{"id":2336,"date":"2010-02-06T13:55:26","date_gmt":"2010-02-06T21:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/?p=2336"},"modified":"2023-02-22T14:36:33","modified_gmt":"2023-02-22T22:36:33","slug":"make-your-own-shibuichi-clay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/2010\/02\/06\/make-your-own-shibuichi-clay\/","title":{"rendered":"Make Your Own Shibuichi Clay"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"t-Earrings\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Shibuichi is an ancient Japanese alloy of copper and silver, with the percentage of silver ranging between 5% – 25%. There is a very informative article about this alloy in March 2010 issue <\/a>of Art Jewelry Magazine<\/a> by Lee Rumsey Haga, which I highly recommend.<\/p>\n

I have been often asked about combining different metal clays together, so I decided to try. I made “Shibuichi clay” of 5% silver and 95% copper, using mixed Quick-fire copper and PMC Plus.<\/p>\n

One way to measure is to use a scale. To make 10 grams of this type of Shibuichi clay, mix 0.5 grams silver clay with 9.5 grams copper clay.<\/p>\n

\"t-01\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

If you don’t have a scale, roll the clays into layers of equal thickness. For example, roll each clay between two stacks of 4 cards.<\/p>\n

Next, use a straw or a another cutter to cut one circle of silver and twenty circles of copper out of the layers.<\/p>\n

\"t-02\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

To make an alloy with 15% silver, cut 3 circles of silver and 17 circles of copper.<\/p>\n

To make an alloy with 25% silver, cut one circle of silver and 3 circles of copper (use a bigger cutter, of course).<\/p>\n

Then mix the clay with your fingers, and roll it under the rolling pin over an over until you get a homogeneous color.<\/p>\n

I pressed the clay against a texture with high relief.<\/p>\n

\"t-03\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I fired it with a torch for 6 minutes from the moment the binder had burnt off, and immediately dipped in water.<\/p>\n

\"t-04\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

I found that torch-fired Shibuichi clay is stronger than torched-fired copper clay.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I also tried it in a kiln. Using my new firing method<\/a> as described in my previous posting, I fired it for 1:00 hour at 1470\u00b0F (800\u00b0C) in my top loader kiln. In a front loader, fire at 1550\u00b0\/843\u00b0C.<\/p>\n

At this point, you can either start playing with patinas or, if you want to clean the piece first, dry it thoroughly on a warming surface.<\/p>\n

Shibuichi is very receptive to patinas.<\/strong> Here are some examples:<\/p>\n

\"Rust<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>

Rust <\/p><\/div>\n

\"Blue\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>

Blue<\/p><\/div>\n



\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\"Purple\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>

Purple<\/p><\/div>[[<\/p>\n

\"Blue-green\"<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>

Blue-green<\/p><\/div>\n



\n

\n

\n

\n

\n

\n
<\/p>\n

\"Heat<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>

Heat patina<\/p><\/div>\n

The last example was done by gently heating with a torch and dipping in water when the desired color was achieved.<\/p>\n

Since metal clay is so porous, you will need to apply the patina more than once. I placed the piece on my warming surface and applied it with a brush. At first the liquid was totally absorbed into the metal. With every further application the colors developed more and more. Sometimes they developed after<\/strong> I removed the piece from the warming surface and let it cool down.<\/p>\n

When the color was achieved and the piece was dry, I sanded the high part of the relief, first with 220-grit sandpaper, then with 400 grit.<\/p>\n

The patina can be sealed with lacquer spray or with sealers from the sources below.<\/p>\n

Sources:<\/p>\n

Rust, blue and green patinas are available from hardware stores, or from craft stores such as Blick and Michael’s. The series is called Sophisticated Finishes.<\/p>\n

\"t-Rust<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Another source is www.sculptnouveaux.com<\/a>. They also have different sealers and their products come with full instructions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shibuichi is an ancient Japanese alloy of copper and silver, with the percentage of silver ranging between 5% – 25%. There is a very informative article about this alloy in March 2010 issue of Art Jewelry Magazine by Lee Rumsey Haga, which I highly recommend. I have been often asked about combining different metal clays […]<\/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\/2336"}],"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=2336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9240,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2336\/revisions\/9240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/artinsilver.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}