What is silver clay?

Silver clay is a unique material made from real silver particles, mixed with an organic binder and water.

It looks and feels like clay, but once fired, it becomes just silver. During firing, the binder and water burn away and the silver particles fuse together, leaving you with a piece of pure silver jewellery.

Yes! When fired correctly, fine silver clay becomes 99.9% pure silver. There’s no coating, plating, or filler. The finished piece is silver through and through. Silver clay pieces can be hallmarked just like any precious metal jewellery.

This is what working with silver clay would look like, in very simple terms.

1. Before firing and drying, silver clay is soft and malleable. You can shape the clay while it’s soft, using your fingers, sculpting tools, or get creative, you can use different tools for different effects! You can also build on your design by adding different parts and blending them together

2. Once you are happy with the shape, you can let it dry. it takes about 24-48 hours to dry completely, depending on the size of your piece. When dry, you can still work on your design by carving, sanding, and attaching multiple parts together using clay paste and a bit of water.

3. Once you are sure your piece is fully dry, you can fire it. Firing will burn away the binder and the silver particles sinter (bond) into solid metal.

4. After it's fired and cooled, you just need to polish and finish the piece!

No casting or traditional silversmithing required!

There are several ways to fire silver clay. Beginners are recommended to use fine silver clay (999 silver purity) as it can be fired without a kiln. You can:

1. Use a butane torch (like for creme brulee) or a soldering torch

2. Fire it on a gas stove if you have one at home, or a camping stove

3. Use an affordable ultralite kiln

4. Invest in a mini kiln for metal clay

Silver clay is incredibly versatile. You can create: rings, earring charms, pendants, charms and beads, textured statement pieces, tiny sculptures.

Because it’s shaped by hand, silver clay is perfect for one-of-a-kind, expressive jewellery that doesn’t look mass-produced.

Because of the binder burn off, you will see slight shrinkage of your final piece. Shrinkage rate depends on the brand, but the one I often use (art clay silver) only shrinks 10%.

But that is no problem, because you can just make your pieces slightly larger! Silver clay shrinks in volume, in all directions. With rings for example, size up 2-4 sizes depending on how thick or wide your band is.

You can check the detailed ring sizing guide here:

You can start creating with silver clay with just a few tools: a few basic shaping tools, a torch for firing, a fire-safe surface and some sanding and polishing tools. Check the tool guide below for more information and shop links!