Patreon for silversmithing creators — 2026 edition

Metal FCC crystalline structure work hardening annealing recrystallization, pickle solution acid cupric oxide dissolution and iron contamination, solder grade silver content liquidus solidus capillary flow, flux chemistry boric acid fluoride borax annealing protection, stone setting bezel wall height prong placement channel gap pavé ball burr seat depth, finishing tripoli rouge ZAM burnishing sequence, metal clay PMC3 Art Clay Silver organic binder burnout sintering shrinkage, and the Apple Tax.

Silversmithing Patreons retain when they deliver the materials science and process chemistry that bench photography and finished-piece videos compress into captions. Here is that layer: metal work hardening at the crystalline level (why silver becomes brittle with repeated rolling and bending, what happens inside the FCC lattice when you anneal it, why quenching after annealing is correct for sterling and fine silver even though it sounds counterintuitive), pickle solution chemistry (what the black cupric oxide layer on silver actually is, how sodium bisulfate or dilute sulfuric acid dissolves it without attacking the underlying silver, why steel tweezers or binding wire dropped into a warm pickle bath ruins the solution and copper-plates your jewelry), solder grading from first principles (what the percentage stamp on solder wire actually means, how liquidus and solidus temperatures create a mushy zone, why solder flows toward the hottest point rather than toward the solder stick, how to sequence multiple joins on a single piece without reflowing earlier joints), flux chemistry by application (the mechanism by which boric acid paste forms a glass layer on silver during heating, why Batterns flux works at higher temperatures than boric acid, what borax cone does differently from paste flux, and why you clean the flux off while the metal is still hot), stone setting at the measurement level (bezel height formula for a given stone height and hardness, the distinction between the crown and table facets that determines where prong tips must land, digital caliper measurement of channel width that determines the stone seating order, what ball burr diameter correctly cuts a pavé seat), finishing from abrasive to mirror (the four-stage sequence from coarse paper through tripoli through rouge through ZAM, why you cannot skip stages, what happens at the molecular level when you burnish a bezel wall closed), and metal clay from binder chemistry to fired shrinkage (what the organic binder in PMC3 and Art Clay Silver actually is and at what temperature it burns off, why the silver particles sinter into a continuous metal mass without melting, why shrinkage is 10–12% linear and how that compounds in three dimensions).

1. Metal crystalline structure and work hardening

Silver (Ag) crystallizes in a face-centered cubic (FCC) lattice: one atom at each corner of the cube plus one atom at the center of each face, for a total of four atoms per unit cell (8 corner × 1/8 + 6 face × 1/2). The unit cell parameter for silver is a = 4.086 Å. The FCC structure is the same lattice type as copper, gold, and aluminum — metals with high ductility. This is not coincidental: the FCC arrangement has 12 close-packed slip systems (4 slip planes × 3 slip directions per plane), which means dislocations (line defects in the crystal lattice) can move relatively easily in many directions, producing ductility and malleability.

When you roll silver sheet thinner, hammer a domed shape, or bend wire repeatedly, you are creating and multiplying dislocations in the crystal lattice. As dislocation density increases, dislocations begin to impede each other’s motion — this is the mechanism of work hardening. The metal becomes harder and less ductile, until eventually the dislocations pile up at grain boundaries to the point where continued deformation initiates microfractures. The result is work-hardened metal that cracks along seams and bends if you continue working it without annealing. Document the number of rolling or hammer passes before annealing for every gauge change you record in a session post; this is the data your patrons need to reproduce your dimensional results without cracking.

Annealing restores ductility by heating the metal above its recrystallization temperature, which allows the crystal lattice to reorganize. For silver, the recrystallization temperature is approximately 200–300°C — well below the melting point of 961°C for fine silver (pure Ag) and 893°C for sterling silver (92.5% Ag + 7.5% Cu). The annealing process in practice targets a dull-red to faint-orange glow visible in a dimmed room (approximately 580–700°C), held for approximately 30–60 seconds of even heating, then quenched in water. New grain nucleation begins at the original grain boundaries and at clusters of dislocations, producing a new generation of strain-free, equiaxed grains. The smaller the pre-annealing grain size and the lower the annealing temperature, the finer the recrystallized grain structure and the softer the result. Extended high-temperature annealing produces grain growth that increases grain size and slightly reduces hardness further but also reduces strength.

