I have used cast fine silver for earrings and have never had a problem. I use a burr to freshen the silver and make it bright and then clean well, making sure to remove any grease. I've never worked with PMC.

I have enamelled on castings in fine silver, Britannia and sterling (925) silver without any problems. I usually pop them in the kiln for a quick heat up, pickle (if they are anything other than fine silver), brighten them up in my magnetic polisher or with my rotary tool then heat in the kiln again to remove any grease or polishing residue. I do use a casting company that are used to producing for enamelling so are always good quality - I have seen castings produced that seem full of pits & holes and think that would be problematic.

I also regularly enamel on silver clay - Art Clay Silver in my case - and love it!

Thanks to both for the replies. I cast the fine silver, cleaned it with a brass and a glass brush, sanded it and cleaned it in the ultrasonic cleaner. Then it was tumbled it for several hours, and engraved to clean up any rough spots. It seemed to work well, and I'll post pictures as soon as I get the rest of the piece finished and assembled

Thanks again.

Debbie

I have heard that cast fine silver doesn't enamel well; what are the problems with it opposed to PMC? PMC has quite a bit of porosity and if it's burnished well doesn't seem to be too much of a problem. Is it possible to enamel if the cast piece was tumbled and burnished?

Thanks for any help.

 

Debbie K