jarkman ([info]jarkman) wrote,
@ 2009-02-08 19:51:00
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Fun with Bronzclay
Yesterday, we played with the BronzClay(tm) that I gave D for Christmas. And today we fired it, with suprisingly good results (click for the album):

From Fun with bronzclay


Working with it really is like working with ill-tempered Plasticine. You can squish it & roll it & generally shove it about, and then suddenly it is too dry and cracks in two. It was made to be worked by the swamp-men of Venus, with their steamy atmosphere and glabrous fingers. But humans can manage if they are persistent.

The astute reader will spot the textures of ray-skin and sea-urchin and machined Perspex in some of these pieces. Oh, and the shiny things are 5mm steel ball bearings which were fired in.

Firing is a bit long-winded - bury in charcoal, ramp at 250C/hour to 840C, hold for 2 hours, then cool. These bits have all been tumbled for half an hour to burnish up the surface a bit.

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[info]meltie
2009-02-08 11:02 pm UTC (link)
Nifty stuff!

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[info]cybik
2009-02-09 09:40 pm UTC (link)
Those are pretty awesome. The textured bits are especially interesting.

I've played around with silver PMC before, but alas I don't have a kiln so I can't do anything with the bronze clay.

I now have the image of swamp-men playing with Placticine in my head. For some reason they look a bit like the Morlocks in the 1960 film version of The Time Machine..

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[info]jarkman
2009-02-09 10:49 pm UTC (link)
To be fair, they are mostly just tests to see what we can get the stuff to do. We really need to try some deeper textures next, I think. And maybe a bit more press-moulding.

Surely swamp-men should have have Mohawk fins on their heads ? I think that may be a bit of an old Doctor Who left over in my brain.

Our kiln has been the source of a great deal of entertainment. Enamels, glass-work, heat-treating tools, all sorts. For example:
http://jarkman.co.uk/catalog/jewel/wendyenamelsquares.htm
and
http://picasaweb.google.com/jarkman/DonnaSGlassworkAndAFewOfRichardSExperiments#5191661087500452082

It is only a tiny Efco with a controller retrofitted on to it, but it has been way more useful than I expected. I strongly recommend one.

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[info]cybik
2009-02-09 11:15 pm UTC (link)
Test pieces are always fun, though. It's the point when you can see the most possiblities. Of course that sometimes results in my brain going "but I could do that or that or this or that or this or or or or or..." and I make nothing.

It seems more likely that they'd have Mohawk fins than the dodgy hair the Morlocks had. That makes me think of the proto-dinosaur, Dimetrodon, though!

The squares pendant is lovely - I like the way the texture underneath the enamel is at right angles to the texture on the rest of the piece.

I do want a kiln, but they are more money than I have, alas (damn my expensive university education!).

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[info]jarkman
2009-02-10 06:49 pm UTC (link)
Never mind. In the future, there will be money. Kilns will probably get cheaper in the meantime.

That sideways texture was actually almost completely invisible to the naked eye, but at least I know it's there. It is just a square punch with a textured end (lightly abused with a cutting disc, I think, then polished up with Autosol).

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[info]e_spy
2009-02-12 09:43 am UTC (link)
Looks very cute - although it sounds a bit of a faff with the firing in comparison to "just" casting? This lot - http://www.exmoorcastingsupplies.co.uk/ - keep *saying* they'll get casting grain back in stock, still waiting.

Have you tried using a rotary burnisher on some areas of the pieces?

First step in the workshop is now complete - getting a dehumidifer running in there. Next up is building a proper jeweller's (if other people use it, does the apostrophe magickally jump to the right?) bench, might get the timber for that this weekend.

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[info]jarkman
2009-02-12 10:07 am UTC (link)
The firing is slow, but apart from kiln-minding (or finding the controller instructions so as to program in the whole cycle) it is not much work. It's a lot less faff than casting, and probably has fewer ways to go wrong, but it's also a lot less versatile.

In a way, that is its charm. Play with funny-coloured clay, and later turn it into metal. It is very direct.

No, I don't even *have* a rotary burnisher. Is that an oversight ? I haven't really tried working the fired stuff at all yet.

Hope the bench goes well. Will have to come & visit when it's done!

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[info]e_spy
2009-02-12 02:24 pm UTC (link)
I like the directness of it, but I think I'll need to play with the silver clay a bit more (when I uncover it!) to pick through what the pros & cons are. For one-offs, prototypes and the likes I can see it being useful; some of the suggestions I've seen have felt a bit silly - why would I cast/mould a teaspoon when working sheet is at least as effective?

It's a highly complex piece of equipment. You can get expensive ones which are a series of diddy rollers around a disc, or you can bend a bit of silver steel to about 20 degrees for ~1/4" and HT it. Then polish it, chuck it up and you have an eccentric hammer/burnisher that will take out some porosity in castings, amongst other things.

You'll be more than welcome, I'm still working out where all the tools will go!

As for the casting grain, I'm being lazy!

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[info]jarkman
2009-02-12 06:33 pm UTC (link)
I suspect PMC is often used by people who are not inclined or tooled up to do more traditional metalwork, and that's its main purpose in life.

But the reason why *you* might make a spoon from it is that you'd get a very different spoon from the one you would make from sheet. You get a wonky sort of fluidity from it, which looks very different from anything you would make with a hammer. I refer you to the picture at the top of this page for an example.

I'll give the burnisher thing a go - thanks!

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[info]e_spy
2009-02-13 02:21 pm UTC (link)
Speed I can see being particularly useful.

As for organic teaspoons, OK, point made. But I still think forged would give me the sort of wonky fluidity I'd want (even though I tend to go for the smooth lines that Jensen seems to typify, which means more hammer control and a bit of cleanup).

Here's one of the roller burnishers - http://www.ottofrei.com/store/product.php?productid=8976&cat=0&page=2

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[info]jarkman
2009-02-12 10:09 am UTC (link)
Oh - do you need casting grain ? Isn't plumbing pipe and lead-free solder good enough for you ? ;-)

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