Quenching in water immediately after annealing is correct for fine silver and sterling silver. The quench does not harden these alloys — that is a confusion with steel, in which rapid cooling traps martensite and causes hardening. Silver is not a steel. Quenching fine silver or sterling in water after annealing produces no hardening effect; it simply cools the metal rapidly so you can handle it and return to work. The only silver alloys that harden on quenching are argentium silver (Ag + Ge) and some precipitation-hardening silver alloys, where quenching from solution temperature traps solute atoms in a supersaturated solid solution and subsequent age-hardening at lower temperature produces precipitation hardening. Document your alloy identity in every technical post, because the annealing and quenching behavior of argentium differs from sterling.

2. Pickle solution chemistry

When you apply flux and heat silver with a torch, two things happen to the metal surface. First, the flux (borax or boric acid) melts and forms a protective glass layer over the metal, temporarily preventing oxidation. Where the flux does not cover (and often around the edges of flux coverage as it flows), oxygen from the air reacts with the copper in sterling silver: 2Cu + O2 → 2CuO (black cupric oxide) and 2Cu + ½O2 → Cu2O (red cuprous oxide, often called firescale). This cupric and cuprous oxide layer is the dark coating that appears on the surface of heated sterling silver. Fine silver (99.9% Ag) forms essentially no firescale because there is no copper to oxidize.

Pickle solution dissolves this oxide layer. The traditional pickle is a 10% aqueous sulfuric acid (H2SO4) solution; the safety alternative widely used in studio settings is sodium bisulfate (NaHSO4), sold as Sparex or generic pickle granules, dissolved 1–3 tablespoons per cup of water. In either case the chemistry is the same: CuO + H2SO4 → CuSO4 + H2O. The cupric sulfate dissolves into the solution, leaving clean silver. The acid does not dissolve silver itself under these conditions because silver does not react with dilute sulfuric acid (silver requires oxidizing acids such as nitric acid). The pickle works faster when warm (55–70°C maintains activity without generating significant acid vapor), which is why most bench jewelers use a small ceramic or enamel-coated slow cooker as a pickle pot.

Iron contamination is the most common studio error with pickle. If you drop steel tweezers, steel binding wire, or any ferrous metal into a warm pickle bath, an electrochemical displacement reaction occurs immediately: Fe + CuSO4 → FeSO4 + Cu (iron is higher in the activity series than copper, displacing it from solution). The elemental copper produced in solution then electrolytically plates out onto any silver or base metal in the bath, producing a pink copper flash that is difficult to remove and requires either re-annealing, re-pickling in fresh acid, or abrading the surface. Document this in your process posts: dedicate one set of tweezers to the pickle pot and mark them clearly. Dispose of spent pickle solution by neutralizing with baking soda until effervescence stops, then diluting with water and contacting your local sewage authority for small-volume disposal guidance (copper sulfate in pickle should not go directly to a municipal storm drain).

3. Solder grades and soldering science

Silver solder for jewelry is a silver-copper-zinc alloy, and the different grades are defined by the percentage of silver in the alloy, which directly determines the melting temperature. The standard grades used in silversmithing, from highest to lowest melting point, are:

The liquidus temperature is the temperature above which the solder is fully liquid. The solidus is the temperature below which the solder is fully solid. Between solidus and liquidus there is a “mushy zone” in which liquid and solid phases coexist. The width of this mushy zone (liquidus minus solidus) is the temperature range over which the solder goes from first flowing to fully mobile: for easy solder, approximately 45°C; for hard solder, approximately 21°C. Moving the piece during the mushy zone (before the solder has re-entered the solid phase) produces a disturbed, crystalline-appearing, weak join — the same mechanism that causes a bad solder joint in electronics.

Solder flows toward the hottest point of the work, not toward the solder stick or pallion. This is the most important operational fact to document for patrons who struggle with solder running onto the metal surface rather than into the join: the heat must be concentrated at the join gap, not at the solder placement. Pre-loading solder — cutting small chip-shaped pieces called pallions (or paillon from the French, approximately 0.5 mm × 1.0 mm for most join widths), placing them at the join gap held by flux, then heating the entire piece with the torch directed at the metal body surrounding the join rather than at the pallion itself — allows capillary action to pull the liquified solder into the tight join gap once the metal reaches solder flow temperature. Capillary action draws solder into gaps of 0.1–0.2 mm width; wider gaps require more solder and produce a visible fillet rather than an invisible join.

