Saturday, August 31, 2013

Learn the Joys of Goldie Bronze: November Workshop, Palo Alto, CA

It looks like gold and it costs like copper! Take a hands-on tour of this lovely bronze clay. I'm delighted to be teaching a Goldie Bronze workshop on Saturdays, November 2nd, 9th & 16th, from 10am-1pm. Class # 74366, register here: www.cityofpaloalto.org/enjoy

Thursday, May 30, 2013

The Joys of Goldie Bronze.

After about six months of experimenting and working with Goldie Bronze, I pledge my allegiance to this lovely metal clay material!

Bronze booklet lockets made with Goldie bronze
Booklet lockets inspired by the great teachings of Wanaree Tanner.
What I enjoy about Goldie Bronze
Having experimented with most of the bronze powder/metal clay products on the market, I've come to really enjoy the following qualities of Goldie Bronze:
- Powder form: allows for long shelf life, especially when dear Val Lewis has a sale!
- Wonderful working texture: rubbery, pliable and not at all crumbly when properly hydrated (that said, an additional, slight, layer of Slik or Badger Balm on the palms takes me back to my play dough years).
- Long life: In it's wet form, it remains beautifully hydrated when stored in plastic wrap. I rarely rehydrate it, even after it's been sitting untouched for several days. Easy.
- Nice long working time: I don't feel like I have to rush when working in it's wet form as it stays nice and moistly malleable for a long time (definitely felt rushed with FastFire).
- Tough stuff: Relatively speaking, not too brittle when green-dry.
- Easy firing: I have consistently great results in my (hotter than most) kiln with 1) a full ramp, 662°F, 30 minute pre-fire (on either carbon or steel mesh shelf), and 2) a full ramp 1505°F, 40 minute sintering fire.
- CZ gems fire nicely: No problems with dulling of various colored cz gems embedded in Goldie bronze (I have consistently good results with all my CZs from Cool Tools & Metal Clay Supply)
- Minimal shrinkage: Oh how heavenly, for me, to keep the math out of my art! Goldie Bronze shrinkage is officially 5-9%, but depending on the shapes I create (especially rings), size reduction can be almost negligible and doesn't become a headache in planning pieces.
FYI: Hard Goldie Bronze does take a while to finish and polish (mostly because I love mirror finishes), but the color and feel is absolutely beautiful. 

Needless to say, all of the above works beautifully when I've ensured the all obvious basics: mixed the all clay in the container thoroughly (no batches!), carefully reinforced joints, prevented cracks/bubbles/fissures, dried the piece thoroughly and prevented warping in drying and firing placement. 

WOW! Goldie Bronze & Paste Maker, a marriage made in heaven!
Thanks to the clever teachings of Wanaree Tanner I learned about the magic of Paste Maker by Sherri Haab. Paste Maker and Goldie Bronze together, are practically symphonic! 

My water spritzer sits solemnly at the back of my work station, rarely used. I substitute it for Paste Maker at every joint, repair or slip-mix. Of course I do mix the powder with water at the outset, and perhaps use a spritz or two during the life of the wet clay, but that's about it. Paste Maker is amazing! I rarely have cracking or joint separation problems anymore and I think it's because the Paste Maker really super-bonds the clay particles together vs water's tendency to create more porous, 'airy' joints.

Indeed, other bronze clays have the advantage of more varied Mokume-gane combinations, or quicker firing, but I find this to be the all-around friendliest bronze clay, until the next bronze clay medalist is released!

NOTE: Just tried Goldie Snow and it's a very different animal! Completely contrasting (granular) texture, with a longer firing time and higher shrinkage. Goldie Bronze and Goldie Snow worked well when wet-joined and fired together (fired at the Goldie schedule but doubled in time, pre-fired on a steel mesh shelf). The color of Goldie Snow is silver, but perhaps a bit closer to the grey of steel. Nice stuff, looking forward to experimenting more...

