New Arrival Coming to the One-fire Flex Group

Meet One-fire Flex Low-shrinkage Steel XT:

Why do we need this one, since we already have Pearl Grey Steel?

Pearl Grey Steel shrinks much more than other clays. Here is how much it shrinks compared to copper:

This makes it hard to fire it with other clays, since the difference in shrinkage will cause the whole piece to warp. Hammering flat is not an option since Pearl Grey Steel is very hard.

Low-shrinkage Steel XT (both One-fire and One-fire Flex) shrinks very little, which makes it a good candidate for combining with other metals.

Below is the same piece with the bird blackened with patina (I sure got a lot of mileage out of this bird punch).

The piece came out a tiny bit warped. Since Low-shrinkage Steel XT is not as hard as Pearl Grey Steel, it hammered flat easily with a blow of a plastic hammer, no cracking.

This brings the number of the One-fire Flex Clays to a total of nine. They will be released in groups, one group at a time. The first group will include Dark Champagne, Brilliant Bronze, Copper, and Low-shrinkage Steel XT.

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