4. Flux chemistry

Flux prevents oxidation during soldering by forming a molten barrier between the metal surface and atmospheric oxygen. The most common studio flux is a saturated solution of boric acid (H3BO3) in isopropyl alcohol, with the alcohol serving as both a solvent and a reducing agent that burns off briefly on application. When heated, boric acid dehydrates and polymerizes to form boron trioxide glass (B2O3), which melts at approximately 450°C and flows across the metal surface as a clear glassy coating. This glass coating physically separates the silver from atmospheric oxygen and prevents the formation of cupric oxide until the solder flows and the piece is quenched. The standard studio version of this flux is made by dissolving boric acid to saturation in isopropyl alcohol in a glass jar; brush onto metal before heating and allow the alcohol to evaporate (often with a brief torch pass that burns the alcohol in a flash of blue flame) before proceeding to soldering temperature.

Batterns Self-Pickling Flux is a fluoride-based flux used for higher-temperature soldering operations. Fluoride fluxes work at temperatures above the range where boric acid glass remains effective (above approximately 800°C) by incorporating fluoride ions that chemically reduce existing oxides rather than just physically coating the metal. They are more aggressive and require more thorough removal; because fluoride is toxic, ventilation is required when using fluoride flux at temperature.

Borax cone (a synthetic mineral borax, Na2B4O7·10H2O) ground in a ceramic dish with water produces a thick opaque white paste. This paste flux is the traditional choice for annealing sterling silver before pickling, painted over the entire surface to protect against firescale during the heating cycle. The borax glass formed at temperature is harder to remove than the result of boric acid/alcohol flux; removing it while the metal is still warm (dip in warm pickle immediately after quench) is more effective than allowing it to cool and crystallize. Remove flux residue at every step; flux remaining on metal during a subsequent solder operation changes the local thermal dynamics and can cause uneven solder flow.

5. Stone setting mechanics

Bezel setting. A bezel is a wall of fine silver or sterling strip that wraps around a stone and is pushed inward over the stone’s girdle (equator) to hold it. Bezel strip gauge selection depends on the stone’s Mohs hardness: soft stones (calcite, fluorite, amber, coral, turquoise, malachite — Mohs 3–6) require thick fine-silver bezel strip (26–28 gauge) because the pushing force must not deform the stone; hard gemstones (quartz, topaz, sapphire, ruby, diamond — Mohs 7–10) tolerate thinner sterling bezel strip (28–30 gauge). Fine silver (not sterling) is recommended for bezels because fine silver is more ductile and moves more easily when pushed over the stone; sterling bezels work-harden during forming and can crack.

Bezel wall height is calculated from the stone’s girdle height: the wall must extend at least 1.0–1.5 mm above the stone’s widest point (girdle plane) for a stone under 6 mm diameter, and at least 1.5–2.0 mm above the girdle for stones over 8 mm diameter, to provide enough metal to push over the curved crown without tearing. Too high a wall covers too much of the stone face; too low and the bezel tears or the stone pops out under setting pressure. The bezel setting tool (a smooth metal burnisher or pusher) is pressed against the top edge of the wall at opposite points (north, then south, then east, then west, then NE/SW/NW/SE) to gradually move the metal over the stone without creating folds. Final burnishing with a smooth flat burnisher pressed at the top edge and dragged around the circumference creates a tight, polished contact between bezel edge and stone.

Prong setting. A prong (claw) setting holds a stone with metal fingers that rise from a central seat and grip over the crown of the stone. The prong tips must land on the crown facets, not on the table facet (the flat top) or across the girdle facet edges (which are the most vulnerable chip zones for faceted stones). For a standard round brilliant cut, the correct prong tip placement is on the star facets or upper main facets, not at the table corners. The number of prongs determines the secure locations: 4-prong settings place prongs at the cardinal points of the stone, which works for round and square cuts; 6-prong settings are used for rounds to provide more security at the cost of more metal visibility; 3-prong settings are used for triangular cuts (trilliants). Prong height before setting should extend 0.7–1.0 mm above the stone crown to provide adequate push-over material. After seating the stone in the seat (the small notch at the base of each prong, cut with a setting bur at the correct diameter), each prong is pushed over in turn with a prong pusher pressed at a 45-degree angle to the prong body.

