and then I cut at even intervals, I take each section and use my finger to gently roll the section in the palm of my hand.
Holly Gage

You roll out a slab of clay then use those round Kemper cutters of whatever size you want for various sized balls that you then roll in your hand. That way they are "calibrated" to the size of the cutter and the thickness of you slab, so you can always make the exact same ones if you wish.
Angela Baduel Crispin, http://www.LangeEstLa.com

It's really easy to make identically sized balls of clay. Choose a straw, choose a thickness gauge. Roll out a slab of clay to the desired thickness and cut little circles with the straw. Take the little circles of clay and roll them into a ball in the palm of your hand with the index finger of the other hand. I like to find a place in the lifeline of my left hand to roll the ball in. I've made teeny balls with one card thickness and the smallest cocktail straw I have, and larger ones with two or three card thickness using a boba straw. It's a great technique and easy to do.
Lora Hart, http://www.LoraHart.com

If you have trouble getting rid of cracks in the ball of clay when you roll it in your palms, apply a little more pressure and the cracks will disappear.
Mary Ellin D'Agostino, http://www.medacreations.com

Fine silver balls. Buy fine silver wire. Cut in identical size lengths according to the size "balls" you want. Put them in a line on a firing block. Pull out the torch and fire the wire from one end to the other until it rolls into a ball. Remove torch.With fine silver wire, they don't get firescale. The best part is that I've found the bottom of the ball ends up flat. Perfect to keep it from rolling around on the piece you're working on. I usually do up a batch of different sizes and keep them handy for when I need them.

Bezels (Also see Flexible Clay)
Use Celie Fago's brass tubes for cutting out bezels in the wet clay for stone setting. Cabs or faceted. Roll out a 1mm slab of clay. Cut a circle out with a large brass tube. Then cut out the center of this circle by using another brass tube with an outside diameter the same as the outside diameter of your stone. Place your stone in the center... you know the rest. Or, just take your work and cut out the setting for your stone. After firing it will have somewhat of a flush setting.
Jerri Duncan

Here's how I teach students to make lump clay bezels. First roll a ball of clay
larger than the stone. Place the stone right next to the ball, culet side up and use an acrylic roller or CD case to flatten the ball until the very tip of the culet comes in contact with the plastic. I sometimes stop a bit short. Now the ball is the exact thickness of the stone. Don't use too much pressure when flattening. If the culet presses into the plastic, the setting might be too shallow. Dab a little water on the ball, cover with plastic wrap for about 45 seconds to let the water soak in and hydrate the clay. Put a little divot in the ball for the culet to rest in, set the stone in place and push down until you've properly seated the stone. Then worry about the shape of the bezel. For square, emerald cut and triangle shapes, nothing could be easier than just using a tissue blade to cut the bezel. For round and fancy cuts like stars and flowers, just find a straw or tiny round cutter that is about 1mm large than the stone. For other shapes I use a combination. For hearts and pears, use a straw that safely clears not only the upper section, but the point of the bottom as well. Then use the tissue blade to cut the V. section. Use the edge of the tissue blade to softly round over the sharp angles and voila, a perfectly shaped bezel. For the heart, I just use a pencil tip or a
pin tool to shape the bow. For a marquis shape I do two passes with the straw, one closer to the right side and one closer to the left. Perfect marquis shape.
For a trillion, do a cut with the tissue blade like a triangle, then round it with the edge of the blade. For an oval, simply squash the straw into shape and cut. If there are other shapes I haven't included, I'm sure you can think of a way to make this technique work. Remember to lubricate the inside of the straw. Especially if its a thick setting. I sometimes have to put my mouth over the straw and blow the setting out.
Right after I make the bezel they are fresh enough to place on the base with a little water or slip and will mold themselves to a very fine texture. Pieces with deep texture probably need to be set with syringe, so that the syringe can fill the voids and give you more contact for a good bond. Sometimes I also set the bezels after they have dried. This has the added benefit of being able to sand the bezel to perfection or scribe a design on the rim or sides. Then of course you have to use thick slip or syringe or both. I have three of four dry stones in their settings that are examples for the students to see, but I could certainly set them on a fresh piece of clay any time.
The stones might shift as you're setting them or possibly as you're shaping the
bezel's contours, but then you just have to remember to check that the table of the stone is level before the clay has had a chance to dry.
Lora Hart, http://www.LoraHart.com

