Well, I fired another batch of bronze and still had mixed results.  One piece turned out perfectly, the others had blisters.  I've heard that if the piece still has moisture within it, it will blister.  I let my pieces dry overnight so I don't thing that is the problem.  This time I flash cooled the pieces, this didn't seem to have any effect either.  I'll keep trying until I find the correct formula.

In my quest to set up my first studio, I went to IKEA with my husband and looked at all of the storage choices.  Wow!  I have to replace the flooring and do a little painting and I'll be on my way.

Oh, I spent yesterday at a well known national Art and Craft show, it was very inspirational.

Here is a pair of earring's I made with little scrap pieces of bronze that I turned into charms and a couple of lampwork beads that I made last year.  I took the pic with my phone so it's a little blurry.  Looking forward to a great day.  I think I will use Halloween as my inspiration this weekend and see if I can create some scary creations.

Bronze Clay - Trials and Tribulations

This blog concerns my difficuty with Bronze Clay, specifically Fast Fire Bronze Clay.  Every time I've created jewelry pieces and then fired the clay, I've received different results. I use the exact same ramping and holding schedule with every batch. I use clean carbon with every firing.  The only thing I've changed is the cooling time.  I can't seem to find that magical combination and it's expensive to experiment.  Oh well, I'll keep doing what I've done to learn everything else I know- about jewelry making -- I'll keep trying and failing until I try and succeed.  Here is a look at one of today's pieces.

Here are a couple other pieces.  Once I turn them into wonderful works of art, I'll post more photos.

:Beautiful October Day

I made a rookie mistake today in preperation for my first craft show.  I shined and cleaned all of my silver jewelry inventory and secured each piece in small plastic zip lock bags.  I took the box of jewelry outside to photograph some of my pieces and the warm October sun quickly made each and every bag sweat.  Now I have to shine each and every piece once again :-{.   Happier note, I spent all day working on my bronze pieces and will post several photos tomorrow. (Dinner:  meatloaf and sweet potato)

Happy happy
DC

It's been more than a year

Well, I haven't posted for over a year - almost forgot how to make a blog entry :-}  I checked out a blog this morning that really inspired me to move forward.  "Gails Tails and Jewelry Design" gaillannum@blogspot.com.  In upcoming blogs, I will be sharing my preparation for my first craft show  (I'm finally taking the leap), the creation of my first studio space and my continuing quest to learn new techniques.