Apr 2, 2023
Hey, the repair stuck! (mostly) just need to polish it up nicely... But now I know the one mold works with the bronze clay!
Now I need to start making some more..
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Hey, the repair stuck! (mostly) just need to polish it up nicely... But now I know the one mold works with the bronze clay!
Now I need to start making some more..
Bronze Fairy village by Kathy Davis
So uh... I might have nearly set some stuff on fire tonight.
Why did I set a metal box full of charcoal that was ~1300°F on a little metal rack directly onto my soldering board with only about 1/4in of clearance between the box and the board, instead of the fire brick that's designed to hold very very hot things without burning?
Because I'm a fucking dumbass, that's why.
In my moment of dumbassery I thought the charcoal in the box was smoking, so I put it back in the kiln. Then saw the fun spot. Then had to scramble to turn off the fire alarm so I didn't wake my husband up.
It's been a fucking day.
But hey, it came out for once? Especially since I got no clue what formula of bronze clay it was, I think it might have been the one I mixed from all the scrap bits and ground down. Or. Wait I don't know. Fuck.
>.>
Heat patina on bronze is fuckin cool, sad it'll lose it when I polish it up...
Lessons learned today:
1. Something metal that sat in a container full of carbon for over 2 hours at 1500°F (~816°C) is still hot, even after the kiln has been off for close to an hour. Evidence:
Branded my welding gloves, whoopsies. Note to self: don't try and pick up the hot metal till its sat and air cooled for a bit...
2. My repair job did not hold, and the piece split during sintering. Evidence:
But I think I can patch it with some fresh clay and re-fire it, we'll see how that goes tomorrow.
And lastly:
3. Whatever went on in the box during sintering, it got one fuckin sick patina.
Well, this was an adventure, to say the least.
It's a right fucking mess, because I'm an idiot who doesn't like, actually test things out and instead prefers to just jump right into the deep end. Without knowing how to swim.
The center stone was a topaz cubic zirconia, which was said to be safe to fire... Well guess what that was a lie and most the color is gone. At least the fucking sapphires held up, even if I did the shittest job setting them. And boy is it hella warped. At least it like, didn't actually break this time. Yes I see the cracks but they didn't go all the way through so hah. And yeah I see that weird blister I dunno where that fucker came from. Maybe I can like, grind it out? Or some shit?
And, to top it off, my dumb ass forgot to drill a hole for a bail before sintering it. Good job me, good fucking job.
On the plus side, it got a really fucking cool heat patina, especially on the back.
Solid bronze from my own handmade bronze clay, topaz cubic zirconia, sapphire corundum cubic zirconia.
*PTERODACTYL SCREECHING*
IT WORKED OMG IT FUCKIN WORKED GUYS
The kinda shitty, sorta wonky Impera button that I designated as the sacrificial learning thing for torch firing bronze clay. It looks suuuuper rough because I need to get some pickle to clean it up and get a stiffer brass brush to get the oxidation off, but it's solid bronze. It sintered all the way like it was supposed to. Holy fuck I'm still in awe it actually worked ajshshajdnsjs
I only broke one bit getting it out of the mold, so a marked improvement from the first failed attempt. Little bit more finishing left to do then it's getting fired, hopefully tomorrow evening.
See you in about 3, 4 hours. May the kiln gods smile upon me and protect it from cracks, and see that it sinters properly and doesn't melt into a blob.
It's my 4th formula of bronze clay. I fired some small squares the other week to see what temps I need to fire at and the shrinkage rates. It seemed to do good, so I'm hopeful. Then again, the squares were only 2x2cm and I think 1.5mm thick, and uh, this is a good bit more than that. Plus, the repaired crack.... Hopefully I did shit properly for fixing it this time. If not, well... I'll figure that out if I get there.
Also
Months later, I finally put lights in the resin tent! I can see shit now, huzzah!