Frequently Asked Questions

1) What's it made of?

All of my silver jewelry is made from a substance called Precious Metal Clay (PMC.)

2) What the heck is that?

PMC consists of microscopic particles of silver or gold suspended in an organic binder to create a pliable material with a consistency similar to modeling clay. When heated to a high temperature, the organic material burns away and the metal particles fuse to form solid metal.  After firing, the water and binder have completely burned away so what remains can be hallmarked as .999 silver or gold.  Fine silver is significantly less prone to tarnish than the sterling silver.

3) What do you use for textures?

Since PMC is moldable like any clay available textures are everywhere!  I like to capture genuine organic material such as leaves, lichen and flowers into my designs.   One of the unexpected pleasures about working with PMC is that I find myself looking at the world in a whole new way, appreciating it like I did when I was very young.  Everywhere I go I find myself thinking, "oooh, that could make a really cool texture."  I even have my kids hooked on looking for things I can squash into my PMC to make an unusual piece of jewelry.