So the clay came out of the kiln the next day... however being so excited to use it and not worried about the cost. (Copper clay is £0.12 per gram compared to silver which is £2.40 per gram!!) I just went ahead and popped them in maxine on the same program as the pure silver;
550'C per hour to 600'C. Hold 600'C for 30 mins. Down to 520'C for 10 mins. Down by 80'C until 370'C. END.
However, without putting any thought into it, the copper wouldn't fire at this low temperature. After some research into copper clay and fiering schedules it is apparent that the copper needs to be fired at 970'C for 30 mins and then quenched in water and then pickeled.
As Maxine only goes up to 650'C this will have to be done in the test kiln at uni. In addition to this, the glass will have to be added after the pieces have been finished and a 15% shrinkage will have to be taken into consideration.
So here are the outcome;
I know they don't look very different but they haven't been fired properly. Unfortunately the pink ring didn't survive (it was really thin to start with). So tomorrow I will make some more without the glass and pop them in for 30 mins at 970'C and see what happens :)
No comments:
Post a Comment