Thrilled to get started with Goldie Bronze™ clay––a new medium created by Waldo Ilowiecki in Poland and released just this summer in the US by Val Lewis ––I got to work as soon as I received my Soft and Hard clay powder pots. I used the Goldie Bronze PDF as a guide and picked up many helpful hints from Anna Mazon´ who did a fantastic, very thorough blog review of the material. Sabine Alienor Singery has also written a very helpful review of Goldie Bronze. Thereby "standing on the shoulders of giants" I document my own virgin experience in the following little post:
Look & Feel:
The powder for both the Soft and Hard versions of Goldie Bronze are a combination of 'airy and earthy' particles, some merely a fine powder, others teeny-weeny "pebbles", definitely in need a good mix before adding water as the heavy particles sink to the bottom of the powder. Hard and Soft powders look identical and are mixed with water the same way.
Adding Water:
Adding very small increments of distilled water with a sprayer was effective (therefore not risking a mucky, too-watery mixture and having to add more powder). I mixed with the end of a paint brush. Both Hard and Soft responded to water and mixing the same way.
Mixing:
The clay absorbed water beautifully, gradually forming a nice pliable, elastic lump. A fine layer of Slik on my hands helped keep the clay from sticking to my fingers initially and before long the clay became more "rubbery" and didn't stick at all. The clay's texture improved with every minute of attention it received!
Kneading & Rolling:
Kneading made the clay become even more supple and pliable and a short "rest" period in plastic wrap brought it to a perfect working state.
Working With The Clay:
I tried several simple pieces in order to see what I could do with the clay. I aimed to try out: joining with slip, ring construction (rings frequently crack with the Fastfire Bronz that I love), gem inlays, rolling and carving.
I made: 1) A Dia de Los Muertos ring, 2) An African Sankofa ring, 3) A "4-gem, 3-jointed" bracelet, and 4) A super-thin ring (Did it crack? Yes, it cracked!).
Rolling, cutting and carving was straightforward. Both Hard and Soft clays are a pleasure to work with, they feel great between the fingers! I found that the Hard Goldie Bronze was easier to work with when creating tiny shapes—it crumbled less easily than the Soft. I tried the Sankofa ring in Soft Goldie Bronze, but the tiny shapes crumbled relentlessly. I re-did it in Hard and it worked well.
Sanding and filing was a breeze. When green-dry, I think Goldie Bronze is a little more brittle than Fastfire Bronz or PMC, but I got the hang of it after several annoying breaks.
I ended up using more Hard clay than soft as I thought it would work better for these pieces. I'll try Soft for the next batch.
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the working time and the ease of use this clay allowed me! I usually work with Fastfire Bronz, which dries out very rapidly and changes texture easily. The Goldie Bronze rarely cracked or dried out, even with extended working sessions.
First Firing–Burning the Binder:
The first firing––full ramp, for 30 minutes at 650°F, without foil cover––was straightforward. The tan/taupe clay turns to a beautiful ash grey and is VERY frail (I cracked a test piece to feel it––think ash/chalk!). So I chose not to move my pieces at all between the first and second firings.
Second Firing–Sintering:
Well, THAT was fast! I did both firings in a morning, between two school drop offs, a coffee date, a phone meeting and a house cleaning. I fired full ramp at 1508°F for 40 minutes, with foil cover, and this is what I got:
1) Sintered, whole, Dia De Los Muertos ring with dull Cubic zirconia gems, 2) Sintered, whole, Sankofa ring with dull Cubic zirconia gem, 3) Broken in two places bracelet, 4) Cracked thin ring (maybe I made them too thin?). AND (gasp), both ring shanks shrank from size 8 to size 4! Despite this, the ring faces and the bracelet arms didn't shrink substantially. Anna Mazon´ mentions a fantastic bronze clay shrinkage comparison by Pat Waddington that shows firing size changes across all brands of bronze. Each piece came out of the kiln with its own lovely patina.
What Didn't Work:
Cracking: The cracking of the thin ring was no surprise, due to its thinness and its circular shape. I'll have to keep testing for the narrowest, 'non-cracking' thickness I can attain for circles and rings. Thin bangles and rings are one of my favorite challenges with Fastfire Bronz.
The bracelet cracks happened at the joints. Granted, they were joints with large surface areas and heavy 'extensions'. So that could have been my bad. But I also noted that the joints to the gems at the tips of the bracelet didn't crack? At the same time, the complicated, smaller slip joints I'd made in the Sankofa ring worked perfectly. Anna Mazon´ explains in her fantastic blog post on Goldie Bronze, about her success with repairing fired pieces. I'll follow in her footsteps and try it out. More to learn on joints!
'Dull' Cubic Zirconia: Yes, I could have opened up the backs of the gems to aid light and to prevent an oxidized backing, BUT, BUT, BUT, I have fantastic luck with solid-backed gems in Fastfire. All sparkly and just dancing with light! It shouldn't have been an 'over-firing' problem––they're ok being fired up to 1650°F. All the gems I fired in place during this test came out dull? For the love of clay, back to the bench! (Note: Have since fired endless pieces with cz gems and have had no problems at all!)
What Worked!
