I’ve been sidelined with my left leg trapped in an appropriately named “immobilizer” for about a month now, but recently got out of the house to make it down to the Society for Contemporary Crafts in the Strip District of Pittsburgh. If you’ve never been there, go. I wandered in there while shopping in the Strip District with my friend Steve and was impressed with the gallery space, the display, and the way the usual gift shop presents as an extension of the gallery space. While I was there, I grabbed a few colorful pamphlets. One of them turned out to be a schedule of classes held at the SCC. Consulting with Gladys, we signed ourselves up for a Precious Metal Clay class.
Gladys and I have been sewing, unsewing, decorating, and torturing textiles in a number of ways for decades. Every once in awhile, textiles just aren’t enough. Our last out-of-the-box creative adventure involved the new house Gladys and her husband are building. The basement has a poured concrete floor that looked just like a blank canvas. Gladys wanted it decorated and to cut to the chase, she decided to stain the concrete.
Staining concrete involves respirators, incredibly strong and toxic acid, eye goggles, and just enough protective clothing to keep it this side of a haz-mat suit. It was a blast. We cleared the area of innocent bystanders and sprayed the acid. The floor looks great. However, three years have gone by since we did that.
Precious Metal Clay is powdered silver (in this case. There’s also bronze and gold.) in a cellulose binder. You form the clay much like you would any clay and the cellulose binder burns off, leaving you with pure silver. What attracted us was the statement that “pieces can be fired in a kiln or with a torch.” Torch. That’s the key word. The lure of open flame was irresistible.
I took my camera, but I got caught up in the process and forgot to document the fun. Precious Metal Clay is sensitive stuff. It dries out quickly, unless you want it to, and picks up every little mark. Torching it with butane turned out to be tricky since the clay curled unevenly under the flame. We put our pieces in the kiln and were satisfied with the fact that temperatures in excess of 1600 degrees Fahrenheit were involved.
I am pleased to say that my first piece, embossed with leaves from the plant in my dining room window, was of sound construction. Had I known I would decide to cut out around the leaves, I would have done the background differently, but all in all, it’s a decent first attempt.
Acid, open flame………..what’s next?
