Brilliant Bronze Is Now Available
Hadar’s Clay™ quick-fire Brilliant Bronze (golden color bronze) is now available on my Online Store. Since Brilliant Bronze works pretty much like quick-fire bronze, I have not updated the instruction manual; instead, there is a link to Instructions for Hadar’s Clay™ Brilliant Bronze in the right-hand pane of this blog. It’s only one page, which you can print out and add to your printed instruction manual for Hadar’s Clay. Instructions for Hadar’s Clay™ Brilliant Bronze have now been incorporated in the latest version of the Instruction Manual.
Flat pieces of Brilliant Bronze shrink 23.5%; rings shrink 2½ sizes.
Please be sure to make test pieces. If you see ant blistering on smooth pieces, drop the temperature by 5-10°F (3-6°C). This won’t have any effect on the sintering of other metals that are fired in the same piece.
Brilliant Bronze can be combined with other metals, just like regular bronze. For details, please refer to the documents Introduction to Mixed Metal Clays and Which Clays to Use and When, linked in the right-hand pane of this blog.
All the projects in my upcoming book, Metal Clay Practice, can be made with either regular bronze or Brilliant Bronze.
Here are some more samples:
I had to make this one again with black star diopside.
The ring above, which looks like it’s wrapped with wire, is only a texture. Look it up in The Handbook of Metal Clay: Textures and Forms, second edition, p. 48.
Solid balls from Brilliant Bronze and low-shrinkage Steel XT, with gold wire balled up at the ends. For instructions on how to make the balled-up wires invisible see my book Mixed Metal Jewelry from Metal Clay, p. 18.
Bead necklace from Brilliant Bronze, White Bronze, and low-shrinkage Steel XT.
Mokume-gane style earrings from copper, low-shrinkage Steel XT, and Brilliant Bronze.