Channel setting. A channel setting holds a row of stones between two parallel metal walls with no prongs. The channel width must be exactly the stone diameter plus 0.1 mm for sliding the stone into position, then the walls are pushed inward over the girdle to secure the stone. Measure channel width with digital calipers. Stones are loaded one at a time and held against the back wall by a pusher while the channel wall is pressed over. Channel setting works best with calibrated stones (factory-cut to a standardized diameter tolerance of ±0.1 mm) because mixed-diameter stones cannot all be gripped by a channel wall pushed to a uniform height. Square and round calibrated stones in 2–5 mm sizes are standard for channel work.

Pavé setting. Pavé (from the French for “paved”) sets small round brilliant-cut stones flush with or just above a metal surface in a tightly packed arrangement held by small bead-like prongs raised from the metal surface between stones. The setting process uses a ball burr rotated in a flexible shaft or pendant drill: ball burr diameter should be 75% of the stone diameter (for a 1.5 mm stone, use a 1.1 mm ball burr). The burr is pressed into the metal surface at each stone location and rotated briefly to cut a hemispherical seat just deep enough that the stone sits with its girdle at the metal surface level — the correct depth is to the point where the stone, when dropped into the seat, sits with its table parallel to the surrounding metal surface with the girdle just below. After all seats are cut and stones are placed, a graver (a hardened steel tool with a sharpened edge) is used to push small beads of metal up from the surface between stones, each bead becoming one retaining prong. This technique requires sharpened gravers and practice on scrap metal; document both the bur diameter per stone diameter and the graver shape (square graver or round graver) used to raise the bead.

6. Finishing and polishing

Finishing silver is an abrasive sequence: each stage removes the scratches left by the previous stage with finer scratches, until the scratches are too small to scatter visible light and the surface appears to be a mirror. The stages and what happens at each:

Abrasive papers (320, 400, 600 grit): removes deep file marks and hammer texture. Fold the paper over a flat backing for flat surfaces; wrap around a dowel for curved surfaces; use a needle file for inside curves. Always move in one consistent direction within a stage; change direction 90 degrees for the next grit to see when all scratches from the previous grit are gone. 320 grit leaves approximately 40–46 μm scratch depth; 400 grit approximately 20–23 μm; 600 grit approximately 16–18 μm.

Tripoli compound: a brown cake of micro-ground diatomaceous earth (amorphous silica, particle size 0.5–3 μm) in a grease binder. Applied to a spiral-sewn cotton buff wheel spinning at 1,750–3,500 RPM. Tripoli removes the sub-micron scratches from the 600-grit paper stage and produces a satin or semi-bright finish. The grease binder must be completely removed before progressing to rouge: clean the piece ultrasonically, in acetone, or with a dedicated citric acid polishing compound, then scrub in dish soap and water.

Rouge (jeweler’s rouge): ferric oxide (Fe2O3, particle size 0.1–0.5 μm) in a grease binder. Applied to a loose-buff (unstitched) cotton or felt wheel. Rouge produces the high-polish mirror finish by burnishing rather than cutting: the abrasive particles are below the wavelength of visible light at their smallest, and the heat and pressure of high-speed buffing flow the metal surface slightly at a molecular level, filling submicron scratches. A piece not thoroughly cleaned after tripoli before rouge will cross-contaminate the rouge buff with coarser tripoli particles and lose the mirror effect; keep separate wheels for each compound.

ZAM compound: a white or yellow cake containing chromium oxide (Cr2O3, green pigment, approximately 1 μm) and alumina. ZAM (a brand name that has become generic) is used for final polishing of non-ferrous metals to achieve ultra-high mirror gloss and remove any residual very fine scratches from rouge. Some silversmiths skip ZAM entirely and achieve satisfactory results from rouge; others use ZAM on a new muslin buff as a final step before hand-polishing with a chamois or polishing cloth.

Burnishing: a metal-to-metal deformation process rather than an abrasive process. A burnisher is a smooth, hardened steel tool with a highly polished surface (commonly a straight or curved rod of hardened steel); pressing it firmly against silver under repeated strokes deforms the metal surface plastically, flattening micro-peaks and filling micro-valleys without removing material. Burnishing is used to close bezel walls over stones, to seal channel walls, to work-harden prong tips after bending them over a stone, and to create a localized bright line at the edge of a stamped or engraved design. Because burnishing work-hardens the metal locally, it also increases the retention force of a bezel or channel setting. The distinction from polishing: polishing removes material by abrasion; burnishing moves material by deformation. A burnished surface is slightly harder than the surrounding metal and can show a different light response from a polished surface.

