Precious mettle.

The author describes how he uses precious metal clay (PMC) in his jewelry-making classes at a secondary school in Great Britain. He explains that PMC is a mix of pure silver, water, and organic binder, and that it has the advantage of being easily shaped and reshaped, as necessary, until it has been fired. He describes the differences between using PMC and normal silver in terms of cost, waste, and creativity. He describes several student projects made possible by use of PMC. INSET: All that glistens.