Thursday, October 21, 2010

Gypsies, Tramps and Thieves



Bangle bracelets remind me of gypsy jewelry.

Barbara Becker Simon was wearing a set of bronze and copper bangles when she came to Pittsburgh last year. They were textured not only on the surface but on the edges too. I really liked them and wanted to try making some.

Debra Weld had patterns already worked out for bangles to allow for the shrinkage factor of the clay. Using the size of Debra's pattern, I made a quick bangle. Again, I didn't spend a lot of time on the design. I wanted to work out the firing dilemma associated so often with these base metal clays. Now that I know it works, I'm ready to make some nice ones similar to Barbara's (Man they were nice.)

This bangle was made with CopprClay and was in the six hour firing I did the day before. It does take a lot of clay to make one of these, so it's best to start with a fresh full package of clay. I want to make some bronze bangles too, but don't look forward to the extended firing time. I really need a different kiln if I want to do much base metal (at least the CopprClay and bronze kind.)


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