Some of these have specs of vermiculite permanently attached as i dropped them into the tin too soon, but other than that, they came out fabulously. I used 1 iron filigree bead from the kit, the rest are copper metal clay, or copper headpins. I'm going to try tumbling the headpins to see how the enamel holds up. Headpins I've heard through the painting with fire forums, have a tendency to break. They seem to be fine to me, but we'll see after a short tumble.
The colour possibilities are endless. Enamels come in a variety of opaque, and transparent colours. By layering the transparent colours over the opaques, you can create entirely new shades.
All said, the process is fun. As long as you have the ability to set up a little hothead torch in a well ventilated space, you can do this at home! Oh, and of course - always wear an appropriate mask when working with enamels.
5 comments:
Can you enamel on fired pieces of bronze clay?
I'm not sure yet. I'll test it sometime this weekend for you. Check the comments again tomorrow night for my report.
Hi Sandra,
Unfortunately, this weekend was far too busy, and I didn't get an opportunity to test it out. I did discover a forum where others tried it. The immersion method of torch firing doesn't seem to work with bronze clay. The tester was able to successfully fire using a torch/trivet combination. Which means that the enamel is fired from underneath rather than a complete dip.
I suspect that if you made your bronze clay pieces thin enough it may just work. I don't currently have any that thin. As soon as I get the opportunity to test it, I'll post a blog about my findings.
Jen
Hello, I love the Barbara Lewis book and website. I've purchased the self igniting torch head and now need the 1 lb canister of map gas. Can you tell me where I would buy the gas?
Thank you very much for your time.
anne
Canadian Tire or any hardware store. MAPP gas is a proprietary formula of Propane + other gases, and is being phased out in Ontario and will be unavailable soon. I should think that the canisters of Propane will work just as well. MAPP gas just burns a little hotter than propane, that's all.
Post a Comment