One More Discovery
In the previous posting I reported that I had been able to sinter small amounts of copper and Bronze XT in combination with Low Shrinkage Steel XT. Pushing the limits just a little bit further, I tried to fire bigger amounts without pre-firing.
Remember the project “Overlay with Bronze XT“? I re-made it with Low-Shrinkage Steel XT. Copper backing is 4 cards thick, each overlay is 4 cards thick.
It worked.
Two hours firing, no pre-firing, full sintering. Just like the old silver clay.
And it worked again.
And again.
And again.
At one point I started to add a copper circle and a Bronze XT circle to the batches. While the copper circle sintered some of the time, the Bronze XT circle did not sinter at all. They sintered only when they were combined with Low-Shrinkage Steel XT in a single piece.
The instruction manual is about to be updated. Except for the new discoveries discussed in the last three postings, other issues will be revisited, such as pre-firing on a stove top vs. pre-firing in the kiln, arranging pieces in the firing vessel, and ramping speed.
January 27th, 2013 at 10:11 pm
This is amazing!!!!! Whst time we will save! Is that the building ring you were making In class?? It looks great!
Thanks!!
January 28th, 2013 at 4:16 am
very exacting!
January 28th, 2013 at 4:36 am
This might be a silly question, but can we assume that this would work with JUST the copper and/or Bronze? Provided they are smaller pieces of course.
January 28th, 2013 at 4:45 am
So, if I had a Mokume ring with these three clays, do you think I could do it in a single stage?
January 28th, 2013 at 6:34 am
Can’t wait to try this. Thank you Hadar
January 28th, 2013 at 6:47 am
Thanks for timely information. This novice metal clay person doing experiments with steel clay for first time. Need any input on firing I can get….
January 28th, 2013 at 11:33 am
Hi Hadar. I don’t even use your clays (I’m primarily a silver girl), but I so appreciate all of your experimentation. It gives me hope that one day we will have 100% firing success easily with all of the clays just like with the silvers. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your constant innovation.
Sue
January 28th, 2013 at 12:06 pm
Is that 2 hours at high fire?
January 28th, 2013 at 12:36 pm
Wow and thanks again for your continued experimentation.
See if I have this correct. This experiment worked because you are using the XT clays with quick fire copper together?? or because these 2 clays are used with the low shrinkage steelXT?? All of the experiments which worked had the low shrinkage steel XT?? Were you using the high fire schedule?
January 28th, 2013 at 12:40 pm
Tana, You could, but with these 3 clays the contrast is different than with the copper/bronze/steel combo at mid-fire schedule.
January 28th, 2013 at 12:41 pm
Jennifer, This is exactly the point. It works only in combination with low shrinkage steel XT. Doesn’t work with copper and bronze on their own.
January 28th, 2013 at 12:42 pm
Kelly, Yes, that’s the one!
January 28th, 2013 at 12:45 pm
Anita, Yes. 2 hours, hi fire.
January 28th, 2013 at 12:49 pm
Marlynda, I was using low shrinkage steel XT in all my experiments. In fact, this is the only steel clay I am currently using because it can do whatever the others can do. Since it requires high-fire, I combined it with copper and Bronze XT, which are also high fire. Rose bronze will work too. The only clays you can’t use in this mix are regular bronze, brilliant bronze and white bronze. Does this answer your question?
January 28th, 2013 at 12:50 pm
Sue, Thank you for saying this.
January 31st, 2013 at 3:04 pm
Hi Hadar,
Thanks again. So the layered piece had copper on the back so there are parts of the copper and Bronze XT overlays that are touching mostly copper and just a bit of the steel. This is pretty interesting.
I will be doing some experimenting for sure.
You are the best!
Cindy
January 31st, 2013 at 3:17 pm
I’ve tried firing small pieces of Low Shrinkage Steel XT with inlays of copper four times and could not get the copper to sinter in a single firing, though the steel s sintering beautifully with no cracking or warping. Are you still using the coconut carbon? I’ve also tried it with inlay of Bronze XT and the bronze wouldn’t sinter either. Any suggestions? I would so like to have a steel combo that I can fire in one stage since I’ve had such problems with the steel cracking on the first burnout stage.
January 31st, 2013 at 7:17 pm
Cindy, That’s correct!
January 31st, 2013 at 7:20 pm
Denise, Please send a photo of the piece to my email address: hadar@pacbell.net. It’s hard to tell from the verbal description.
January 31st, 2013 at 11:46 pm
Hadar,
Would Denise be using a muffle kiln. Maybe reducing the ramp speed?
Cindy
November 14th, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Hi Hadar,
I’m out of my splint and been experimenting a little with combining the copper and bronze XT with the low shrinkage steel XT. Will this work if I use the steel as the base? I ask this because won’t the this steel shrink the least?
thanks,
Linda
P.S.I love the low-shrinkage steel XT the best!
November 17th, 2013 at 9:21 pm
Linda, Actually copper will shrink the least, but I’ve made many pieces with these three metals with :ow shrinkage steel XT as the base.