Yesterday, I showed you my most recent attempts to use reconstituted CopprClay to make some new pieces. Once they dried out completely, I placed them in a 200 F oven for about 20 minutes just to make sure they were all bone dry. Then it was into the kiln. I've got more information on firing copper clay at this link. It must be buried in a pan of activated charcoal to avoid oxidizing when it's fired. The picture above shows you only one layer of pieces...all of the pieces I made fit into one firing by layering them with charcoal.
I fired them at 1700 F for a little over three hours, and then ramped them back down over another hour, leaving them to finish cooling overnight. It says a lot for my kiln that in the morning, the pan was still hot! Not enough to burn, but certainly enough to notice.
Here are the pieces that emerged. You'll see that they are all dirty looking, and have no shine to them at all. Just wait until they're finished properly...it makes all the difference! You'll also maybe notice that there are a few pieces missing from the shot yesterday. Oh yeah...there was an epic fail (or two or three) to tell you about later!
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