Make bezels with metal clay by rolling out a very thin (maybe 1 card thin) sheet of clay, cut to the width necessary for your stone + 1 mm for shrinkage and then set upright and joined (like a ring) on the backing made of PMC. You can take a scan of your stone, or a drawn outline of the stone, enlarge by a factor of the
shrinkage rate of the clay you are using, and then trace the outline with a Sharpie onto the greenware backing. Place the bezel clay following this outline on the backing. I then make a copy of the actual stone out of investment and place it
inside the greenware bezel before firing. This has worked quite well.
Laura Hastings, http://www.rubylane.com/shops/eclectica

Irregular shaped clay bezels. For stones that can be fired you can also make a bezel with a stencil (if you don't mind a rather tedious method, that is). The stencil should be the shape you want on the outside and the hole should be the shape of the stone and slightly smaller than the stone. Roll out clay thick enough to capture the girdle, cut out your clay shape (with the stencil) over wax paper so you can pick it up. Place your stenciled clay over a sturdy object with a hole. The stenciled clay hole should be centered over the supporting object's hole. This is so the pointed bottom of the stone has somewhere to go. Position the stone over your clay hole and gently push it down level into the clay. The girdle has to be captured within the clay for it to hold. This takes some practice. After it is dry, you can gently sand it and then paste it into position.
I drilled a hole into a wood ball for this purpose. The ball's surface
creates a convex bezel.
-Gordon Uyehara, http://home.hawaii.rr.com/energies/

To make bezels for odd shaped stones, press the stone into a small piece of clay so that the girdle of the stone is a little below the surface of the clay. Allow it to dry, then carve away at the exterior until you get the desired look. You can try shaping it
while wet, but usually this distorts the clay too much. Remove stone from dried, carved bezel and carve/drill a hole behind the stone. This will keep the stone from being forced too far upward as the clay shrinks. Use solo or add to another piece. Replace cleaned stone and fire.
Mary Ellin D'Agostino, PhD, http://www.medacreations.com

What I would do is make sure that the stone was bigger at the base like a
calibrated cabochon. Then roll out a bit of clay 3 to 6 mm, set the stone on the clay, trace a line about 2 mm away from the stone and then cut the exact shape of the stone out with your exacto knife. Put the unused clay away and set this 'bezel' on whatever base clay you have chosen and set the stone in place. As usual, clean everything up on the bezel as your design demands and then dry and fire. Remember it will always depend on the fireable stone you choose.
Lorrene Davis, http://www.freewebs.com/ljdavisdesigns/index.htm

Fine Silver Bezels. Some people size the bezel, insert directly into deep clay, and fire as usual. Bezel wire is fine silver, so it's compatible for use with PMC without getting firescale. This method works best with small stones. For bigger stones, you'll get distortion as the clay shrinks around the bezel.

I've borrowed my method from silversmith/fabrication techniques using a two-part firing process. I make my PMC design, allowing enough room for shrinkage, and fire. Now I size and mount my bezel using PMC paste and syringe and fire again. The piece has already shrunk, so there's no worry about the bezel distorting. Just remember to allow for the shrinkage and don't get too much paste or syringe inside the bezel, so the stone will fit back in correctly.
Linda Kline

Adding a fine silver bezel to fired and finished metal clay piece.
After firing the base, place the bezel down where you want it to be. Then I take a pointed tool and scribe a line around the bezel so when you pick up the bezel, you could see where it would be. Then apply a line of Art Clay oil paste on top of the scribed line. The paste should be twice as thick as the line. Then place your bezel centered on top of the oil paste line thereby having paste on the inside of the bezel and paste on the outside of the bezel -- no filling gaps. Oil paste fresh from the bottle is the right consistency to smooth itself out and it looks very clean.

