Hadar’s Blog

I actually call this bracelet “The Sintering Bracelet” – not only because it has undergone sintering, but also because it graphically depicts the sintering process.

This posting has three parts: the tiles, the back of the tiles, and assembling the bracelet. This is an improvement on a bracelet project that is featured on my DVD, “Workshop at Textures Studio”. It is made out of White Bronze clay.

The Tiles

Use any design that appeals to you. Here is a pretty one taken from a rubber stamp.

Here is my sintering bracelet:

In the first tile from the left, the circles represent the particles of the metal powder in their “green” state. The spaces between them are filled with binder.

In the second tile from the left, the particles are getting closer to each other.

In the third tile from the left, the particles lose their spherical shape and fuse into each other.

In the fourth tile (the middle one), the metal is fully sintered. The particles got as close as they could to each other without reaching the melting point of the metal, and there are spherical pores between them.

The rest of the tiles show how the spaces between the particles change their shape. Starting from the right side of the bracelet:

The first tile from the right shows the shape of one pore between four spherical particles that hardly touch each other.

The second tile from the right shows the shape of the pore after the particles have fused a little.

The third tile from the left shows the spherical shape of the pore when the metal is fully sintered, as in the center tile.

The Back of the Tiles

1. Turn the tiles over and arrange them side by side. Mark two parallel lines along the whole row of tiles. Start from the smallest tile and adjust the rest accordingly.

2. Using a round miniature file, file a groove in each line.

3. Roll a layer of clay 2 cards thick. Pleace a tile on top of it and cut it on both sides to determine its width. Don’t cut the length yet.

4. Cut Angel Hair spaghetti into small pieces and place them in the grooves. The grooves help to hold them in place.

5. Wet the back of the tile.

6. Lay the strip that you cut in step 4 on the back of the tile. Make sure it adheres to the back at every spot. You can do this by rolling a straw over the layer, especially between the spaghetti straws.

7. Cut away the excess from the strip at the top and bottom of the tile. Dry. When the tiles are half dry, pull the spaghetti straws out by twisting them gently. Continue drying.

8. Seal all gaps between the two layers. Dry, and sand smooth.

This is a side view of the tile:

9. Fire the bracelet.

Assembling the Bracelet

This bracelet can be assembled using only Stretch Magic. For a different method of assembly please see instructions here.