How to Use Ceramic Decals on Metal Clay

Use ceramic decals on metal clay jewelry.

Ceramic decals are a simple, excellent way to add color to metal clay jewelry. Transfer decals are are either silk-screened or produced with a special digital printer using patent-protected toners. There are pros and cons to both types of decals, but they can be combined and used interchangeably. The silk-screened transfers tend to be more expensive, but they are usually thicker, with more vivid color.

Difficulty:

Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Fine silver or fired metal clay (PMC, PMC+, PMC3 or Art Clay, Art Clay 650)
• Ceramic transfer decals
• Metal clay toolkit
• Small kiln (such as a jewelry kiln, enameling kiln, glass kiln or bead annealing kiln)
• Tweezers
• Enameling fork and tools (optional)

1. Create, fire and finish your fine silver metal clay piece of jewelry, keeping in mind where you would like to add the ceramic decals. Smooth, flat surfaces work quite well, while it can be difficult to apply ceramic decals to deep texture. Complete all soldering and hot work before you apply the ceramic decals.

2. Cut the ceramic water slide decal to size with scissors or a craft punch.

3. Place the decal in a cup or bowl of room-temperature distilled water. The backing of the decal will begin to peel off. Using tweezers, put the decal on the clean, fired metal clay surface and slide off the backing. Use a paper towel or a squeegee to remove all water from under the decal. Be sure the decal is smooth, flat and dry.

4. Apply additional decals, if desired. Decals can be layered, but their colors may change. To ensure no color shifts, you can fire each decal layer separately.

5. Fire the piece in a jewelry-sized kiln according to the decal manufacturer's instructions. Take care when firing. If you over-fire, the colors will burn and look muddy. If you under-fire, the surface of the decal will not be totally smooth and could chip. Err on the side of under-firing. If you under-fire, place the piece back in the kiln and fire again.

6. Polish after firing. Although the decal is permanently affixed to the surface of the fine silver, be careful when you polish (as you would with glass enamel). Add liver of sulfur to create a patina that highlights the decal, if desired.

Tips & Warnings

• The ceramic decals can be fired as you would enamel, in kiln at about 1,500 degrees Fahrenheit. As with enamels, do not quench or rush cooling of your piece post-firing.

• Colors without cadmium (greens, blues and some yellows) fire best on fine silver. Colors with even a small amount of cadmium (reds and purples) will react with fine silver and change to an unattractive color. To use decals with colors containing cadmium, create a layer between the silver and the cadmium decal. You can apply gold with the Keum-Boo technique to create a barrier, or fire a non-cadmium decal and use that as a protective layer.

• Never leave a kiln unattended when firing.

• Wear protective gloves and eye wear when placing items into or removing them from a hot kiln.

References

• Metal Clay Academy: Transfer Decals

Resources

• Metal Clay UK: How to Use Liver of Sulphur