A quick note on firing the bronze and copper clays that need carbon immersion - Don't use in a kiln you plan to enamel in. Some wild stuff happens during firing and there is carbon dust all over the kiln - inside and out! Enamels would be contaminated by those pesky dust particles - which, even after vacuuming, are still present.
Bronze Clay
Bronze clay hit the scene at the 2008 PMC conference. This first version of Bronze clay was developed by Bill Struve of Metal Adventures, Inc. (clay is not available on their site). The trademarked name is: BRONZclay. Per Rio Grande, BRONZclay is 11% tin and the other 89% is copper, water and a "non-toxic" binder (as we don't know what it is, it's hard to tell). BRONZclay is available at Rio Grande, Metal Clay Supply, Cool Tools, Whole Lotta Whimsey, New Mexico Clay, among others. Celie Fago has a great story to tell about her first encounters with BRONZclay here.
Hadar Jacobson has also developed Bronze Clay, Copper Clay, Steel Clay and Stainless Steel Clay in powdered form available at her Textures store. She also has quick fire versions of Copper and Bronze clay which don't require the use of carbon. (yeah)
The steel clay is weird to work with. It doesn't hold shapes very well and I have found that I have to use some type of form beneath the clay for it to work. I do a lot of draping, which also works well. Just don't expect it to behave like silver clay. Be aware when ordering the Stainless Clay that you need a kiln that reaches 2200 degrees F + and that (to quote Hadar) "Contact of stainless steel with carbon at high temperatures is very likely to compromise the steel's ability to resist corrosion." So, I'm assuming that all of that carbon dust in my kiln - that I will probably never completely remove - will interact with the clay. Plus, my kiln, which is a PMC kiln, only reaches 2000 degrees F. I'm dying to try it but I'll need another kiln for that.
She has also written three books on using her clays.
Art Clay World now has their brand of copper clay called: Art Clay Copper. It takes 30 minutes in the kiln and doesn't require immersion in carbon. I'm going to order some today! Here is the link to their product and this link is to the instructions.
Bronze clay is not Silver clay! Silver clay tools and work surfaces must be kept separate from the tools and surfaces that you use with Bronze clay. The dust from either material will contaminate the other resulting in some pretty ugly messes and unanticipated results. Like silver clay, you need to coat your hands and tools with some sort of resist (the resist keeps the clay from sticking to things it shouldn't stick to). Never use a petroleum based product like vaseline. Olive Oil is a safe bet. Mardel Rein mentions that she uses lavender oil in her distilled water. The water is used to rehydrate the clay, make slip and to moisten it before sending it to its little sponge bed in the refrigerator while (according to Mardel) the lavender oil slows the oxidation of copper
Check out the great information on using BRONZclay from Cool Tools, written by Mardel Rein. Rio Grande also has some really good information on working with this new clay. Click here for that page. Art Jewelry Magazine also has much knowledge to share on its blog for February 2009.
Bronzclay videos to watch are from: Cool Tools and Tonya Davidson's video from Whole Lotta Whimsey. Hadar Jacobson has a video on how to process her clay.
Copper Clay
CopprClay is available where ever BronzClay is sold. Hadar Jacobson has also developed a powdered form of Copper Clay see her link above.
I've been having a terrible time firing this clay. I fired to the exact specifications and ended up with unfired particles. I had to fire the pieces twice and it finally sintered taking a total of 9 hours to fire.
Hadar's Copper Clay is a very bright, coppery color and is a little slumpy to work with. It doesn't stand up on its own but it does fire better than the Coppr Clay. The quick fire version works great and doesn't leave that nasty carbon mess all over my kiln and studio. The quick fire clays also don't have that stiffness that I'm used to with silver clay. I like working with the Coppr Clay version - if I could get the stuff to fire. I'm sending a note and a pic of my failures (many) to Rio to see if they can figure it out. Maybe I'm just an idiot - soon there may be proof!
