A reader left this comment on a post today and I thought I would put the question out there for the polymer clay community:
I’ve been really inspired by your experiments pushing polymer clay through filigree. I was just wondering if it was safe to put most metals in the stove or if there was any danger of something melting or off-gassing–are there any alloys to watch out for, or is it pretty much guaranteed to be safe as long as it’s some kind of metal?
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There’s no problem with metals in a regular kitchen oven. It can’t get hot enough to melt them.
I’m certainly not an expert on this, but the melting point for the metals I use is well above the temperatures used for polymer clay. I cook in a dutch oven so that I don’t contaminate my kitchen oven and then let it sit covered until cool, and have never noticed any left over odors when removing the cover. I use copper, brass, silver and gold for jewelry pieces.
Greetings from Paris France,
Commercial stamped findings in raw brass are fine,even plated ones are OK, but some findings do have spray lacquer finishes with painted faux patinas. Brass, copper, silver, even nickle silver&(german silver) cu65-23zn-ni should be fine at low kitchen oven temperatures. with repeated heating you may see some oxidation(discoloring). I am a professional jeweler and an enamelist. I work at very high temperatures.
Here is a link to a manufacturer in Providence RI
they can answer many of your questions
http://www.guyotbrothers.com/jewelry-findings-intro.htm
I do not recommend heating white metal(92sn, tin-8sb, antimony) ,or pewter findings. They are usually heavier and thicker, cast findings manufactured for costume jewelry rather than stamped( stamped, will be a uniform thickness). Never heat anything with (lead/tin) soft solder joints. Lead is highly toxic, it is cumulative.
As a rule always work with good ventilation. I hope this helps.
I have used metals and polymer clay quite a lot and have never had any problems at all. I use pewter, silver and copper and plated metals and they have all been fine. As others have said, I do not think the temperature is high enough (130 degrees C – is the temp I bake at with the Polymer) to cause a problem. However I am not an expert and am only going on what I have found! Hope this helps!
I’d assume that all untreated metals are fine, but anything that has a coating on it should be checked case by case. If it’s a fired on treatment or something that already has been heat treated, it should be cool. However, chemical patinas or cold spray varnishes etc. might not be happy being heated. That’s just logic, though — I don’t have data.
I rarely know exactly the type of metal I’m even using or what was done to it in a former life as I work with a lot of found objects.
In addition to the comments above (taking in to account ventilation, surface treatments such as patinas, etc.) I wash and/or seal the surface and if there is anything questionable about the metal I will bake it first, let it cool and then apply the polymer.
But I’ve used polymer with metal even on mechanical art pieces (which of course introduces more structural stress than a static piece would encounter) and have not had any issues.
I’ve also baked it right over things such as vintage flash bulbs from old cameras which have metal both inside and outside the bulb and it’s worked out great.
All that being said, it still might not work out so well but at least you tried something new and perhaps learned from it!
Hi Susan, I love the site. Where do I locate Brass blanks like the one used in this thread? Thank you, Garlinda
Hi Garlinda –
You can find those brass bracelet blanks here: Filigree Brass Cuff Bracelets
Hope that helps!