{"id":2055,"date":"2009-12-13T23:22:08","date_gmt":"2009-12-14T07:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/?p=2055"},"modified":"2023-02-22T14:36:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T22:36:34","slug":"torch-firing-hadars-clay-quick-fire-copper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/2009\/12\/13\/torch-firing-hadars-clay-quick-fire-copper\/","title":{"rendered":"Torch-firing Hadar’s Clay\u2122 – Quick-fire Copper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Torch-firing quick-fire copper is much like torch-firing low-shrinkage silver clay: the piece will not be as strong as it can be when kiln-fired, but for pieces that don’t undergo wear and tear, or components that are not a structural part of a piece, this may not be all that important. <\/p>\n

It takes a little longer, about 6 minutes. I suggest turning on the radio and listening to two songs in a row (or just Hey, Jude<\/i>) while you are torching. Here is a video clip demonstrating firing a copper piece, 6 cards thick, and an overlay of copper clay fired over steel clay:<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Jenny James sent me an email, saying that she wasn’t able to sinter quick-fire copper with a torch, even after 20 minutes. She ended up firing it on the screen on her stove top for 30-40 minutes and succeeded. <\/p>\n

If you try that, you can do it outside, using a burner that is used for camping. Place a screen or copper sheet over the burner and place the pieces in a circle, where the flame is.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I answered Jenny that what I think happened, is that her torch did not supply enough flame. Either the flame wasn’t big or hot enough, or the piece was too big for torch-firing. The flame has two roles in base-metal clay firing: <\/p>\n

1. To supply heat;
\n2. To consume the oxygen around the piece in order to prevent oxidation. In fact, that’s what the carbon does by burning. Here is a photo of the carbon burning right after the kiln finished its cycle.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Obviously there was much more flame on the stove to protect the piece from oxygen.<\/p>\n

So Jenny went on to her second experiment. Here is what she wrote:<\/p>\n

“More heat and less oxygen when torch firing, I tried something new. I laid the piece ON TOP of a little dish of carbon. I then fired for 8 minutes with my small butane torch. It heated up WAY faster to a much brighter glow, and the piece was entirely engulfed in flame. It sintered BEAUTIFULLY in 8 minutes and was super strong! I will keep testing it for shorter periods of time tonight and see just how quick it can really be fired.” Later she wrote: “In 4 minutes the piece sintered perfectly and was super hard – unable to break it with pliers. All of the tests were done with 8 mm thick and 2 cm x 2 cm. By firing it on top of carbon it fires as easily as torch firing silver.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I’d like to thank Jenny for her input. I would also like to thank Ron Taylor, who sent me a photo of a piece that he created at my workshop in San Diego. Ron came to class with a rendering of a piece that he wanted to make with a combination of copper and silver, and the piece came out exactly as he planned it, including its size!<\/p>\n

\"Ron\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Torch-firing quick-fire copper is much like torch-firing low-shrinkage silver clay: the piece will not be as strong as it can be when kiln-fired, but for pieces that don’t undergo wear and tear, or components that are not a structural part of a piece, this may not be all that important. It takes a little longer, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2055"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9465,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2055\/revisions\/9465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}