Another option if you have a kiln is to use silver clay with the china pieces..that way you get pure silver with no lead issues and you can form it into any shape you want.
Tried the silver clay thing a couple of years ago. Here, they were advocating that you can 'fire' the silver with a chef's torch -the kind you flambe crepe's with. No kiln needed. Never-the-less - it worked out waaaaay too expensive to produce stuff unless it was going to be an upmarket jewelery business on it's own. Of course the silver clay is imported here - ( Two brands - don't even remember the names...)by sole importers........ so I guess it is relatively more expensive for us than for you.
