PMC Flex - This stuff’s made for bezels!

Sometimes things…align. Just as I’m getting back into setting stones using PMC (Precious Metal Clay), Mitsubishi releases a new clay that is PERFECT for making bezels. I’m referring to PMC Flex. I couldn’t have wished for a more appropriate product. This is kind of a technical blog post, hope my PMC peeps dig it. (Please leave a comment if you do!)

I still use the same technique that I came up with a decade ago and that was first published in Lapidary Journal in ‘05. I then refined things and came up with some variations for Tim McCreight’s book PMC Technic in ’07. If you don’t have the book, the digital version was just released for sale through the Apple Ibooks Store, Amazon (for Kindle) and plays on almost any phone, tablet or computer.

The “Kahn Bezel” (as some have called it) is made up of scanning a cab, printing it 118% larger and using that template to make your back sheet. I still use PMC Plus for this (cause why not, it works great for this purpose and is less expensive than the newer clays).

Originally I used PMC Paper for the bezel because it was available, uniformly thin and created a great bezel wall. Then I moved to using PMC Plus or PMC3 because of the length limitation of the PMC Paper and because I wanted to create textured bezel walls. Rolling those clays super thin was difficult but even more difficult was handling them when dry.

This little Flipagram illustrates me making a bezel from start to finish. 

First I would roll out a snake of clay at 2 cards and then drop down to 3 pieces of paper on each side and roll onto my texture. Then I would cut bezel strips and I let them dry. (They need to dry so they don’t get hurt while working with them and so they stand up without flopping over.) Then I would re-wet the one side so it would become soft and flexible and bend it around the back sheet and mark where to cut it. I would sand beveled ends on the strip and in that time, it would dry and become rigid again and potentially break. I would wet it on the inside again and bend it around the back sheet, this time adhering it to the back sheet as I bent it around.

PMC Flex allows me to avoid some steps. I can simply let it dry and then it is super bendy and flexible - no cracking! It’s amazing that something so thin can be so pliable and worry free! 

So now, once it’s dry I can take my strip and bend it around, mark it, cut it, sand the ends, bend it around again and attach it to my back sheet, saving those re-wetting steps and saving me from holding my breath! What a treat!

 

Once fired, it is rigid and acts just like any bezel wall, I use a bezel roller followed by a steel burnisher to set my stone.

PMC Flex is so flexible that it is challenging to sand but for the purpose of making a bezel it is perfect. I’m loving setting stones again. I have 3 new turquoise pendants in my Etsy shop and more  on the way! 

My New article in Jewelry Artist Magazine!

The June issue will be on sale on June 3rd, subscribers will get it earlier - mine came in the mail today!

    Three years ago I wrote a project called “Metal Clay Bezel: Setting stones in PMC after firing” (Lapidary Journal, May, 2005). I wanted to find a way to set stones in PMC that could not be fired in place. In it I describe how to make an entire setting out of PMC by making the setting big enough in fresh clay so that after firing (and shrinking) the stone fits. (I didn’t want to make a mold of my stone and a plaster replica to fire in place, I just wanted my stone to fit.) Through trial and error I found that if I scanned my cab and enlarged the image by 118% (to account for the 15% shrinkage), I could print that image and use it as a template to make my setting. 

    I have set over a hundred stones, in all shapes and sizes using that calculation. In that article I used PMC Sheet for the bezel wall, which works very well. The technique did not require soldering, so it provided those without metalworking skills a way to make beautiful jewelry out of their stone cabs.

    I recently had the honor of contributing a chapter on setting stones for Tim McCreight’s book “PMC Technic”. Writing that chapter caused me to think more about settings and to create some pieces that go beyond surrounding a stone in silver. I wanted the settings themselves to be compelling.

    I wanted the backs to be beautiful, in fact, why not reversible? I wanted the sides to be decorative too; why not textured even? In that chapter I touch on the techniques that I expand on in the article.

    Instead of using PMC Paper, I use very thin strips of textured PMC3. This comes with its own advantages and challenges. This project also features an open back setting, a lovely option if you’d like to show off the back of your cab. In the first article, the bezel wall was attached to the edge of the backsheet, in this project the backsheet is extends beyond the setting and I use a PMC syringe to help support the bezel wall on top of the backsheet.

I hope you enjoy the article!