CopprClay First Firing

Oddly enough, after braving my first firing with BronzClay, I was still very nervous about firing CopprClay.  Maybe because of the high temperature, or the shorter firing schedules I found...I don't know.  I ran a test today and found out I had nothing to be nervous about.  I used the two part firing schedule suggested by Wanaree Tanner, you can find her PDF with tons of useful information for top load and front load kilns on her bog post HERE.  I did alter it a bit because two of my pieces were rather thick.  I did not want them to warp, so insead of a 1100 degree F ramp, I used a 700 degree rate.  I also fired some test strips, but made them pretty and drilled them just in case they turned out okay (which they did).  

Here's the schedule I used.

Part 1:  On fiber blanket placed on top of ceramic spacers.  Kiln vented on top (cone removed).

Rate: 550 degrees F/hour

Final temp: 550

Hold time: 15 minutes

Part 2:  In steel container on ceramic spacers with coconut carbon.

Rate: 700 degrees F/hour

Final temp: 1750

Hold: 3 hours

Here are the pieces before firing.  The textures are made with plates from Cool Tools, except for the back of the test strips which were carved with a Dockyard V gouge.  I use Cool Slip to keep the clay from sticking to the texture plated. 

I didn't get a picture between the first part and the second, but here are the pieces straight out of the kiln.

They fired mostly just right with little oxidation or blemish, except for a spot in the middle of the back of the medallion and a tiny spot on the back of the rose.  These spots almost blistered a bit and looked a deep rosy color.  There were also some pieces of carbon embedded into the texture of the medallion.  Next time I will place a bit of ceramic fiber to cover the texture and lower the temperature of the kiln a bit.  I plan on ordering some steel mesh to wrap detailed pieces and a ceramic firing pan to regulate the temperature inside the firing container.  That will also allow me to lower the temperature of the kiln a bit.  (All these troubleshooting tips I discovered from the PDF by Wanaree that I referenced above).    

The pieces after a quick brush over with a steel brush and a bit of burnishing.  I also hammered the test strips out a bit, they developed a bit of curve in the container.

You can see the texture on the back of the medallion is improved in the next photo.  I hammered it a bit to make sure the piece had fully sintered (which it had), and found that it evened out the texture a good bit.  The little black pocks from the carbon are still kinda noticeable.

I really enjoyed working with the CopprClay so far, and found the firing process to be pretty simple.  I can't wait to try some patinas out on these shiny little pieces.  I did turn the test pieces into a pair of earrings (with a bit of alcohol ink to enhance the texture), and I will be giving them away tomorrow.  So be on the lookout for a long overdue Native Bloom giveaway.    

BronzClay First Firing

I took a brave step yesterday and fired my first BronzClay pieces.  I did tons of research, and finally ended up using the firing schedule chart on the Cool Tools site.  It was written by Mardel Rein, and it's kinda genius.  You can find it HERE.  Just scroll down for all the information you will need to get started with BronzClay and how to troubleshoot.  The stuff can be sorta fickle, so don't give up if your first go isn't perfect.

My kiln is a Paragon SC2 from Rio Grande, and it is the 1680 watt model, and my thickest piece was 7 mm thick, and I used a 4" high stainless steel container.  So here's the schedule I ran.

Rate:  212 per hour
Target Temperature:  1490 degrees F
Hold Time: 2 hours

That took about 9 1/2 hours to complete, and about an hour to cool down enough for me to take the container out and sift through with a stainless steel spoon to fish my pieces out.  I only fired 7 pieces, and here they are straight out of the kiln.

Dirty, grungy, oxidized, but beautiful and fully sintered.

Cleaned up a bit with my Dremel tool.

And a finished piece, a wax seal pendant on an 18" antiqued brass ball chain with a Swarovski birthstone element.  

I did not polish and sand before I fired these pieces, so I had to do a lot of work after I got them out of the kiln.  I sanded and tried to burnish the piece a bit, but I had a few places where the bronze would sort of flake off.  I was worried the piece had not sintered fully, but I did a test on one of the roses that did the same thing.  I hammered the crap out of it and it sounded metal and did not break or crack or anything.  The more I hammered the more bronze I saw.  I read somewhere that you should anneal the metal before you work with it a lot or it could become brittle and break, so I wonder if the flaking was from working it too hard without annealing it.  I plan on fixing this dilemma by sanding and burnishing before firing so all I will have to do is pickle the piece and polish.  

The back of the medallion has a faux bois texture.

I'm so proud of how this turned out, and I can't wait to make more!!!!!