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iron bolts in clay sculpture

updated fri 22 feb 02

 

Carolyn Bronowski on thu 21 feb 02


Hi--my name is Carolyn and I've learned a bunch of stuff from this clayart
list. I'm using IMCO Sculpture 412 mix for a sculpture that I want to add
some iron bolts, and other odd pieces of iron. Has anyone had any
experience mixing the two materials? What about firing? I generally bisque
my sculptures to ^05 in my electric kiln, however, I'm just a bit worried
about the metal and clay. An alternative would be to fire slowly in my raku
kiln --certainly less of a cost if the metal splattered all over. I've also
thought about using terra sig, burnishing the clay, then I would only take
it up to ^010--I could finish off in a sawdust fire. Thank you.

Roger Korn on thu 21 feb 02


The clay will shrink too much with respect to the iron if you mud the iron in
tight, cracking the fired clay. Try some tests with a sloppy fit, and you should
have some good results. I haven't done the math - just fooled around and discovered
that it works.

Roger

Carolyn Bronowski wrote:

> Hi--my name is Carolyn and I've learned a bunch of stuff from this clayart
> list. I'm using IMCO Sculpture 412 mix for a sculpture that I want to add
> some iron bolts, and other odd pieces of iron. Has anyone had any
> experience mixing the two materials? What about firing? I generally bisque
> my sculptures to ^05 in my electric kiln, however, I'm just a bit worried
> about the metal and clay. An alternative would be to fire slowly in my raku
> kiln --certainly less of a cost if the metal splattered all over. I've also
> thought about using terra sig, burnishing the clay, then I would only take
> it up to ^010--I could finish off in a sawdust fire. Thank you.
>
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--
Roger Korn
McKay Creek Ceramics
In AZ: PO Box 463
4215 Culpepper Ranch Rd
Rimrock, AZ 86335
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In OR: PO Box 436
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Brenda Z on thu 21 feb 02


Hi Carolyn,

There was an article titled "Building with Nails" in the Spring 2001 edition of
Pottery Making Illustrated, which you might find helpful. You can view an
excerpt of the article at :
http://www.potterymaking.org/issues/Spring2001/buildingwithnails.asp

I attended a workshop where the artist added metal to her raku pieces. She
bisqued at 06, and didn't have any problem because the metal did not melt at
that temperature.

Good Luck,
Brenda Z.