I think it could also me adapted to embedding the fine silver bezel wire into fresh clay. Just push your bezel into the clay enough to mark it, lift, add the slip or syringe on top of the marked line, center the bezel on the slip line and push the bezel into the clay. Add paper clay placeholder after it dries for larger bezels and Presto, nice and clean.
~ Holly Gage

Ball Setting a gemstones.
Using fresh clay, I roll the ball and then dab a bit of water on it with a brush and let it soak in. This prevents the ball from cracking when I press the gemstone in.
Holly Gage

Tube Bezels are clean and easy when you use precious metal clay tube extruder, so here is a description and a pictorial "How to" .
~ Holly Gage

Blending and Smoothing
Smooth out the edges of a hole you've just cut (e.g., for a
jumpring, etc.), twirl a damp brush in the hole.

Smoothing a joint in unfired clay, alternate brushing with
oil and water while you're smoothing.
Celie Fago, http://www.CelieFago.com

Breakage
Pieces break for 3 reasons:
1) They are not engineered well (breaking at joins)
2) The piece or area where it broke or both are not thick enough. This is fine silver and cannot be made as thin as sterling pieces.
3) The piece is not firing long enough, or hot enough. The binder in the piece has not been fired out completely and the silver is not completely sintered. A kiln is the absolute best way to fire, then perhaps the Ultralite, Speedfire Cone and Torch. There are human variables that come into play with all but the kiln. So it may not be the source of heat but user error as well.
Tonya Davidson, http://www.wholelottawhimsy.com

If you are going to use a torch, propane or butane, you need to heat until it is a nice orange color (best seen with the lights either off or shaded so you can see the true color). Then you need to fire it for at least 10 minutes at a constant temperature without melting it. Unless you have a fair amount of experience with using a torch, this is hard to do...even for those of us who are used to using a torch for soldering. Consider this, when a ring is fired in a kiln, I usually fire it at 1450 or 1500 degrees for 10 or 15 minutes and then let it cool without opening the kiln door until the temp is down to around 250.
Ed Dibble (edible)

Coils and Snakes (also see syringe below)
Cracks in a Coil. After rolling out a coil (snake) moisten all sides with a damp brush and allow a moment (or two) for the moisture to soak in "before" you try to manipulate it. This will keep those nasty cracks from happening.

To get a smooth even coil: Roll the clay into an oval in your palms (with no cracks). Then use a smooth flat surface to roll out the coil -- a piece of Plexiglas, the bottom of your (badger) balm, a brass plate, or whatever. Apply just enough pressure to keep elongating the coil. Too much pressure and you will just squash
it. This is great for people who have trouble making even coils using their fingers and hands.
Mary Ellin D'Agostino, http://www.medacreations.com

Using an acrylic sheet with a handle glued on. Makes rolling out an even
snake a dream.
Lorrene Davis, http://www.freewebs.com/ljdavisdesigns/index.htm

Use a clear CD case lid as a roller, instead of plastic acrylic. I just trimmed off the 'tabs' which attach it to the rest of the CD case and then hold the whole thing by it's upper edges when rolling out coils.
Jerri Duncan

Cork clay
When working with cork clay, ramp up the kiln slowly to give the cork a chance to burn out, which will happen around 800 degrees or so. This will prevent overheating, which can occur if the cork is still burning at higher temperatures, resulting in cracks or melting. Ventilation is highly recommended.
~ Holly Gage

Creativity
Try this exercise. Sketch 4 thumbnail sketches of one idea , then do just one more. The first will probably be nice, but the 5th will have taken you to a whole new creative place. Throw out the first 4.
~ Holly

Drawing on bone dry clay.
You can draw with a pencil directly on the clay for guide lines before you carve or lay down a design or syrringed clay. Use a light touch and a regular number 2 pencil.

