Slow down!

The copper firing done on Thursday was definitely a learning experience. The first rapid firing netted great results. This one did not.

Nothing cracked like I thought it had. The cracking sound was a couple of balls popping off a piece. Other than that, everything looked great.

I brushed them and threw them in the tumbler. (Copper clay should have it's own barrel for the tumbler.) They tumbled for a couple of hours. Opening the tumbler is always like opening a present at Christmas. The first two pieces came out shiny and bright. The third piece had half of it's decoration missing! My first thought was that it cracked off, but it was not to be found in the tumbler anywhere. What was found instead was a nice coppery liquid at the bottom of the barrel. It disintigrated! So, I started to wonder. I took a pointed tool and started to dig at the rest of the decoration and sure enough it was soft like the original clay but had a copper crust on the top. The entire decoration came off easily.

Then I tried another piece that had a decoration on top. It looked great, but once I started digging, it turned to powder. Wow, how did that happen?

My thoughts on this is that the decorations were still wet. The base pieces had been dry for over two months. These pieces were put on the night before and I mistakenly thought they would be dry by the next day. Wrong!!! They were really, really thick pieces and obviously it takes more than a day to dry. The base pieces were fine, it was just the decoration.

For some reason it is best to air dry copper (and I presume bronze clay). For that reason I did not use the usual candle warmer or dehydrator.

I did take pictures, but don't know how to get them onto my son's computer. When (and if) I get my laptop back, I'll be sure to share.

Lesson learned....... you can't hurry love (oh, sorry that is a Diana Ross song) copper clay.

Also, the Open house is not going to pay for my computer repair. It will pay for my mailings and food but that is all. Don't ask..... it's a sore spot!