Another Sunday

I've been playing some more with copper clay and different impressions. It's great fun playing with the clay and this week I have added some patina ink to provide some variety to the standard black of oxidisation.
I think it makes these tiny stars look great. The patina even survived the tumbler which is great.


Not so on the next piece which I had to touch up with more patina and then a sealant. I'm not convinced by the result, but maybe it's just down to more practice with the medium. I'll touch it up some more and see if I can smooth out the result.
The one I dipped in Platinol came out gorgeous. Can't argue with the classic after all.

I'd like to offer some pendants in my shop that has initials and text that can be customised and these are the first design to come from that idea.

Sunday Project: Copper & Bronze Clay

Actually this is more of a full weekend project.
Ever since I first heard of metal clay I have been intrigued. metal that you can mould and shape like normal clay? Doesn't that sound so much easier than hammering, sawing and soldering let alone casting metal?


I had to give it a go. I've read around on lots of blogs about this and it sound like the silver clay is much easier to work with, especially if you want to torch fire - I don't have a kiln.
In fact I read several jewellers frustrated accounts about torch firing copper and bronze and that it just doesn't work.
A bit apprehensive I thought it might be time to take a real course instead of my usual diet of DVDs, blogs and Youtubes, so I signed up for a day with Natalia Colman, who was just about the only teacher I could find with copper and bronze on the menu.
I had a great Saturday. Natalia is a friendly, thorough and patient teacher, and the little group of four students was just right and great fun.
We went through the basics of conditioning the clay, rolling, stamping, shaping, moulding and so on, but it was the firing that I was mostly interested in.
The copper performed without a hitch both in the kiln and under the torch. It came out beautifully, but with considerably more firescale and oxidation on the kiln run. Nothing my Dremel couldn't fix, but it did offer a good deal more work on the finishing - obviously firing lots of pieces at once makes up for that, but if anyone has tips on how to avoid a thick crust on the kiln result then I'd love to hear about it.
I loved playing with the clay and I if I am going to make any larger amount of clay jewellery, then I think the kiln would be handy. By torch each piece has to be held at the right temperature for 7-8 minutes and it won't work with larger pieces.

The bronze was a lot more temperamental with lots of pieces breaking and down right 'exploding' in the oven. I have no idea why this is - calls for more experimentation. Under torch it was a bit more reliable, but still went wrong on one piece which simply did not fire all the way through despite being quite thin.


Above is my own attempt with the torch today. You can see it in all the stages. Another issue as you might be able to see is that the bronze comes out with a more matte colour and that it cannot be polished to a high shine like the copper can - even is sanded down to micro fine.
 Plus when it is finished the colour looks more like copper than bronze to me. I wonder if that's a comprimise the manufacturer has to make to get bronze to handle in clay.
We used the Creative Metal Clay brand - also known as Prometheus.
Here you can see a bronze leaf and a copper face. 

Bronze & copper comparison - electric light and sunlight

Don't they look awfully similar? Even holding the pieces in my hand there is hardly a difference in colour. I'm a bit disappointed with that. I wonder if other brands come out the same.
Given all the problems we had with the bronze I don't think it's worth it, really.


But all in all I am really pleased that the torch firing actually is easy to get right, which means I can experiment a lot more and really be sure about the clay before I invest in a kiln.


Addition to this post can be read here

Sunday Project - Venturing further into unknown territory

After a few very busy weekends (ask me about Barbershop Conventions another day!) this one was all mine. I was able to get back to playing with new designs and the postman delivered my new micro torch. Is it silly to be over the moon over my very first hand-crafted balled eyepin?

Anyway, the torch means that I can anneal my copper which was desperately needed because it gets so hard after you handle it just a little, and the sheet that I ordered a month ago arrived to rock solid that I could only manage to make the faintest mark in it with my also newly acquired letter stamp set. I was so disappointed. 

But today I could cut a little piece out, file it thoroughly, anneal it with my new torch, pickle it, then stamp and bend and oxidise and polish to my hearts content.

This is my very first copper sheet ring. I was going to write 'Hello world' which is the first thing I always write when faced with a new programming language, but in the end I decided it would look better with just hello.

I love how I can just keep exploring this craft of mine and learn new things.

I also bought myself a pair of beautiful new earrings from Cinnamon Jewellery. I love them. Tracy is so talented. She has used patina ink on them and it looks amazing. I must investigate that too; after all painting is something I already now a bit about.

Copper earrings with patina ink from Cinnamon Jewellery

Sunday Project

A little project just for me. I bought a string of tiny briolettes in a selection of gemstones last week. Quartz, prehnite, labradorite, citrine, amethyst, rose quarts and more. They are all so delicate and gorgeous. These here are moss aquamarines and since aquamarine is the March birthstone, I thought I'd make a pair just for me. Casually wrapped in copper wire, then blackened and polished. I love them. I think they look like Viking jewellery. I made the hooks extra small which I prefer for earrings like these. 


I'll talk a bit more about hooks next week. They should be taken seriously :o)