by Ian Austen ian.austen@essnmedia.co.uk

The concept of turning clay into pure silver has a ring about it of the world of ancient alchemy.

A Croydon businesswoman has mastered the art and is now setting up her own jewellery school teaching it to others.

But there is no magic attached to the process – the clay simply does what it says on the packet.

Pat Sharma, who runs Croydon Jewellery School from the Allen Court Business Centre in South End, South Croydon, explained that by using precious metal clay (PMC) people are able to make their own basic pieces of silver jewellery after just a day's training.

PMC was developed and patented in the 1990s in Japan, but people teaching the techniques in the UK are still relatively few and far between – Mrs Sharma is believed to be the only one across south London and Surrey.

She said: "The beauty of the technique is that at the beginning, unlike with sheet silver, you can make mistakes and easily start over again.

"The end product may appear a little rougher than silversmith-produced jewellery but for the students producing it, every piece is unique and relatively cheap.

"Once people have attended my courses they can go on to make jewellery at home, quickly and with very little equipment."

A 10 gram packet of PMC costs around £15 and is enough to produce a pendant and a pair of earrings.

Mrs Sharma, 43, of Brighton Road, South Croydon, comes into her new venture after a long career in management with the Royal Mail behind her.

She said: "My expertise was in training but I had learned about things like running a business and product development."

All of these skills plus her keen interest in silversmithing and jewellery-making have been transferred into her new role.

She kicked the idea off last June but for most of the time has been concentrating on her job of managing the business centre.

Now it is thriving she has a little more time to run her school from an office in the centre.

Already planned are a taster course in May and an intermediate course in September, when more difficult subjects such as making rings will be taught.

They will be held at weekends and last for a day.

For more information, log on to www.croydonjewelleryschool. com or call Mrs Sharma on 020 8274 2917 or 07891 956798.