New Use for White Bronze

This is something I should have thought of long ago. In all my instructions for using White Bronze in combination with other metals I said that the other metals have to be fired first, then White Bronze has to be added in a MECHANICAL WAY and then fired again at low-fire schedule.

That is still true, but there is an easier way. You can make the whole piece out of higher firing clays, and then paint White Bronze on parts of it.

I was looking at an old piece of mine that I made when only bronze and copper clay were available. Now that we have so many more options, it looked boring to me.

Piece in bronze and copper

I made some paste from White Bronze, and painted the roofs and the road with it.

Painting in White Bronze

I let it dry, and repeated this three more times, just like we used to do with gold on silver.

I recreated the texture on the road, using a needle tool.

Recreating texture with needle

Then I fired it for one hour, no pre-firing, at low-fire schedule. I sanded the roofs with 220- and 400-grit sandpaper. The White Bronze did not come off.

Finished

I recently made this ring from Brilliant Bronze.

Brilliant Bronze ring

I painted the roof with 4 layers of White Bronze paste.

Painted roof with White Bronze

Fired 1 hour, no pre-firing, at low-fire schedule. The White Bronze picked up the texture of the Brilliant Bronze underneath, so I just buffed it and left it not sanded.

Ring

This works with copper and all types of Quick-fire Bronze. It does not work with steel, since the temperature is not high enough for the two metals to fuse.

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