If you're working with Art Clay, you'll enjoy using good tools rather than continually improvising. They'll help you manage a creative and efficient work environment. And they'll last a long time.

The Art Clay Tools International Catalogue lists most of the tools we sell on line at Kitiki, use during our workshops and courses, and sell in the studio. They've been chosen for their engineering excellence and clean functionality, helping you to make desirable jewellery.

Print the catalogue list, using the link above. Learn more about the tools at The Art Clay Club. It's a free resource, 24 7 52: you don't have to register, log on, or remember a password.

When you're ready, and you've ticked off the tools you want on the list, go to Kitiki and order the tools, along with Art Clay, on line, on the phone, or by post.

Alchemy is a medieval belief that non-precious metals could be turned into gold. Although personal desire and chemical optimism did not create gold from something not-gold, the magic of the idea is still very powerful.

Suppose you want to make a silver heart for a necklace. You need silversmith's skills to cut, file, smooth, drill, and polish a piece of silver. It takes a long time, mistakes are expensive, and offcuts are hard to recycle.

Now suppose you want to make a modelling-clay heart. You need no special skills to shape, smooth, and dry a piece of clay. It doesn't take long, mistakes can be corrected, and offcuts can be kneaded back into a re-useable piece of clay.

Now make an Art Clay heart. Fire it in a kiln, on your kitchen gas hob, on a camping gaz ring, or with a butane torch, and it turns into a shining solid silver heart. The alchemy magic is that it's real metal: it doesn't just look like metal.

Art Clay, sometimes called silver clay, gold clay, metal clay, or precious-metal clay, is made by Aida Chemical Industries in Japan: it's silver or gold in a clay form. Its easy-to-use flexibility makes it a versatile material, ideal for art colleges, home and business jewellers, ceramic cafes, craftworkers, glass studios, metalsmiths, modelmakers, and potteries.

Art Clay is really a composite material, made of fine silver or gold powder and a harmless water-based organic binder. Whilst shaping it, you can add more using the clay, paste, syringe, and paper types. And it can be combined with silver findings and materials such as copper, beads, dichroic glass, pearls, semiprecious gems, porcelain, and polymer clay.

Because it looks and feels like modelling clay, you can use familiar tools and similar techniques. This ease of working, free from slow conventional metal-smithing practices, is liberating. Now you can design and make unique necklaces, bracelets, charms, earrings, rings, brooches, anklets, ornaments, and seasonal decorations.

Whilst shaping it, you can add more using the clay, paste, syringe, and paper types. And it can be combined with silver findings and materials such as copper, beads, dichroic glass, pearls, semiprecious gems, porcelain, and polymer clay.

When it's fired, the organic binder vapourises and the metal powder sinters, leaving solid 999 silver or 22 carat gold. During firing, small amounts of non-toxic carbon dioxide and water vapour are released: so it's safe to use at home.
There's an important difference between sintering and fusing. During sintering, metal powders bond to produce solid metal, but don't melt. During fusing, metals melt and lose their shape.

After firing, you can drill it, file it, polish it, burnish it, tumble it, hammer it, tarnish it, solder it: just as you would with any other metal. Or it can be re-worked, added to, or textured.

Art Clay is marketed in the UK through The Kitiki Studio: an Art Clay distributor, on-line retailer, and learning centre with Aida-certified teachers.

The Kitiki Studio is an Art Clay UK distributor, on-line shop, and learning centre, with Aida-certified teachers, providing: Art Clay silver, gold, and cork clays; Paragon kilns and accessories; Lindstrom pliers and cutters; precision metalwork and craft tools; mini-drills and rotary accessories; electric tumblers, shot, and grit; and jewellery findings and materials.

The Art Clay range includes: 650 silver clay, original silver, slow dry, slow tarnish, paste, oil paste, overlay paste, syringe clay, paper clay, gold clay, gold paste, gold foil, and cork clay.

The Kitiki Studio educational programme includes: Introducing SilverClay as a half-day or evening class; Magical ArtClay as a one-day workshop; special-topic one-day or two-day masterclasses; and three-day Art Clay Level 1 and Level 2 teacher-certification courses.

Kitiki actively supports The Art Clay Club, helping to collate information about silver clay, gold clay, cork clay, kilns, tools, materials, projects, courses, and Art Clay teacher-certification. It's a free resource, 24 7 52: you don't have to register, log on, or remember a password.

Kitiki is committed to the Art Clay world, so Art Clay is not a secondary product within an existing glass, polymer clay, or craft business. With The Art Clay Club and SilverClay, it provides the definitive on-line Art Clay knowledge-base.

You can shop at Kitiki: on line, by phone, or with a cheque: there's no delivery charge. EU prices include UK VAT, a tax of . If your invoice address is outside the EU, you don't pay VAT. Although Kitiki sells kilns and tools worldwide, our Aida contract restricts Art Clay sales to within the UK.

For schools, colleges, universities, resellers, retailers, catalogues, ceramic cafes, or teachers for Art Clay level 1, Art Clay level 2, or PMC, there are lower prices for Art Clay, Accent Gold, kilns, tools, and materials. To order, you don't need to set up an account: just mail or call.

. The names Cherry Heaven, Art Clay, The Art Clay Club, Art Clay World, Paragon, Kitiki, SilverClay, and Accent Gold, are registered trademarks.