Metal Clay Project

First attempt at using Bronze Clay

Stephen Gregory Saliba

7/23/20253 min read

I have been meaning to try metal clay for many years and I have finally had a go using bronze clay which is called sunny bronze because it finishes to a 9K gold colour. The clay gives some freedom to play with form and texture which can probably be achieved with wax but it was worth experimenting.

I have some friends from California who produce some very good wines here in Italy using the California bear as a logo. I though I would have a go at reproducing two of the bears as pins.

I was surprised how much the clay worked like real clay, even when making slip to attach parts or fix cracks. It has been hot here in July so I have kept a small bit of distilled water by me to keep refreshing the clay.

The first firing did not go well. I did an open shelf firing and the bears just blackened and when I did a stress test one bear snapped very easily.

I made two new bears and tried to repair the snapped bear with some slip. This time, I ground up some BBQ charcoal and prepared an old tobacco tin by burning off any paint or plastic. I pre heated the bears to 500C for 15 mins and then took them out to cool. I then placed the charcoal in the kiln to dry and activate the carbon for about 10 mins. I then placed the bears in the charcoal and covered with more charcoal and put the lid on. In it went for 1 hour at 820C.

Success! The two bears from the first firing fused but also cracked quite badly. One was destroyed but the other just has a small crack which I will keep as a sample but the two freshly made bears came out pretty well.

The shrinkage was at about 20% which was a surprise and there were a couple of bubbles that raised up. Otherwise the distortion was remarkably low considering the amount of shrinkage. The texture came out well and I was happy with the way the metal could be filed and polished. I soldered on silver pins so they can be attached to a jacket lapel or a thick bit of fabric.

I am very happy with how this experiment has turned out. I have learnt a lot and produced two lovely little brooch pins for my friends.