Your 15 second guide to reconstituting silver clay
There are many brilliant benefits of working with silver clay. One of them is that there is no waste. You can reconstitute dried clay - which means make it back into usable silver clay - yay! Here is a quick guide to show you how.
Here is what you can reconstitute:
✔️ broken pieces of dried clay
✔️ dust from sanding your dried clay
✔️ pieces you’ve made that you no longer like! (as long as they are unfired)
✔️ ufos - unfinished objects! Those bits that hang around that you are no longer enthused about!
You can’t reconstitute:
❌ silver clay that is already fired
❌ silver filings (i.e. if you file your pieces after firing that scrap cannot be reconstituted)
This can either be melted down or sold as scrap to silver merchants so it is still not wasted.
So the first thing you need to do is get a scrap pot to keep your broken bits, discarded bits and dust. You’ll be surprised how quickly you’ll have enough to make it worthwhile turning back into clay!
What you need
A scrap pot with your dried clay
Coffee grinder (this needs to be purchased just for your clay and can’t be used with coffee!) alternatively, you can also use a mortar and pestle
Tea strainer
Water spray bottle filled with tap water
Rubber clay shaper
Work mat
Cling film/saran wrap (tip: I like to reuse the packets the clay comes in)
Your step by step guide
Pour your scrap clay into your coffee grinder and grind up your clay. You usually have to shake the coffee grinder to ensure all the clay gets ground by the blades
Be mindful of your safety when using your grinder. Always unplug it before opening the lid
Ensure you have your work mat under your tea strainer
Pour the ground clay into the tea strainer. Gently tap the strainer to get the fine dust. You may need to use your rubber tool to help to get all the fine dust out of the strainer
Tip: if there are any lumps left in the strainer simply put them back into your scrap pot for next time
Spritz some tap water onto the sifted clay dust. Do this a bit at a time and start to mix with your rubber clay shaper
Once you have enough water in the clay, start to mould it with your hands
Wrap your clay up in cling film/saran wrap and you’re done!
A few top tips and hints
If you work with different brands and types of clay have different scrap pots and ensure they’re clearly labelled. That way you can’t get confused about which clay you’re working with and how to fire it
It is important to get fine dust when you are grinding your clay. If you try to reconstitute with larger lumps the clay isn’t smooth and can feel gritty and is hard to work with
I sometimes get asked which coffee grinder I have! It’s an Andrew James coffee grinder that I got on Amazon. It is the second one that I have bought as the blade broke on the first one - grinding metal does eventually take its toll! But I’ve had my current one since 2017 (it’s 2021 at the time of writing this post). I would suggest getting a budget grinder as you don’t need anything fancy for this task.
I hope you’ve found this helpful.
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What else would you like to know? Email me if there are any tips you’d like to see on my Instagram and on my blog! I’d love to hear from you
anna@jewelleryschoolscotland.co.uk