Glasclay

I was reading Beading Daily, "What Rocked Tuscon," and came across a mention of Glasclay today, and I can tell this is something I will have to find out more about.

image from Beading Daily article, "What rocked Tucson"

original photo caption:

"Glasclay(TM) from Claymania Art Clay, Inc. wins my Invention of the Show award; their malleable glass in a binder needs no torch to form, just a kiln to fire. Hot stuff!" (Leslie Rogalski)

I had hoped to enjoy working with the Bronzclay that came out last year, but found that I was bothered by the metallic smell. Nothing wrong with the product - it was just me.

The final pieces had a nice weight, pretty color and held detail really well. I just couldn't get past the metallic smell that seemed to caught in my mouth and nose for the rest of the day - no matter how many times I washed my hands.

I have wanted to try the copper clay, but just haven't quite gotten a round "tuit." But with the idea of glass -one of my favorite things!) I am definitely excited enough to get on the waiting list to try some.

I did notice that a digital programmable kiln is necessary to work with Glasclay. I'm fortunate enough to have really nice Skutt table top model.

Hopefully I will be able to find out more about this product soon. If anyone out there has had a chance to work with this product, I'd love to hear in the comments.

Bronzeclay first firing

Night before last, I programed the kiln for firing the new Bronzeclay. The instructions call for ramping the temperature at 250 degrees per hour (I had several pieces that were thicker than 3mm). Then the kiln should hold at 1550 degrees F for three hours. It takes nine hours all told to fire the pieces.

I used a "firing container" (stainless steel chafing dish, used in steam tables - you can get them at restaurant supply stores) filled with the basic activated charcoal. I was hoping for a rainbow finish but my stuff mostly came out in oranges and a bit of green. I think this was in part because I did crowd a bit to get everything in the container. Still I did have easily an inch -inch and a half of the carbon packed around each item.

One of the hardest parts was digging everything out afterwards. The carbon is very small particles and dusty. I pulled the container out when everything was still 400 degrees (I really should have waited!) and the container started to spray a fine spray of carbon out one side, through a small gap in lid. (a very small gap!)

I had used a mask through all of the handling of the carbon , thankfully. I also used a mask while burnishing, filing, and sanding the leather hard bronzeclay. One of the things I have discovered about the difference between the bronze clay and silver clay - bronze clay has a distinct metallic odor.

The Bronze clay handles very much the same as silver clay - I think it is a great option for practicing techniques and ideas, before commiting them to the more expensive silver clay. However, my love for silver will still have me using the silver clay for the final pieces.

It's important to note, I have gained more confidence already from using the Bronzclay - I don't have quite the same fear of "messing up all that money!" as I would when using the silver clay. I got several pieces made - 17 good sized pendants from about 150 gm of clay. I have more waiting to do a second batch, but wanted to test the things I had made already.

I ordered my bronze clay!! Rio Grande FINALLY made the stuff available today, and while they had already sold out of the 200 gram packages, I was able to snag a couple of 100 gram packages.

(I knew I should have called as soon as they opened! I waited an hour before calling and they were sold out of the stainless steel containers used to hold the items being fired, as well as the activated charcoal used in the firing process.Bummer!)

I am starting to recover from my trip and will post more over the next couple of days -I am definitely behind on everything!