After about six months of experimenting and working with Goldie Bronze, I pledge my allegiance to this lovely metal clay material!
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...
 |
| Booklet lockets inspired by the great teachings of Wanaree Tanner. |
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.
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...
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteCan you advise on your process of getting a mirror finish on goldie bronze. Do you use a tumbler or polish with a dremel.
Deletethank you!!
Marie -
ReplyDeleteYes! I get a gorgeous mirror finish using the following steps (it takes a little effort to get all the supplies together but it's really worth it):
1.Once piece is out of the kiln, I do a Dremel sanding with a 120 grit sanding drum (Rio Grande Item #337-502)
2.Then a Dremel sanding with a 240 grit sanding drum (Rio Grande Item #337-504)
3. Followed by a Dremel sanding using Slotted Mandrel, wrapped with any 400 grit wet/dry sandpaper (straight head, Rio Grande #333-130)--let me know if you need help figuring out how to secure the sand paper onto the mandrel.
4.Lastly, a Dremel sanding using Slotted Mandrel, wrapped with any 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper
5.Final Dremel polish with rouge
6.Through washing with warm water and soap to get all the rouge off
7.I also use Renaissance (micro crystalline wax polish) or Wendol (metal polish) with a soft cloth for a super shiny, protected finish
I've had good luck with tumblers too, but the above process creates the highest shine. Let me know how it goes.
Good luck!
Cheers,
Anwyn
No matter what I've done, how I've fired, I cannot get the Goldie Snow to turn out silver-ish in color. Instead, I get light gold. I've adjusted firing temperatures, firing times - to no avail. Light gold every single time. I've communicated w/ Waldo, and he suggested the different firing times/temps. Also, he suggested that maybe the carbon should be carbon that's never fired copper as the residue from the copper may be causing the problem. However, I only fired one item made of Goldie Copper in the carbon, and the carbon's been mixed w/ new since then. Plus, it doesn't sound like that's the problem if you're firing Goldie Bronze *with* Snow since the Bronze contains a high content of Copper. Any advice? BTW, I LOVE LOVE LOVE Goldie Bronze. Easiest clay I've ever worked with, and it sinters every single time!
ReplyDeletePaula -
ReplyDeleteI've had trouble with Goldie Snow too, and gave up using it as a result. I didn't experience the coloration issues that you have, I just had very troublesome brittleness issues--LOTS of cracking in both green and fired forms. I guess I should work with it more and try to figure it out (but it's so much more pleasant to go straight back to Goldie Bronze where I have lots of successes!).
Sounds silly--but any chance the gold color could be due to tarnishing post firing? I've found that if I have Silver-Black (for patinas) NEAR GB (even in the air) the metal reacts and will become yellower.
Also, could you try a new container of GS? Perhaps it was a bad batch?
I've fired GS in the same carbon as GB without problems. Only other thought would be to use completely new batch of carbon (I get Hadar Jacoboson's well-researched, preferred carbon in bulk from Roshan Perera, Carbon Activated Corp, 250 East Manville Street, Compton, CA 90220, roshanp@activatedcarbon.com)
So sorry I don't have any brilliant suggestions. Keep me posted (do you have a FB page or blog where I can follow your progress?).
Warm regards,
Anwyn
Thank you for replying! I haven't had cracking issues, but don't try to hammer it, even with a leather mallet - break!
DeleteI've gone through (2) 25g containers from one supplier and broke open a 50g container I bought from a different supplier (hoping a wee bit the 25g containers were "bad") - nope.
Nothing you've suggested seems to be the culprit: they come out of the kiln the light gold color!, I'm using that same carbon (started using it a long time ago with ACCopper), I don't use/have silver-black... maybe my kiln just doesn't like Snow Bronze! ;)
Oh! I just went to your FB page - I've seen you in one or more of the FB groups I'm a part of!
Here's my FB accounts ~ Biz: http://on.fb.me/16EFQPQ and personal: http://on.fb.me/19go5do
I've not photographed & posted 99% of my pieces; I'll get that done when school starts in about 3 weeks! My web site: WearTheMusic.co