I have been playing a lot with the new FastFire BRONZclay and Yesterday I got the crazy idea to create rings with this clay.
I know I could have made some simple designs for my test but I just can not go simple!! ;-) I love big, detail pieces and that is what I did.
The shrinkage in this type of clay is bigger than the silver clay, because of this I made the rings 3 sizes bigger instead of 2 that I usually do with silver.
During the construction of this ring, I had a few challenges.
This type of clay is very smooth and when I work with it in its fresh stage, it is very difficult to build walls. I managed to work with it and at the end the structure of the ring was good.
Hand sculpting the flowers was very easy.
I really enjoyed this part of the creation because everything went very smooth.
The ring end up being heavier than I usually do when I make rings, and I think this can be a big challenge to get the whole piece to sinter completely.
For my second ring I went a little more simpler, well I think.
I used a mold I made with my original casting face I have in sterling.
After the face was dry and I carved the crown around it, I attached it to my carved ring band.
At this moment my rings are being fire in the kiln.
I am crossing my fingers that they will come out in good condition.
We will see........
"Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes.
Art is knowing which ones to keep."
~ Scott Adams
Love that ring with the flowers!
ReplyDeleteLove them! Can't wait to see them when they will be out of the kiln!
ReplyDeleteAwaiting the post firing pixs....can't wait to see, I hope they make it!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to see when they come off the kiln. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteThese are really great Lore!! Hope they fire just as you expect. I fired some thick rings last week for a student at 1550F for 3 hours - just to be on the safe side, and they turned out great. I'll be curious to know how these go with a "normal" firing... I probably didn't need to go so long, but didn't want to have to fire twice.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of twice, I tried to post this once and it didn't go thru, so if it posts twice, please delete one!
Thanks ! ;-)
ReplyDeleteCathy: I fired the pieces up to 1550F and for 3 hours too ;-) ! I had four pieces in the pot and two of them that were not as big, sinter very good; the two rings were not sinter. I put them back again but this time only for 2:30 minutes. My second firing is over and I am waiting for the kiln to cool down. I Hope the rings are okay.