These are the textured ribbon tubes I made out of Bronze clay while I was waiting for my peacock to dry.
Here's the peacock. Bronze over cork, some copper accents, and one inset eye. His bottom needs to be finished properly (the edge, all around the whole thing, is jagged) and I need to drill holes for the feather bits.
These are my first silver tube beads... but even after tumbling for three hours, there's still white to be seen. I wonder what else I'm to do or what I should do differently.
And these are my mismatched caps (not oxidized yet) and a lesson... hammer VERY lightly on finished PMC.
HI
ReplyDeleteFor the white surface on the tube beads, slide a mandrel or knitting needle through the tube to hold them, then use either a small wire brush or pumice powder on a toothbrush to polish the white areas. Finally, tumble or burnish to restore shine.
Hope that helps
Caroline
Magpie Jewellery
www.magpiejewellery.co.uk
I'm no expert, but I've read quite a bit and I follow the forums on the Yahoo Metal Clay Group. I believe that if your metal clay piece is fully fired, you should be able to hammer it without it cracking like this one did. I've seen references to a 2 hour hold at 1650 being a full firing. This is longer than the either of the manufacturers suggest, but there seems to be a general concensus in the community about longer firing times. I know that when I was torch firing, before I got my kiln, some of my pieces were brittle.
ReplyDeleteGood luck!
I recently started a blog where I feature 2-3 metal clay artists each week. I hope you'll enjoy it.
www.MetalClayMagic.com