Product Description
Goldie Sculptor’s Copper - a beautiful pure red copper colour.
** Requires Kiln Firing
The Sculptor's Copper is formulated with long carbo-hydrogen chains in the binder formula to have much greater strength and more resistance to collapse under its own weight than regular clays, and is more cohesive when wet, and stronger after the first firing step. This allows the artist to create much larger designs. It has a silky smooth texture, and with appropriate hydration it can even be thrown on a potter’s wheel!
Goldie Sculptor’s Copper is well suited for sculptures and larger forms of jewellery. You can shape wet and dry clay using chisels and other traditional sculptor’s tools.
It's also environmentally friendly, and the binders are organic and non toxic. The powder contains 99.9% of pure dendrite copper.
Unlike our other metal clays, all Goldie Clays come in powder form, which is then mixed with water.
Available in size: 50g or 300g
To mix it, follow these steps:
- Put the whole amount of powder into a jar or bowl.
- Add around 12 drops of water, or spray in a little water and mix well with a knife or spoon, adding more water as required, until you get a clay or a plasticine-like consistency.
- Roll the lump clay out thinly and fold over. Roll again, rolling away from the fold. Repeat this action several times. This is very important to ensure that all the air is removed from the clay and to get a smooth consistency before using. Insert into a plastic bag or container and wait for 30 minutes.
How to use:
- To join elements and repair seams in Goldie Sculptor’s Copper clay mix a little powder with water to make a paste.
- Elements can also be joined with the water only method in the same way as silver clay. If you want to join a fired piece to an unfired piece or two fired pieces it is best to use Sherri Haabs Paste Maker to hydrate the clay.
- Pieces can be dried naturally or by using heat, e.g. on a hotplate or in a dehydrator. Dry at 94ºC or lower. Higher temperatures may cause cracking, and the creation of steam bubbles. Larger pieces can be dried in a kitchen oven as long as 94ºC is not exceeded.
- Components up to 100 grams will typically dry naturally in 24 hours. Weights in excess of 100 grams should be naturally dried for 2-5 days. A faster method is to use a warming plate allowing the components to dry for 2-5 hours. Large items (above 300g) should be dried for 6-10 hours.
- Remember to always clean your tools well between different brands and types of metal clays to avoid cross contamination. This does NOT apply to metals from the Goldie Metal™ line because you can mix them together for Mokume Gane and other techniques.
How to fire:
- Ensure the clay is completely dry before firing - any moisture will boil and ruin the piece.
- Lay the pieces in a stainless steel firing container on a layer of activated coconut shell carbon with a minimum depth 1cm under the pieces. Do not cover with carbon for this step. Make sure the pieces are at least 1cm apart. Place the open container into a cold kiln and fire at full ramp to 580°C and hold for 30 minutes for pieces up to 100g. Pieces larger than 100g hold for 45 minutes, larger than 200g – 45 minutes, larger than 200g – 1 hour, larger than 300g – 1.5 hours.
- Carefully remove the container from the kiln and place on a heatproof surface. Fill the container with a layer of activated coconut shell carbon with a minimum depth 1cm over the pieces and place back into the kiln. Do a full ramp to 960°C and hold for 1 hour 10 min for pieces up to 100g. In the case of large elements, the time should be properly extended to 2h-30min for 100-200g. For items over 300 grams fire for a minimum of 2 hours for more flat items and a minimum of 3 hours for more rounded pieces.
- Fired pieces can be removed from the kiln hot or cold.
Goldie Sculptor’s Copper shrinks by about 15%-23% on firing, depending on the shape and the size of the piece. Dried clay can be ground up to a powder and reconstituted, which makes it simple and economical to use!
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