Mokume-Gane “Twist and Shape”
This is a variation on the “Twist and Slice” project from my last blog posting. The materials are the same: Friendly Bronze, Friendly Copper, and Pearl Grey Steel XT.
After layering and twisting the stack, turn the stack on its side. Pick a shape cutter and place the stack inside it. Press the stack hard into the cutter, with your finger or with a blunt tool. Turn the cutter over and press again from the other side.
Release the stack from the cutter and half-dry it by flipping it over and over on top of a heating pan.
Slice it in half sideways, as in the project “Twist and Slice”.
Instead of pressing the stack into a shape cutter, you can free-form it with your hand or with the help of slats or sticks.
Stick an eyelet or embeddable at the top of each earring. To see other ways of creating the holes for the ear wires see my book Metal Clay Practice, p. 39.
Fire the earrings in carbon for two hours at 1510°F/821°C (brick kiln); 1560°F/848°C (muffle kiln).
Next up: How to do this with silver and copper and how to do it with silver and steel:
And of course, something to help you Twist and Shape:
March 18th, 2014 at 8:05 pm
WOW, and I don’t mean just the Beatles (although they are pretty wow too). Your new method has limitless possibilities and the colors are incredible.
March 19th, 2014 at 3:09 pm
Love love Me Do!!!! Thanks
March 31st, 2014 at 4:10 pm
Can you use friendly copper and white satin like this? Would you fire at 1800? Can you use half and half, like four slices of copper and four slides of white satin?
April 1st, 2014 at 8:16 am
Janice, No, this is not going to work with high-fire clays. There will be too much alloying.