The Dia De Los Muertos ring and the Sankofa ring worked out well. I'd like to tweak the designs further, but the clay worked nicely. After a frenzied final finishing, I was able to see the lovely white-gold color that Goldie Bronze delivers and I thoroughly enjoyed the relatively 'leisurely' working time it allowed me. The platinum-gold color is so beautiful it might be worth a switch from the deeper yellow Fastfire, and the firing time is a breeze, even beside Fastfire Bronz!
The powder for both the Soft and Hard versions of Goldie Bronze are a combination of 'airy and earthy' particles, some merely a fine powder, others teeny-weeny "pebbles", definitely in need a good mix before adding water as the heavy particles sink to the bottom of the powder. Hard and Soft powders look identical and are mixed with water the same way.
Adding very small increments of distilled water with a sprayer was effective (therefore not risking a mucky, too-watery mixture and having to add more powder). I mixed with the end of a paint brush. Both Hard and Soft responded to water and mixing the same way.
The clay absorbed water beautifully, gradually forming a nice pliable, elastic lump. A fine layer of Slik on my hands helped keep the clay from sticking to my fingers initially and before long the clay became more "rubbery" and didn't stick at all. The clay's texture improved with every minute of attention it received!
Kneading made the clay become even more supple and pliable and a short "rest" period in plastic wrap brought it to a perfect working state.
I tried several simple pieces in order to see what I could do with the clay. I aimed to try out: joining with slip, ring construction (rings frequently crack with the Fastfire Bronz that I love), gem inlays, rolling and carving.
I made: 1) A Dia de Los Muertos ring, 2) An African Sankofa ring, 3) A "4-gem, 3-jointed" bracelet, and 4) A super-thin ring (Did it crack? Yes, it cracked!).
Rolling, cutting and carving was straightforward. Both Hard and Soft clays are a pleasure to work with, they feel great between the fingers! I found that the Hard Goldie Bronze was easier to work with when creating tiny shapes—it crumbled less easily than the Soft. I tried the Sankofa ring in Soft Goldie Bronze, but the tiny shapes crumbled relentlessly. I re-did it in Hard and it worked well.
Sanding and filing was a breeze. When green-dry, I think Goldie Bronze is a little more brittle than Fastfire Bronz or PMC, but I got the hang of it after several annoying breaks.
I ended up using more Hard clay than soft as I thought it would work better for these pieces. I'll try Soft for the next batch.
I LOVED, LOVED, LOVED the working time and the ease of use this clay allowed me! I usually work with Fastfire Bronz, which dries out very rapidly and changes texture easily. The Goldie Bronze rarely cracked or dried out, even with extended working sessions. 
The first firing––full ramp, for 30 minutes at 650°F, without foil cover––was straightforward. The tan/taupe clay turns to a beautiful ash grey and is VERY frail (I cracked a test piece to feel it––think ash/chalk!). So I chose not to move my pieces at all between the first and second firings.
Well, THAT was fast! I did both firings in a morning, between two school drop offs, a coffee date, a phone meeting and a house cleaning. I fired full ramp at 1508°F for 40 minutes, with foil cover, and this is what I got:
1) Sintered, whole, Dia De Los Muertos ring with dull Cubic zirconia gems, 2) Sintered, whole, Sankofa ring with dull Cubic zirconia gem, 3) Broken in two places bracelet, 4) Cracked thin ring (maybe I made them too thin?). AND (gasp), both ring shanks shrank from size 8 to size 4! Despite this, the ring faces and the bracelet arms didn't shrink substantially. Anna Mazon´ mentions a fantastic bronze clay shrinkage comparison by Pat Waddington that shows firing size changes across all brands of bronze. Each piece came out of the kiln with its own lovely patina.
Cracking: The cracking of the thin ring was no surprise, due to its thinness and its circular shape. I'll have to keep testing for the narrowest, 'non-cracking' thickness I can attain for circles and rings. Thin bangles and rings are one of my favorite challenges with Fastfire Bronz.
The bracelet cracks happened at the joints. Granted, they were joints with large surface areas and heavy 'extensions'. So that could have been my bad. But I also noted that the joints to the gems at the tips of the bracelet didn't crack? At the same time, the complicated, smaller slip joints I'd made in the Sankofa ring worked perfectly. Anna Mazon´ explains in her fantastic blog post on Goldie Bronze, about her success with repairing fired pieces. I'll follow in her footsteps and try it out. More to learn on joints!
'Dull' Cubic Zirconia: Yes, I could have opened up the backs of the gems to aid light and to prevent an oxidized backing, BUT, BUT, BUT, I have fantastic luck with solid-backed gems in Fastfire. All sparkly and just dancing with light! It shouldn't have been an 'over-firing' problem––they're ok being fired up to 1650°F. All the gems I fired in place during this test came out dull? For the love of clay, back to the bench! (Note: Have since fired endless pieces with cz gems and have had no problems at all!)
What Worked!
The Dia De Los Muertos ring and the Sankofa ring worked out well. I'd like to tweak the designs further, but the clay worked nicely. After a frenzied final finishing, I was able to see the lovely white-gold color that Goldie Bronze delivers and I thoroughly enjoyed the relatively 'leisurely' working time it allowed me. The platinum-gold color is so beautiful it might be worth a switch from the deeper yellow Fastfire, and the firing time is a breeze, even beside Fastfire Bronz!
