Bronzclay Mask

Coconut Masks in Mexico have been one of my favorite folk art pieces to collect. They are so unique and full of life and color.

I made my mask with bronzclay and the design developed at the moment I was working with it.

I always let my feelings take over and guide me through my piece.

I am happy with my mask and I will be making one in COPPRclay soon.

"Tree of Life Mask"

Bronzclay

COPPRclay

I did it!!!

I fired my pieces again and this time I got very good results.

Now, I am ready for bigger pieces.

COPPRClay

There is a new metal clay on the market named COPPRclay.

http://www.copprclay.com/

This metal clay is available exclusively through riogrande.com and copprclay dealers.

I started to play with it in April and I really love the texture of the clay.

I am a very enthusiastic promoter of metal clays and this new clay is going to open up more opportunities for creating bigger pieces.

After my wonderful experience in making a pot with bronzclay I wanted to create a pot with copprclay too.

My work is always full of details and tridimensional and I wanted to do pieces like that on my first try with COPPRclay.

This was my "Pineapple Pot".

Two more of my pieces, a "Tree of Life" and " Milagro Heart".

I fired the pieces at 1650 F and hold for 2 hours using coal-based carbon.

Sadly for me, my pieces did not sinter!!!

Talking with more artist about my experience and with Bill Struve (the inventor of COPPRclay), I found that I need it to fired my pieces at 1700F and hold for 3 hours and to only use coconut shell-based carbon.

This is not over !!!!! I will try again soon!!!!!!

Christian's end of school ceremony.

Our son graduated Elementary School and received the "Presidents Award for Educational Excellence".

We are very proud of him and his hard work.

Making my Bronzclay pot was an adventure.

For starters, I had to find a way to create the shape of the pot. It came to my mind the way we build piñatas in Mexico, we use a balloon as the core and build around it, so I've got a water balloon and wrapped it with a sheet of bronzclay.

It was a little messy, I had to make 4 cuts on the top to be able to form the pot.

Working to get the basic shape for the pot was a lot of fun and not as difficult as I thought. I had to be very careful to avoid the clay getting dry and tear in some areas.

After sealing the cuts and adding more clay and paste to the joints, I let it dry and started sanding to obtain a smoother surface verifying that the joints were perfectly sealed.

After I was satisfied with the texture and joints, I started giving the pot its own personality, cutting the top and adding some texture on the inside.

My design came alive at the same moment I had the pot in my hands, ideas started to flow and my pot was on its way ;-}.

The pot is finished and ready to be fired in the kiln!!!!

I was very anxious and a little worried about how it will come out.

Waiting was very stressful ;-}.

My pot came out of the kiln in perfect conditions!!!!!

I was very happy!

"Oaxaca"

Bronzclay pot

Lorena Angulo

Oaxacan ceramics: traditional folk ... - Google Book Search

Visit this link to see Dolores Porras pots ;-}

Oaxacan ceramics: traditional folk ... - Google Book Search

New Adventure with bronzclay!

I have been brainstorming on how can I make a pot with bronzclay.

I love Oaxaca ceramics and one of the masters is Dolores Porras who makes amazing pots and for me the most beautiful work she does are
her embellished pots.

Because of my admiration and love to what she does I am planing in doing a pot with bronzclay but my big challenge is that the dimensions of my pot will be very small and the embellishments will be a difficult task to achieve ;-}.

The only thing I know for now is that I am very excited to do it and that a ballon will be my first helper in beggining to form the pot.

Wish me luck and I will post pictures of my progress.

Have a great day!