Drawing or scribing lines on the surface of the clay with a pin tool (See engraving)

Drying out or Dried Clay
In general, if you see cracking edges when you start making your impression, the clay is too dry, so ball it up immediately and knead it with a bit of water in plastic wrap, let it sit for a minute or two and add more water a small bit at a time if more is needed. If you can make a ball and squash it in your fingers and see no cracking your good to go.

Totally Dried Clay.
Poke holes in the Metal Clay and wet it all over (preferably with distilled water, which doesn't get moldy) and wrap it up in plastic and let it sit for quite a while, keep adding more water and rewrapping until it starts to bend. Eventually, you will be able to start to knead it. At that point, only add water a bit at a time so that you do not over due it. Sometimes I get a pretty good consistency that way, and other times I add a bit of gel glue toward the end of the process to get a better consistency. I don't think it ever will get like it was fresh from the package, but you will get something very usable.
Holly Gage

If the clay seems to dry out in your hands quickly and you have dry hands.... Go wash your hands in warm water, getting them good and hydrated. Then apply your olive oil or balm to lock the moisture in. Very dry hands can pull the moisture from the silver clay and greasing up dry hands just gives you dry greasy hands.
Mary Ellin D'Agostino, http://www.medacreations.com

CoolTools.us --- Mardel Reins ClayMate hand cream. In addition to keeping my
hands shielded, it seems to keep the clay from drying out too fast.
Lorrene Davis, http://www.freewebs.com/ljdavisdesigns/index.htm

Squirted some syringe clay on to flattened lump and fold that in as you knead. This works well to help rejuvenate the lump because it not only adds in pristine clay but the syringe clay has more moisture.
~ Gordon Uyehara, http://home.hawaii.rr.com/energies/

To Dry Out Metal Clay
If I'm in a hurry, I swear by the coffee cup warmer or the smallest Salton 6 X 6 size glass warming plate. If the piece is to remain flat (like a charm) however, you need to keep turning it ( every 15 mins. is my rule) carefully to avoid warping. Don't forget the mirror test to check if it's dry...if you lay the piece on a mirror, or wide tissue blade, anything shiny...and pick it up, if you see any condensation or even a hint of moisture, put it back on the warmer until you don't!
~ Sarasota Sarah, http://www.sarahtritonstudio.com

A dehydrator is great because it dries it evenly from all around, and faster.

Better than a coffee warmer is putting it in the oven at 325 for 10 minutes, but I realize that you can use a mug warmer without getting up for your work area.
~Elaine Luther
http://www.CreativeTextureTools.com (TM)

Earing wires (also see Embedding Wire or Sheet Metal in Metal Clay below)
To fasten ear wires to earrings:
1. Push in while wet, or attach with clay, when dry, a length of 20 gauge fine silver wire
2. Attach a commercial earring post. I use Stainless steel posts with a pad.
Again, push into the wet clay or attach with more clay to a dry piece. Make sure the base is well covered. I brush some paste onto the post to prevent it from turning black..
Alcina Nolley, http://www.alcinanolley.com

Embedding Wire or Sheet Metal in Metal Clay
Any advice to make sure the sterling silver doesn't get brittle?
Yes, fire at the lower temperatures -- try 1290 for 10 minutes. In addition, if you raise a fine silver surface on the sterling before firing, you don't have to clean it up after firing. To do this, alternately heat the sterling (with torch or in kiln) until it turns dark and then pickle (in jeweler's pickle, citric acid, or vinegar) until it turns white again. Repeat 2-3 times until it doesn't darken when heated. Then embed and fire.
The hotter/longer you heat sterling, the more brittle it will become.
Mary Ellin D'Agostino, http://www.medacreations.com

To safely fire sterling earwires in place, don't let the temperature rise above 1300 F. Sterling silver melts and starts degrading at a lower temperature than fine silver.
~ Lora Hart