Monday, April 8, 2013

Altars On The Move: Spirit Houses in Bronze

I'm newly inspired to incorporate spirit houses into my jewelry work.  The idea of spirit houses originates from Asia, but sacred spaces are embraced the world-over, in shrines, altars, temples of all shapes and sizes. I'm just into the little ones!

Wikipedia: "a spirit house is a shrine to the protective spirit of a place that are found in the Southeast Asian countries of Burma, Cambodia, Laos, and Thailand...The spirit house is normally in the form of a miniature house or temple, and is mounted on a pillar or on a dais...The shrines often include images of people and animals. Votive offerings are left at the house to propitiate the spirits. More elaborate installations include an altar for this purpose."

Here's my first attempt at creating a tiny sacred space (it's also become my greatest teacher, demonstrating all the little challenges in making these tiny shrines):

Measuring just under two inches, this spirit house has a tiny hinged door, two windows and a 'stepped' base.

Somewhere around 17 components were hand carved, separately, then joined together at different points between drying with slip and Paste Maker.

Since the interior of the house is so hard to finish and make additions to once the piece is fired, I'm going for a second hinge on the roof in the future!

Too large to use as a pendent, this type of piece could be a 'keepsake' shrine, for all of us constantly on the move!


 

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Exploring my options: Bronze metal clay

I'm delving into a whole new level of metal clay skill--after master artist Hadar Jacobson's wonderful five day December seminar in Berkeley--I'm moving out of my comfort zones and habits, into brand new tools and techniques!

Being a almost entirely bronze-centric artisan, I'm testing out all of the bronze clays I can get my hands on in order to find the best clay for my work, as well as my brain and fingertips! Following is what I found, in my own particularly unscientific way:

Here, I tried similar hollow "giraffe print" rings in FastFire Bronz (left) and Hadar's Bronze XT (right). FastFire is harder to work with on multi-layered, hollow forms as if cracks easily, and isn't as strong or flexible (presumably it contains less binder for quick and easy firing). It required no repairs once fired however. Hadar's clay was a dream to work with (moist, rubbery, creamy and SLOOOW-drying ), but requires longer firing and seems to need more repairs post-firing. Note the yellow hue of FastFire and pinkish hue of Hadar's Bronze XT.
   
Here I tried a hollow form raven pendent with Hadar's Brilliant Bronze. I should have reinforced more of the center of this form as it buckled slightly in certain areas. The white CZ gem went cloudy, as they always seem to do with this clay. 
   

I also tried a pair of super simple, delicate oval earrings with Hadar's Brilliant Bronze. They worked out beautifully, no cracks or warps (but need further finishing!).





  
  







Next I tried another hollow form with Hadar's Brilliant Bronze. I re-thought the hollow/round ring "template" I'd learned and the shape worked beautifully. I wasn't able, however, to get a medallion to sinter in the center of the ring--thus the gaping hole. That aside, I love this shape and will continue to use this form.




Finally, I made a simple hollow ring using Goldi Bronze. SWOON? The clay was lovely to work with and it fired beautifully. It was, perhaps, ever so slightly more brittle to work with when green and dry, but it's comparable to Hadar's clay in it's fantastic consistency. Firing was very easy (30 min prefire and 40 min firing in kiln). Not a crack, not a kink. Granted, it may have been that I did a better job on the construction of this piece, but I really think the magic's in this wonderful clay! Goldie bronze has a pretty golden hue, though subtler and whiter than FastFire or Hadar's.

  

Following are two photos of my complete (and unpolished) failures: a bangle made from Hadar's Brilliant Bronze and Copper clays (required two repair attempts post firing, at which point it sprung another crack and I gave up); a steel and bronze ring (Hadar's clay) which cracked in multiple places; and a small steel-bezeled, copper-centered pendent which cracked all over the place as well (Hadar's Steel XT and Copper clays). No energy or will power left to repair these pieces!  

NEXT, I'll give Metal's Adventures Bronze a try and will check back with more results and thoughts.