February 27th, 2007 at 12:02 am
PMC/Art Clay/Silver clay toggle clasp finding tutorial
So to start with you will need:
The Clay
Butane Torch
Brass Brush
Craft knife
Rolling pin
Two playing cards
Fire-brick
A pot of water
Tweezers
Olive oil
A plastic surface of some sort.
A new, small paint brush
1) Coat your fingers in a little olive oil. Take a chunk of clay out and put the rest away in the packet, seal tightly, you don’t want it to dry out. Now don’t worry about the bit you’re using obsessively (as I did) it won’t dry out in an instant and as long as your fingers are oiled and you don’t work on the clay excessively it will keep it’s clay like consistency. If it does dry out a bit you can add a single drop of water to the clay wrap in cling film tightly for 5 minutes and it will re-hydrate.
2) Roll into a rough sausage shape with your hands and then use a plastic card to roll the sausage into a completely even shape on your plastic surface.
3) Cut the length to what you want for the t-bar with the craft knife. You can either leave the ends straight cut or smooth them with a little slip and a paint brush.
4) Make another, longer sausage in the same way. Cut the ends straight and use a paint brush and some slip to paint each end hold the ends together and create the toggle.
5) Now make two tiny sausages to make the loops to attach to both the bar and toggle for the threads with slip. Cut the ends of the tiny sausages at a slight slant for the toggle and use slip to attach them to the toggle and t-bar. Use slip to paint any areas that need smoothing.
6) Leave everything to dry over night (8 hours)
7) Place one item on the firing brick and light the butane torch.
8 ) Fire the clay until it flames and then glows red (see picture) Keep it like this for 20 seconds.
9)Now dip in the water with tweezers, it will hiss and it’s ready to be shined up. It will look white at this point.
10) Use the brass brush to bring it up to a silver shine. You may like to file your finished piece to smooth any areas off.
The Clay
Butane Torch
Brass Brush
Craft knife
Rolling pin
Two playing cards
Fire-brick
A pot of water
Tweezers
Olive oil
A plastic surface of some sort.
A new, small paint brush
1) Coat your fingers in a little olive oil. Take a chunk of clay out and put the rest away in the packet, seal tightly, you don’t want it to dry out. Now don’t worry about the bit you’re using obsessively (as I did) it won’t dry out in an instant and as long as your fingers are oiled and you don’t work on the clay excessively it will keep it’s clay like consistency. If it does dry out a bit you can add a single drop of water to the clay wrap in cling film tightly for 5 minutes and it will re-hydrate.
2) Roll into a rough sausage shape with your hands and then use a plastic card to roll the sausage into a completely even shape on your plastic surface.
3) Cut the length to what you want for the t-bar with the craft knife. You can either leave the ends straight cut or smooth them with a little slip and a paint brush.
4) Make another, longer sausage in the same way. Cut the ends straight and use a paint brush and some slip to paint each end hold the ends together and create the toggle.
5) Now make two tiny sausages to make the loops to attach to both the bar and toggle for the threads with slip. Cut the ends of the tiny sausages at a slight slant for the toggle and use slip to attach them to the toggle and t-bar. Use slip to paint any areas that need smoothing.
6) Leave everything to dry over night (8 hours)
7) Place one item on the firing brick and light the butane torch.
9)Now dip in the water with tweezers, it will hiss and it’s ready to be shined up. It will look white at this point.
10) Use the brass brush to bring it up to a silver shine. You may like to file your finished piece to smooth any areas off.
This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 27th, 2007 at 12:02 am and is filed under Tutorials.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.