First review of the new Art Clay Bronze

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The Art Clay among the Bronze clays

This review expresses our personal opinions based on our experiences.

Reading time: 4:40 min

Copyright text and all images: Metalclay-shop.com.

The Japanese manufacturer Aida Chemicals waited a long time before launching a new clay. The manufacturer is well known for its silver clay products as well as Art Clay Copper.

So many metal clay artists waited for a Bronze Metal Clay to be launched. Base metal clays are very popular at the moment. Many manufacturers like Prometheus, Goldie and Météor Clay have a large selection of bronze clays from classic bronze color to rosé and even white bronze.

Bronze clay is always based on a mixture of copper and tin. Depending on the mixing ratio, the finished piece will have a more or less intense yellowish or light color. Some clays, however, are very sensitive to small temperature deviations during firing.   

Art Clay Bronze, 50g (c) Metalclay-shop.com

Aida Chemicals decided to launch a classic bronze clay. The mixture consists of 90% copper and tin. It comes ready to use as lump clay.

Art Clay Bronze is sold exclusively in 50g package that contains 2 x 25g clay individually sealed in plastic and aluminium bags. The instructions are in English and Japanese.

What is new about Art Clay Bronze?

First thing you realize when working with the clay: it feels exactly like fine silver clay! This is astonishing because the other bronze clays often feel different. Not necessarily worse, but just different.

Art Clay Bronze is not very sticky. It is nice to touch and easy to work with in wet stage. The clay can be easily sculpted, molded, textured, carved and formed like Art Clay Silver.. Everything feels very familiar. It has quite a long working time.

Art Clay Bronze is sold exclusively in 50g package. 2 x 25g clay with english and japanese instructions. (c) Metalclay-shop.com

We textured our piece with a Lavinia stamp. It takes the texture very well. It does not stick to the stamp. The drying process is just like Art Clay silver.

According to the manufacturer, the binder can withstand a temperature of 240 degrees Celsius during drying. However, we have not verified this information.

Art Clay Bronze feels soft and is easy to work with. (c) Metalclay-shop.com

We dried the clay on an electric hot plate, just like Art Clay Silver. If you don't use any heating device or similar, the manufacturer recommends letting the piece dry for at least 24 hours.

Processing before firing

Art Clay Bronze feels really great after drying. Some other bronze clays look very rough and grainy in this stage. So you save a lot of sanding if you want a smooth, high gloss finish.

As Art Clay does not have any other bronze products in the program, e.g. Art Clay Bronze Paste or in the syringe, we made some paste ourselves. This is just as easy as with Art Clay Silver.

It would be nice if Aida Chemicals would offer at least Bronze Clay Syringe.   

2 x 25g of bronze clay. (c) Metalclay-shop.com

Art Clay Bronze shrinks 10-13%

Art Clay Bronze shrinks 10-13% (manufacturer data). This is average. Manufacturers like Goldie Clay manage 8-11% shrinkage (Goldie Soft Bronze), Prometheus Bronze 12-13% and Meteor Bronze Doré 17%.

When firing, the new bronze clay goes its own way

First of all, a disappointment for many users: according to the manufacturer, Art Clay Bronze cannot be fired with a hand torch. We have nevertheless tried it (see below) and succeeded. Prometheus offers torch firing for Bronze and Sunny Bronze Clays.

Art Clay Bronze, as mentioned, can only be fired in a kiln according to the instructions. The special feature is a 1-step-kiln firing!

You have to fill at least 1 cm of activated coconut carbon in a stainless steel container. Place your piece on this bed of activated carbon and fill the container (at least 2 more centimeters).
The vessel must be placed in the cold kiln and heated up to 820°C. It is important that the kiln is not brought to this temperature at full power.

The heating must last at least 20 minutes. This time is needed for binder burnout. Most kilns need much longer to reach this temperature anyway.
The piece must be fired at 820° C for at least 2 hours.

This schedule didn’t work for us though! See below how we managed firing it.

After firing, the piece must cool down in the carbon. If oxidation occurs then this layer can be removed with a pickle. We recommend the pickling powder.

Our way to firing Art Clay Bronze in the kiln

Firing bronze clay isn't so easy. We didn't succeed with the instructions coming with the clay.

Our test pieces were fired for 3 hours at 860°C with a heating ramp of 600°C/hour. You need to increase the firing time if you have larger pieces.

Art Clay Bronze in the kiln. (c) Metalclay-shop.com

Firing Art Clay Bronze with the hand torch

The manufacturer Aida Chemicals recommends firing Art Clay Bronze with the kiln only.

Nevertheless, we tried it with the hand torch. We started heating the piece using a circular motion so that the whole piece heats evenly. After a few seconds the organic binder burns away (small flame). We continued heating up the piece. Contrary to ACS it didn’t turn into a clear orange. The color only changed where the flame was.

We fired it longer than Art Clay Silver. It needs practice not to overheat the pieces.
After firing, we immediately quenched the piece in cold water. Most of the oxidation peeled away.

Remember that torch firing is not recommended by the manufacturer and the piece should be maximum the size of a 2-euro piece.

The piece of solid bronze

The metal polished quickly and easily to a moderate shine with sanding pads and polishing pads PRO. If you want a mirror finish you need a magnetic tumbler or a micromotor polishing machine.

Finished piece made with Art Clay Bronze (c) Metalclay-shop.com, Sandra Quell

Our conclusion

Art Clay Bronze is extremely easy to handle. Shaping and forming the piece in wet stage is very comfortable.

The difficult part of Art Clay Bronze seems to be the firing process: the manufacturer doesn’t recommend hand torch firing and we were unable to fire our test pieces following their instructions. We had to find our own firing schedule. The most important argument for Art Clay Bronze is that it can be fired in one stage. Nevertheless, we have to mention that Art Clay Bronze is quite expensive compared to other bronze clays on the market.

+ Bronze clay suitable for beginners
+ Very easy, pleasant processing
+ 1-step-kiln firing
- Can only be fired in a kiln
- Not available as a paste or in a syringe
- Expensive

Ring made with Art Clay Bronze (c) Metalclay-shop.com, Sandra Quell

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Feedback from other users

I tried to fire one stage, slow ramp, raising temperature from 820°C to 870°C and firing times from 2 to 3 hours. The sintering process was not complete. I tried the 2 stage firing which worked very well. Anca C. The key in single stage in two hours was no more than 2.5 cm of carbon on top and no-lid. Sealing up the firing box or too much charcoal won't let burn out properly without increasing time. The 2-stage was pretty easy and quick. Michael G.