The hotter/longer you heat sterling, the more brittle it will become. This is the main reason I do not use sterling. When you are using the silver depletion method of bringing a fine silver coating to the surface of the sterling, you are depleting the copper alloy in the sterling silver. The copper was added to the silver to make the silver harder.... So it wouldn't bend as easily as Sterling. When you use the depletion method, you are degrading all of the sterling because you are REMOVING THE COPPER at the surface. In addition, when you are using the depletion technique you are lowering your profit margin by:
1)    Adding extra time to the construction of the work
2)    Using sterling... the work is now not all pure silver, and must be marked as such
3)    A lot of women are allergic to the copper in sterling. The depletion method is good at the point of sale but iffy with a lot of wear. Which could affect later sales.
This is a way cool method on large items...I have used it many times.
All of my tests of firing 19 to 20 gauge sterling wire at a low temp of 1110 - 1200 has created a very brittle bunch of ear wires. It might not break right away, but it will ...I promise. So, I have taken to using fine silver wire in my ear posts. Now, the long, artful, wires do get misshapen with use.... so I steer away from using .999 in some of those instances. That is the only time soldering could be useful for me. But, I rarely solder. I don't like the look of the back of the earrings of puddled solder that discolors. And I don't like to clean messes on the back. I suggest doing your own testing. Try firing sterling wire in the kiln or torch it. Then do the bend test. Count the number of bends it takes to break the fired wire in relation to the number of bends for the unfired sterling. We women are hard on our jewelry. Just my point of view.
Lorrene Davis, http://www.freewebs.com/ljdavisdesigns/index.htm

 Fine silver wire will be softer than the sterling silver, but it certainly can be fired with the metal clay to the strength needed to fully sinter the metal clay. For ear wires, I have yet to have one break or bend significantly in 21-gauge wire. It certainly will not become brittle and break off. I've used fine silver wire embedded in metal clay with success for a couple of years now and no complaints.
~ Karen Rossman

It is important to creating a mechanical inner link so the Metal Clay shrinks around the wire and prevents it from coming out with time if nothing were done -- my experience is that it does at one point, start to move depending on the design used, such as ear posts for example. Some people make a loop at the end of a wire, which is to be embedded, an omega or a figure 8 or whatever in order to lock the wire in the clay through the shrinking. This method does however, use up a lot more wire, and when the clay shrinks, but wire doesn't, your design can get distorted. So to avoid this extra thickness in the clay, which would be really obvious after firing, I cut my wire just about 1/2 cm longer then needed and hammer it spreading the ends flat. The clay shrinks around that preventing the wire from slipping out. Since it's flat there's also no extra width or any major warping.
The hammered ends of sterling silver wire when embedding it in Metal Clay create the lock and key system, using less wire and without an outer bump looks like it was soldered with no trace of the wire what so ever since the wire is flat inside yet rounded outside. This is how I embed almost all my wire.
~ Angela B. Crispin, http://www.LAngeEstLa.com

Engraving on Metal Clay - greenware stage
I often let the clay get bone dry and draw on the clay with a pencil as a guide. Then I take my pin tool and "lightly" scribe a "starter" line. I say lightly because this will set a grooved path for your pin tool to follow as you go over the lines a couple times making it deeper with each pass. I don't like to go deeply the first time around for several reasons: 1. If I go lightly and I don't like placement of my letters I can just sand it out vs corrective surgery with my paste: 2. I have better control of the line quality.
I like to hand scribe because things are in my own handwriting and I can better control line weight and quality.

To make wider lines, on a second or third pass I'll angle my tool a bit 15 degrees outward - not straight up and down anymore, but how you would angle a pencil when you are writing. This opens up the line a bit by beveling the edge.

To clean up scratchy looking lines, I'll use a fine brush with a tiny bit of water to smooth it out.

I think varying line weight and depth can help focus your eye to one part of the piece or other. Thick deeper lines add emphasis while light thin line are more subtle.

Another method that works for me is wetting the piece from the back and letting it soak in until dried enough to flip over to work on the front. What's the point? Well, if I were to wet the surface in the front, it reactivates the clay and it gets "pasty" and then my tool would drag the paste and the line would not be clean. BUT, if I wet it from the back the front still has a dry "skin" on it and my tool can go in deeper and more smoothly without surface drag. I'd experiement with this one because I had to get a "feel" for it before it worked for me.
~ Holly Gage

Finishing (See prefinishing, polishing and tumbling)
Prefinishing. Burnishing the greenware before firing.. helps compress the dry clay a bit. Removes some of those air spaces created when the water evaporates... also enables one to have a head start on a mirror finish.

