04 September 2009

i.quit. (not really)




well, dang it all.
so, i bought the big expensive stainless steel container, filled it to the brim with brand new activated carbon. fired the whole set-up once with no work in it. and then, with great trepidation and excitement, slid this water etched piece in vertically, towards the back of the pan with at least 3/4-1" of activated carbon on top. i fired without the lid at 1110 for 30 minutes to burn out the binder, let it cool, put the lid on and fired for 3 hours at 1520.
and there's that darn cracking!!!
anybody (barb) have any ideas what i'm doing wrong?!?!

5 comments:

Jeannette said...

Hi Holly - I don't know what's going on, but I would LOVE a belt buckle that looks like that!! Just an idea :)

holly kellogg said...

that's a great idea, jeannette!!! i'll start looking into how belt buckles are constructed...

Liz Woodbury said...

oh! oh! i want one too!!

Barb Fernald said...

Are those cracks always in the same place? I wonder if its your kiln? It doesn't sound like you're doing anything wrong, but at this point, I think you have done more with bronze clay than I have.
(Does this happen with Hadar's clay?)
I know you are NOT a quitter!
xoxo

holly kellogg said...

well, the cracks are always at the TOP edge of a piece slid in vertically. i suppose i could try laying it in horizontally but i'm concerned about warpage...i'm thinking of these water etched pieces as elements to be set into a silver bezel setting...if they warped i could hammer 'em flat again with a rubber mallet....hmmmm....back to the old wax and water!!!!