7. Metal clay (PMC3 and Art Clay Silver)

Metal clay is a mixture of fine silver particles (99.9% Ag, particle size approximately 1–10 μm) in an organic binder (methyl cellulose or hydroxyethyl cellulose) and water. In the unfired state it handles like modeling clay: it can be shaped by hand, rolled flat with acrylic rollers, textured with rubber stamps or natural objects (leaves, fabric), extruded through syringes, or dried and carved with needle files. The water evaporates during air-drying (or oven-drying at 100°C), leaving a green-state object held together only by the binder.

Firing burns off the binder and sinters the silver particles. Sintering is the process by which metal particles bond at their contact points without fully melting: at temperatures below the melting point of silver, surface diffusion and grain boundary diffusion move atoms across particle surfaces to fill the gaps between touching particles, forming continuous metallic bonds and producing a coherent metal object. For PMC3 and Art Clay Silver, the kiln firing schedule is approximately 650°C for 30 minutes (minimum sintering schedule for full strength) to 900°C for 10 minutes (maximum density, maximum shrinkage, highest strength). At 650°C for 30 minutes: the binder is fully combusted above 350°C, and the silver sinters to approximately 95–99% of full theoretical density. At temperatures approaching the melting point, density approaches 99.9% of theoretical.

Shrinkage is the defining constraint in metal clay work. PMC3 (Precious Metal Clay version 3) shrinks approximately 10–12% linearly. Art Clay Silver 650 shrinks approximately 8–10% linearly. Linear shrinkage compounds in three dimensions: a 10% linear shrinkage means the finished piece is 90% of the unfired piece in each dimension — volume shrinks to approximately 0.9³ = 0.729, meaning the fired piece is approximately 73% of the unfired volume. For a ring, this means sizing must be done from a mandrel with the correct target size marked (not the finished size), accounting for the linear shrinkage factor of the specific clay batch. Shrinkage consistency within a batch is typically ±1%, which is sufficient for most decorative work but requires careful calibration for ring sizing.

Cork clay forms lightweight armatures for hollow metal clay forms, because cork burns out completely during firing at kiln temperatures, leaving a hollow interior. Glass beads (soda-lime glass, 1–8 mm diameter) can be embedded in metal clay and will remain intact through kiln firing; bead inclusions must be seated in wet clay and supported during drying to prevent cracking. Natural objects — leaves, seeds, bark — leave exact negative textures in rolled metal clay and burn out completely during kiln firing; document the object used and the pressing pressure for reproducible texture depth.

Torch firing is possible with PMC Standard (the original, now discontinued PMC3 predecessor — some stock remains) but not reliably with PMC3, PMC+ or Art Clay Silver due to their finer particle size and different sintering kinetics. The torch method uses a fiber blanket or kiln brick as a firing surface; a butane torch heats the piece until it reaches a faint orange glow and is held there for 2 minutes. Kiln firing is recommended for Art Clay Silver and PMC3 for consistent results.

8. The Apple Tax

Patreon’s iOS billing change takes effect November 1, 2026. All new and renewing Patreon subscriptions processed through the iOS app are subject to Apple’s 30% App Store commission on top of Patreon’s own platform fee (8% on the Pro plan). The combined take from an iOS-billed pledge is approximately 35–38% of patron revenue before Stripe processing fees.

Silversmithing creator audiences skew heavily iOS. YouTube silversmithing tutorials: 62–75% of views from iOS devices. Instagram silver jewelry photography: 75–85% iOS. TikTok silver jewelry reveals and bench videos: 78–88% iOS. The high iOS share reflects that most casual jewelry-interest browsing happens on phones, and the most-watched silversmithing content on short-form video is aspirational (finished piece reveals, stone-setting close-ups) rather than technical reference, which attracts a higher phone share than desktop-heavy technical content.

What that means in monthly revenue at typical silversmithing Patreon scales:

The fix is a web-only Patreon page — disabling iOS billing so that subscriptions route through a web browser, where Apple’s 30% commission does not apply — or moving subscriptions to a platform that never routes through Apple’s payment infrastructure. KeepTier provides a web-only creator membership page on your own domain with Stripe Checkout, 0% platform fee, and an automatic “subscribe on web to avoid the Apple fee” message on every page. The math at $400/month and 75% iOS: web-only saves $90/month; at $9/month for KeepTier, the platform pays for itself in the first billing cycle.

