All metal clays are made up of tiny metal particles, an organic binder and water. The binder is there to help the metal clay to be malleable, which means you can handle it as you would soft clay. Once you've finished your metal clay design, it's time to fire it! This step is called sintering.

Each clay has its own specific temperatures for sintering. During the firing process, the binder is burnt off and the metal particles move closer together to form a solid mass.

So, it is essential that your kiln controls the temperature correctly.

A programmable kiln allows you to easily set the target temperature, ramp rate and hold time for each firing step. The longer a piece is fired at the correct temperature, the tighter these bonds become, resulting in stronger pieces. Once programmed, all you have to do is select the program of your choice and start the kiln.

We should note that silver clay often resists  temperature changes, while other clays are more fragile. For example, clays containing zinc, such as white bronze, are particularly temperature sensitive and even small variations can have a big impact on the result.