Finish as much of your piece as you can before you fire. Don't be in a rush to get it to the kiln. File and file and then when you think you are done, file some more! Don't forget #2 when filing.
Jerri Duncan

Mirror finish. Greenware. Sand smooth using sponge backed sanding pads. Work you way up from coarse to fine going through 1500, 2400, 4000, 12000 grits. Be sure to wear a magnifying visor while you're working. That will help you spot any problems. If you notice any divots or scratches along the way, fill them and re-sand. It's much easier to fix in this stage than after it's fired.

Gently burnish with an agate burnisher. I believe you get a better finish this way, but it also serves another purpose. Any little scratches and divots you might have missed will become apparent after you burnish. If you need to go back and fill anything, hit it with the 2400 or 4000 grit sanding sponge again first. Paste and syringe don't stick well after it's been burnished, so you have to rough it up again.
Once it's completely free of all marks and burnished smooth you can fire it.

Post Firing Finishing. Brush with a soft brass brush and burnish with an agate burnisher, taking care not to scratch the surface. Sand with wet/dry sandpaper going through 600, 1000, and 1500 grits. Rinse and alternate direction of sanding between each grit. Begin polishing with Tri-m-ite polishing paper, working your way through Green, Gray, Blue, Pink, and Mint in that order. I don't bother with the white as I find it does more harm than good. Again, rinse and alternate direction of sanding between grits. Finish up with Wenol metal polish, buffing with a super soft flannel cloth.
Pam East, http://www.pinzart.com/

If you find a divot when polishing after firing, you should fill it and re-fire instead of trying to polish or sand it away. You will save yourself loads of time and trouble!
Mary Ellin D'Agostino, http://www.medacreations.com

Firing
It’s all about the sintering.
Understanding sintering basics :
Fine silver metal clay is made up of particles of fine silver and an organic binder and water. The binder and water is what allows the silver to be flexible and moldable. It is the ability for the binder and water to be removed and the remaining fine silver particles to sinter together and form a solid piece of metal that is the magic of Metal Clay. The binder and water are removed with intense heat, either by the heat of a torch or kiln and other devices on the market.  Next the small particles of metal sinter together. Sintering my definition is to form a coherent mass by heating without melting. In this case joining particles of silver to create a solid mass.

 Key Concept: Fire as hot as you can and as long as you can allowable for your project for the strongest most durable end product. 1650 for 2 hrs PMC; 1653 for 2 hours Art Clay.

The sintering of the metal is the key element in the process. At the lower temperatures of the firing schedule, the silver particles sinter together, but it is NOT a full sinter leaving microscopic spaces. At higher temperatures the metal DOES fully sinter and becomes a more dense material. Ok, what does this mean? This means at all levels of firing on the firing schedule you will get a hard piece of metal, however at the lower temperatures the metal will not hold up to the same amount of abuse, wear and tear, and stress as a piece fired at the higher temperatures. Pieces fired at the highest temperature not only fully sinter, but the metal can actually be gently bend without breaking. There are reasonable uses for some of the lower firing temperatures such as glass, gem and fire-in-place inclusions, but usage of the final item, construction, and design should be considered. For instance earrings and pins get less wear and tear than rings so firing at those low temperatures for a ring would not be prudent. Also delicate parts or construction like filigree or prongs need high firing also. In fact, I never fire at the 1110-firing schedule since my “personal” feeling is the strength is compromised. I hear too many reports of breakage and have experienced some myself in my newbie days.

I was told firing at 1650 for 15 minutes is almost as good as firing for 2 hours, is this true?

There have been tests conducted by the PMC Guild (.com), which can be found on their site that suggests when firing at 1650 at 15 minutes compared to a 2 hour firing, there was a small advantage to firing for 2 hours, but the different was very small. For this reason teachers may choose to use the shorter firing time during a class setting without compromising the strength of the given project.

