Bronze Wolf and Bear Jewelry
Yep, I’m delving into making the Bronze versions of my Wolf and Bear story pendants. Finally!
I’ve been so hesitant because the failure rate for firing bronze metal clay (copper metal clay - the base metals, as they’re known) is pretty high.
Also my fears about the process of using the molds I’ve made for these two animal pendants has been a roadblock I’ve allowed to slow me down.
Well, I am finally taking the perspective that it is better to fail fast so I can move on toward success faster! I certainly can’t reach success in this process by doing nothing at all, which is where I’ve been for far too long!
Eventually I’m also going to be attempting to sand cast these two in molten bronze. What a trip this will be! I need to set up a safe casting space…somewhere!
It’s winter so working outside in the backyard might not go well. We shall see.
The image gallery below shows:
(Left) an original wolf sculpture in progress. Sculpted from white ceramic clay, I then made a mold of it using two part silicone putty (purple) and then used that mold to cast / press various other materials (paper clay, bronze clay, polymer clay and hydrocal) reproductions. Its such a cool process!
(Middle) Polymer clay bear “Story Pendant” sitting in a sculpted paper clay forest background.
(Right) Bear and Wolf polymer clay reproduction sculptures that have been customized to hang as pendants and finished with acrylic inks and paint to emulate soapstone.
Below is a photo of the bronze clay sculpture casts. They’re nearly finished in terms of details and fixed noses (the deepest part of my molds). Then they’ll need to dry thoroughly before I can fire them.
The firing process will in itself be quite the adventure. There’s a higher failure rate with bronze metal clay vs the silver metal clay as iI mentioned. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained!
I’ll let you know how it goes. Stay tuned!