FAQ

What should silversmithing creators offer on Patreon?

Silversmithing Patreons retain when they deliver the technical documentation that bench process videos cannot carry in real time. A two-tier framework: tier 1 ($6–$10/mo) — materials documentation for every piece shown in public posts (solder grade used and why, gauge of sheet or wire, pickle session notes, stone identity and Mohs hardness, bezel height calculation), plus project photographs at each stage; tier 2 ($18–$30/mo) — full session documentation (annealing pass count before each session, solder sequence across multiple joins, flux applied and removed timing, bezel wall height formula worked out for the specific stone, channel width measurement, pavé bur diameter per stone size, polishing compound sequence and wheel type, shrinkage calibration for metal clay batches), access to pattern files and bezel strip cutting calculations, plus identification assistance via patron-only messages for material questions.

What is work hardening and when do you need to anneal?

Work hardening is the accumulation of dislocations (crystal lattice defects) in the silver as you deform it by rolling, hammering, or bending. As dislocation density increases, the metal becomes harder, stiffer, and less ductile. Anneal when: the metal starts to feel “springy” when you hammer it (it is resisting rather than yielding); the metal develops small surface cracks along a bend; the metal snaps unexpectedly during bending. For sheet silver, anneal after every 2–3 passes through a rolling mill that reduce thickness by more than 10–15%. For wire, anneal after every series of draws through successive die sizes. For hollow construction work-hardened during shaping, anneal before any join that requires clamping or compression. Document the pass count and gauge change between anneals; this is the data that makes your process reproducible.

Why does solder run onto the metal surface instead of into the join?

Solder flows toward the hottest point of the metal. If the metal surface at the join gap is cooler than the pallion of solder placed on the metal surface, the liquified solder flows outward across the hotter metal body rather than into the join. The correction is to concentrate heat on the metal body surrounding the join gap rather than directly on the solder or on the joint itself. The join gap needs to reach solder flow temperature; the solder pallion placed at the join needs the gap to be hotter than the pallion. Use the solder as a temperature indicator: when you see the pallion collapse and flow, the joint is at the correct temperature and the solder will be drawn in by capillary action if the gap is tight (0.1–0.2 mm). Document torch head position and angle in your sessions; this is the hidden variable that patrons cannot extract from video because the torch is typically off-screen or edited out.

What is firescale and how do you prevent or remove it?

Firescale is cuprous oxide (Cu2O), a deep maroon-pink layer that forms inside sterling silver during heating when oxygen diffuses through the metal surface and combines with the copper component of the alloy below the surface. Firescale is distinct from the black surface oxide: the black layer (cupric oxide, CuO) sits on top and is removed by pickle, but firescale penetrates into the metal and is only revealed after polishing brings the sub-surface layer to the surface as a grey or pink ghost. Prevention: apply boric acid/alcohol flux over the entire piece before each heating, maintaining an unbroken flux glass layer at all times. Remove firescale by: (1) fine silver plating (electrolytic bright dipping that plates a thin fine silver layer over the surface, burying the firescale — the only true solution for finished pieces); (2) repeated annealing and pickling to draw out successively deeper firescale layers (works but is slow and removes metal); (3) planning to texture or brush-finish the surface (firescale is invisible under brush or matte texture). Document whether your sterling source material has low-firescale characteristics (some sterling alloys use metallurgical additions to reduce firescale formation).

What is the shrinkage calibration process for metal clay ring sizing?

Metal clay shrinks linearly by approximately 8–12% in each dimension during firing. To size a ring correctly: (1) determine the target fired size (the mandrel size the customer needs); (2) calculate the unfired mandrel size as: unfired circumference = fired circumference / (1 − shrinkage rate). For 10% shrinkage and target size US 7 (finger circumference ~54.4 mm): unfired circumference = 54.4 / 0.90 = 60.4 mm, corresponding to approximately US 9.5–10. (3) Roll the clay to the correct wall thickness and wrap at the calculated unfired diameter; the joined seam must be blended wet and allowed to dry on the mandrel. (4) After firing, measure the actual fired size and document the actual shrinkage percentage for that clay batch and firing schedule. Each batch of clay may vary within the manufacturer’s stated range; the calibration firing on a test ring is the only way to know the actual percentage for the specific batch. Document batch number, firing temperature, firing duration, unfired diameter, and fired diameter for every ring batch. This calibration table is one of the highest-value exclusive deliverables for a metal clay Patreon.

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