So Why A Full Firing Schedule?
There are factors that need to be considered before selecting your firing schedule. One firing schedule does not fit all projects:

•Thickness of the clay. Is your project thick enough to hold up to wear and tear or should you fire at higher temperatures to avoid breakage.

 • Manipulation and use of the end item. Will the piece need to be worked further requiring shaping bending or hammering? Will it get a lot of abuse such as a ring or bracelet would.

• Are there inclusions? Are you firing in place glass, gems, or inclusions that require a lower firing schedule? If so, you may need to alter the clay thickness, design of the piece, and consider the stress on its end use.  A new sturdier construction plan may also need to be considered.

The two brands of Metal Clay, PMC and Art Clay, work much the same way and they both provide a firing schedule for the each item in their product line.  However, one thing they forget to mention is that the lower firing clays can be fired at the higher temperatures. All Silver Metal Clays can be fired as high as 1650 for 15 mins. to 2 hours. Let me again emphasize that all projects should be fired as high as they can with consideration of the inclusions for strongest most durable results.
~ Holly Gage

Flexible Clay and Additives (Also See Glycerin below)

Olive Oil
I use olive oil rather than glycerin. Rub a thin layer of olive oil onto the plastic or teflon sheet, roll out the metal clay (for the bezels I make, they are usually two to three cards thick), let the metal clay air dry (very important!). It will absorb the olive oil as it dries.

If the metal clay is dried by quicker methods than air drying, the flexibility
of the bezel wire will be compromised.

The trick to using the olive oil is to get the right mix. Same as with glycerin, if too much is added it will change the consistency of the metal clay and
would compromise the strength of the bezel. I usually dab my fingertip into the olive oil and rub it onto the plastic sheet. This is enough to create a thin, even layer of olive oil, which in turn is enough to soak into the bezel wire. To make sure the olive oil is spread evenly, hold the plastic sheet up so light reflects off of it. If you see some of the plastic showing through then
add just a touch more.

I have to confess, I've been using olive oil successfully so have not made much of an attempt to experiment with the glycerin. Although I do have a bottle and will eventually use it. So as far as comparing the strength, Mary Ellin's explanation about how glycerin might affect the
strength of metal clay would also apply to olive oil.
Best regards,
Jeanette Landenwitch

Glycerine (also see Sheet Metal and Wire out of Clay)
Extend the working time of PMC by adding a few drops of glycerine
Make slow dry clay by adding 2 drops of glycerin to 20 grams clay, mist
with water, mush in plastic wrap and wait an hour.

It's true that you can extend the working time of PMC by adding a few drops of glycerine, but here is a trade-off: Extending the working time is appealing, but when we've finished our work, we want the clay to dry and harden. Because the pieces never really dry, they are fragile during assembly and when moving to the kiln. The other downside is that glycerine-treated PMC will be difficult to bind to itself. If you are constructing pieces with several layers or elements, you'll have trouble making these parts stick together.
Tim McCreight, http://www.PMCguild.com

Smear on a thin layer of glycerin then let it dry. No mixing it in. The glycerin seeps into the wet clay and does the same great job of making it flexible when dry, but without the work of working it in."
Celie Fago, http://www.celiefago.com

Once you add the glycerin to the clay and get it all worked in, the metal clay, it is back to it's original claylike state. At this point you can roll it on textures or do what ever you do to regular clay. But when it's dry it will be very flexible. Really cool.

The clay is totally dry but still flexible. I dried my piece overnight and also on a hot plate after adding some paste to some low areas and the clay with the glycerin was still very pliable.
Paige

While there are many interesting and desirable affects from adding substances like glycerine to metal clay, such additions will not make the end product stronger. They affect the working characteristics of the clays before firing.

