Do I need a Kiln to make Silver Fingerprint Jewellery?

This question comes from Karen in Hampshire, but I get asked this question a lot, so I’m very happy to include it in my Q & A this week.

The short answer to this question, is NO you don’t NEED a Kiln to fire Fingerprint Jewellery and YES you can use a blowtorch. 

In fact, you can even fire Fingerprint Jewellery and other types of Silver Clay Jewellery on a Gas Hob, using a Metal Firing Gauze.

Blow Torching and Gas Hob firing is perfectly fine if you’re just making Silver Clay Jewellery for yourself as a hobby, but if you’re planning to set up a Business, making high quality Keepake Jewellery, I’d absolutely recommend that you invest in a Kiln.

There are a number of reasons for this;  First off, blow torch firing takes experience and practice and when you’re starting out, it can be difficult to know if you have got your flame to the correct heat for sintering to occur.

If you’re not experienced using a blow-torch, it can be very easy to melt your piece or even to under-fire it.  This means that your Silver Charm, may take on the appearance of being silver on the exterior, but actually, the silver may not have sintered and could still consist of fragile, clay-body, beneath the silver surface.

There are a number of checks you can put in place to assess whether or not the silver has sintered, including measuring the shrinkage rate, but this method isn’t full proof and for the inexperienced there’s a large margin for error.

Equally, I’ve heard a lot of stories from people who have taken the heat of their flame too high and melted their Silver Fingerprint Charms. In fact, I’ve spoken to many people who have wasted more time and money melting silver than it would have cost them to buy a Kiln in the first place.

The other issue with manual firing, is that you can only fire one piece at a time, so it is very inefficient and if you’re planning to run a busy Jewellery making Business, this won’t be time or cost-effective for you.

Also, you’ll be restricted to the size of the piece that you can manually fire, meaning you won’t be able to fire anything bigger than a 2p piece.

Manual Firing can also be very inconsistent and if you don’t apply the heat evenly and consistently enough, you can end up with warped and distorted charms

My recommendation then, would always be to Kiln-fire your Fingerprint & Silver Clay Jewellery, because it’s virtually fool-proof. 

During my Studio Courses and Online Training, I will cover all of the processes for making and Kiln Firing Fingerprint Jewellery, including providing you with the correct firing times and temperatures.  Plus you’ll get access to my online help-desk, so that I can help you along the way.

I always say to people who are considering whether or not to buy a Kiln to think about how quickly they would get a return on their investment.  In fact, with the cost of the Jewellery Kilns that we supply being so affordable, you’ll only need to sell about 7-8 pieces of Fingerprint Jewellery to cover the cost of your Kiln.  That’s a pretty quick Return on investment and another reason why I’d always recommend that you do invest in a Kiln.

You can find out more about the cost of making Fingerprint Jewellery and the potential Profit Margins by clicking this link to download our FREE Guide on how to start your own Fingerprint Jewellery Business.