From a distance

The piece I made in Wanaree's class on making bezels with the Silhouette cutting machine and metal clay sheet is finally done.  From a distance it looks pretty good.  Just don't look too closely.  (I have to remember that it is a learning experience and with time and practice I will get better.)

The class was fun and for the most part didn't really stress me out too much.  (Except when the polymer stand-in, wrapped in contact paper kept popping out!)  When I wrapped my sheet metal bezel around my stone I thought it was a smidgen too long so I trimmed it.  (Bad idea........... now it was too short.)  So, I had a gap that messed up the rhythm of the design.  That had to be dealt with and I tried to fill it in with paste which wasn't the prettiest spot on the piece. But that could be dealt with after firing.

The pieces were laid on some kiln shelves with the bail laying on the lower level and cocked to one side.  This would keep the bail from binding with the loop on the piece and would help keep that same loop from curving. (There's a reason why I mention the position of the bail.)  My piece and several others were near the door of the kiln (which can be cooler) so they did not shrink enough to fit our stones.)

My friend Carol, offered to re-fire my piece so it would shrink more.  We fired at 1650 degrees for one hour.  (I forgot to mention how to position the bail during firing.)  It did indeed shrink quite a bit.  The bail also bound a bit with the loop but that came apart easily.  And..... the loop curved.  (Which didn't really hurt anything.)  But, during the second firing one of the little triangles on the bezel completely disappeared.  (It had a slight tear in it to begin with .)  Now, not only did I have to deal with smoothing the pasted gap area but I had to do something about the newly created gap.  (This was just getting to be more and more work........ but what else is new?)

I used my silhouette machine to cut out some small pieces that I had planned on using between some of the designs (particularly the two bad spots.)  I created my design, set up the machine and cut the design out.  But when I went to peel the contact paper off the design, I realized that I hadn't reduced the tackiness of the contact paper.  Wanaree did that by laying the contact paper on her arm then peeling it off.  That is just enough to reduce the stickiness.  So, back to doing it again.

With my extra designs cut out, I went about the task of adding them applique fashion to my existing bezel.  Wanaree adds them by picking the piece up with her brush.  (That just wasn't working for me...... something else I have to work on.)  I had to use tweezers, but I got it done.  Luckily for me, the extra smidgen that I cut off in the beginning seemed like it would fit into the newly created gap.  Used a little paste, held my mouth just right and it fit right in.  I got all the newly cut applique pieces pasted onto the already fired bezel and fired it for the third time.  (Of course holding my breath the entire two hours.)

Looked in the kiln and it looked perfect..... until I took it out.  Either I missed a spot or once again one of my pieces decided to take a vacation.  So..... I removed a few of the applique pieces in strategic places to make them look like it was planned.

I decided it was time to put in the stone and hammer the bezel around it.  After that was done, I did not like the way the applique pieces looked at all.  Plus, I had forgotten to add a little epoxy to the inside of the bezel because of the tiny pieces that could catch.   I couldn't take it anymore so I decided to "Step away from the clay" until today.

Today when I went to the studio, I got out my wire cutters and cut (or pried) off the applique pieces.  It finally looked better to me.  It's not as smooth as it could be because of the paste from the applique pieces but those tend to look like a design.

The last hurdle came when it was time to polish the piece.  Because of the tiny pieces on the bezel, I was trying to be very, very careful (which wasn't getting me anywhere fast.)  But the bezel piece is surprisingly sturdy and I really gave it a work over.   I used both hand sanding and my flex shaft to get the piece to shine.  There were sharp edges where I removed the applique, but the sanding process eliminated all of that and the piece is now smooth on the edges.

Despite all my mistakes (excuse me..... learning experiences) the piece did turn out okay.  As my learning piece it will be something I keep for myself.

Tomorrow, I'll post the back of this piece.  (The back is important too you know!)

Copper firing schedule

As you can tell by my latest posts, I've been dabbling in copper clay; specifically Hadar's powdered clays.  Several years ago I took a copper clay class from Debra Weld.  In that class we worked with CopperClay which is in lump form.  It was the very first copper clay to be introduced to the metal clay world.

True to my usual self, I had several pieces laying around from that class that had not yet been fired.  (Didn't have to worry about whether they were dry enough or not.)  According to Hadar, her firing schedule would work on all the clays, so I thought I'd give it a try.  It certainly does work.

This piece also was textured with a tear away texture that Debra had available in class.

Hadar suggests firing the clay in a two-step process.  The first firing burns off the binder and the second firing sinters the metal molecules.   First firing is 1100 degrees for a time of 30 minutes to two hours; depending on the size of the pieces and the amount of binder to be burned off.  The second firing is 1650 degrees for two hours.  (That's the schedule for copper.  If using copper and bronze together the second firing is 1520 degrees for two hours.)   

Firing is done in an oxygen free environment.  This is accomplished by firing in an open container that contains powdered charcoal.  (All charcoal is not created equal, so I used Hadar's to be sure.)  There's a half inch of charcoal underneath the pieces and an inch above the pieces.  Since I have a muffle kiln, I have to position my pieces towards the back of my container.  (The area by the door is cooler.)  After the first firing has cooled down, the thin layer of burned charcoal is blown off the top.  Then more charcoal is added to to the container to make sure there is enough on the top before starting the second firing.  

In the past I've had some copper firings that did not turn out.  (The water in the tumbler turned a pretty metallic color as the pieces disintegrated.)  So far this method has been the most successful for me.   

A Copper Christmas

The copper pieces are done!! The above photo shows fired and polished pieces next to the unfired pieces.

It was a surprise when I took the lid off the stainless steel container they were fired in. I expected dark gray pieces of metal, but was greeted by a very orange color. After the first firing the pieces were a dark gray but that is probably because they were exposed to oxygen during that firing process which doesn't happen when they are buried in charcoal.

It is a messy firing though. The kiln has to be vacuumed out from all the black dust.

The construction joints were fine and they were what I was worried about. The tiny charm had a loop attached to the top and the oval earrings had a circle cut apart, put into the hole in the oval and the seam was pasted back together.

There were a couple of cracks though on the back of the disk earrings where the stones were. The cracks weren't anything major and I'm not going to do anything about them. The worst thing that happened had nothing to do with the copper clay. (I forgot to clean the stones and now my pretty pink czs are rather hazy.) They look okay since it is an even haze but I really liked the pink with the copper. (Oh, and peridot looks pretty with a haze too! That's why I have a last minute checklist posted on my wall. Obviously I don't look at it. Maybe I should move it over by the kiln. Uh, I have one on the wall by the kiln. What is it going to take? Usually once is enough but not in this case.)

Sorry, but my photos aren't the best. I didn't have time to take better ones but at least you get the idea. The finished pieces do have a patina added. The shiny copper was really pretty but the patina just added the right contrast for the textures to show.