They MAY also cause a more brittle or "weaker" end product after
firing. Diluting your clay with other substances spreads the metal
particles further apart and the end product is likely to be more porous and brittle than the original formulation of the clay. Ever
notice that a piece made from paste needs to be thicker than one made
of clay to achieve the same strength level? Ever notice that a
strand of syringe (no tip!) when fired is not as strong as a strand/coil made by rolling out clay to the same thickness? These
more dilute forms of metal clays are not quite as dense or "strong"
as the clay type. Please keep this in mind when you create pieces
using additives. You may find that you need to make pieces a bit
thicker or apply them to base pieces of unmodified clay or other materials.
Just be aware of the potential ramifications.
Mary Ellin D'Agostino, PhD, http://www.medacreations.com

Gold
Keum-boo, consider keeping a stainless steel burnisher exclusively for this purpose and don't polish it when it starts to oxidize. The oxidation will help keep it from sticking to the gold

Aura. Use a silicone color shaper to stir and/or apply Aura 22. Let what
remains on color shaper dry; it will flake off and you can return it
to the jar without losing any of the gold.
Margaret Schindel, http://www.squidoo.com/preciousmetalclay/

PMC 22K Adhering or Fusing to PMC 3
The gold clay and silver do not bond. It appears that you need to capture the gold with syringe, paste or do a PMC Rivet in order for it to mechanically attach itself. If you imbed it, there doesn't seem to be a problem. However, surface bonding doesn't work. I've tried just about everything (silver paste underneath, etc).

So my suggestion would be for you to drill a hole where you'd like to attach the gold. Then work some of the gold into the hole with your clay shaper. Then make a bit of it into a paste and attach the ball to that.
~ Tonya Davidson, http://www.wholelottawhimsy.com

What about a gold-to-silver skinner blend like the ones in polymer clay? Do you think it would work?
Yes, this would work as you are actually creating a physical bond between the two types during the blending.
~ Mary Ellin D'Agostino, PhD, http://www.medacreations.com

Problem: During finishing several of my gold components came off
You are probably running afoul of the difference in shrinkage between the gold and the silver. There is about a 2+% difference in the shrinkage of the 22K gold and the silver. You need to make a little more of a physical bond between the clays. Thus, if you want to attach a smooth gold clay ball to a smooth silver clay surface, what you actually need to do is make a physical connection between the two types of clay. Either set the more deeply in the silver (like setting a stone) or make undercuts or angled holes in the gold, fill them with silver clay and attach to the silver base such that the silver will make a locking join to the gold.  
~Mary Ellin D'Agostino, PhD, http://www.medacreations.com\

Hollow forms ( see Slumping and Distortion after Firing)
If you use cork clay as a support to build your form on, when firing ramp up your kiln slowly to give the cork a chance to burn out, which will happen around 800 degrees. This will prevent overheating which can occur if the cork is still burning at higher temperatures, resulting in cracks or melting. Ventilate well since the cork gives off fumes.
Holly Gage

Whenever you are using cork clay for your hollow form, be sure to thoroughly dry the piece before firing. So before firing in the kiln, I stick my piece in a small convection or toaster oven and heat to 250. If I've been working fairly wet in the final steps. I'll hold it at that temperature for about 30 minutes. Cork clay can absorb moisture from the silver clay. It's the moisture that causes real problems in firing. A piece may seem dry- but the moisture has wicked to the interior. An extra drying will not hurt anything and can ensure good results!
Just be sure to be careful when removing it from the oven, it will be hot!!
Kathy Davis

How to help a square or circular open ended box not slump. The walls are no larger that 1 1/4" high or wide, and are made of 5 card thick pmc3. They are bone dry and sitting in a nest of vermiculite. I also filled one of them half full of vermiculite but it still didn't work. I kiln fired for 10 mins at 1650.

Try filling the all the way with vermiculite or fiber blanket. This should help. You don't need to worry about vermiculite expanding as it will simply move out of the box if it does. With fiber blanket, you would want to tuck some in -- but not too tightly (or too loosely). I would fire with the opening facing upward to minimize
the slumping aspect. You could also try heating the kiln more slowly (assuming you have been using a fast ramp speed). Some people bury their items entirely in the vermiculite.
Mary Ellin D'Agostino, PhD, http://www.medacreations.com