Should I use pickle with my silver metal clay?

Hi Anna, I use silver clay and I wondered if one of your guides would answer the pickling debate. I have read that the 999 silver clay can absorb some of the pickle which can eventually leach out onto the silver. One answer I found was to run through a solution of bicarbonate of soda to neutralise the acid. I want to make sure I am making all my pieces correctly, I wonder if you can help as it’s preventing me from moving forward in my clay journey. Thanks in advance, Laura

ps when I first started out in jewellery making a few years back, I watched your tutorial via Kernowcraft!

Wow, Laura, that's a blast from the past! I absolutely loved making that daisy making tutorial for Kernowcraft. They asked me to record some video content for their fabulous series, A Day in the Life of a Jeweller, which includes so many talented jewellers, and it was such good fun! If anyone is interested in finding out how to make a silver metal clay daisy pendant, here's a link to it on YouTube. The comments on the video are wonderful and to date, it has had over 39,000 views!

So, read on to get answers all about soldering and pickling with silver metal clay.

I am a trained silversmith and I always picked my work because it was sterling silver, otherwise referred to as 925 silver. That's 92.5% of silver so there is 7.5% of base metal and that is what causes the oxidation / firescale. Silver metal clay is fine silver after it's been fired, which is 99.9%. That is only a tiny 0.1% percent of firescale / oxidation.

There is only one instance where I use pickle. It's when I'm soldering. If I'm soldering on a jump ring that is sterling silver, I'll pickle it afterwards if there is any firescale. Sometimes, you don't need to. To do this, I will make sure my piece is 100% finished, solder on a jump ring using a silver solder syringe and then drop my piece into Picklean, which is a safe pickle I buy from Cooksongold to remove the firescale.

If you're attaching silver metal clay pieces together using silver solder paste (which is most likely to be sterling silver solder) or adding a bezel cup, see below, you may need to pickle your piece to remove any firescale.

You can see the firescale, which is predominantly around the sterling silver jump ring and the bezel setting, That's because they are sterling silver. I tend to take a look at a piece after it's been soldered and then decide what can be removed with radial discs and what needs to be pickled. This moth definitely needed to be pickled. I wasn’t going to need to heat it again so I wasn’t worried if it absorbed a tiny amount of the pickle. Hopefully, if it's torch fired correctly and for long enough, that shouldn't happen.

I don't use pickle for any other reason with my silver metal clay. Instead, I use radial discs and my Proxxon drill to remove the small amount of oxidation and they work brilliantly. I do have a Guide for that! Click here to read more about my Silver Metal Clay Polishing Guide. The first grit removes the oxidation and the others smooth and polish my piece.

What are the pitfalls of pickling?

Apart from not really needing to, there are risks. There is always a chance that the silver metal clay isn't 100% fired and we can't know for sure unless we cut a piece in half. That means that silver metal clay can still be porous after it is fired. If you pickle it, the pickle will seep into the silver piece and that wouldn't normally be noticeable, or cause you any problems. That is, unless you are intending to fire it again. In which case, the moisture could cause your piece to crack, or explode. This is less likely with kiln firing because it's more prolonged and more controlled. But I torch fire, which is absolutely fine for firing silver metal clay, but a little less controlled,. So, that's the long way of saying that I don't think it's necessary to regularly pickle silver metal clay because the oxidation is minimal! Thanks again, Laura, for your question. I know that we’re in touch if anything else crops up.

For all your soldering conundrums, get hold of my Soldering Guide! Click here to read more about my Silver Metal Clay Soldering Guide

JOIN THE SILVER CLAY CAFE for just £29 for an annual membership and get all your silver metal clay questions answered. I’m releasing a 25-minute episode of ASK ANNA Q&A videos every month. It’s a great, and really affordable, way to learn new techniques and pick up lots of hints and tips to help you become a better silver metal clay jeweller. CLICK THIS LINK to read more!