I did a post on my playtime with steel clay not long ago. You can read that here
I had purchased some back in August, but then realized my kiln wasn't hot enough to fire it. I finally got around to playing with it near the end of the year, and realized, wow, it really rusts quite easily. To be expected of course, it's steel.
This is the follow up post to see how the sealer holds us- and see how the steel rusts, or doesn't. I am pretty nutty when it comes to making sure things stay the way I make them, either with or without a patina. So, sealing things is a really important step to me, and hopefully should be for anyone who works with things that rust, or have a patina on them, ect...
So, this first picture is actually two pieces, that I clean up with the a sanding pad. They were NOT sealed at all. I sprayed some water on them each day for a week and just let them sit for a few weeks. This is all the rust they got. Not too bad really.
The other pieces got sealed with Clear Guard (you can find that at Sculpt Nouveau). I did 2 coats of that on each side, AND just to be sure, I waxed them with Renaissance Wax as well.
After that, I took a few pieces and also sprayed them with water on and off for a week. The only thing that happened was this, a tiny speck here and there rusted. All I can think is those spots got missed with sealer or something.
You can see the piece on the right, on the lower right corner has a bit of rust.
It was cold when I went outside to seal them, and there is a good possibility that they overlapped a bit and I was bringing them in and out to spray and then to dry.
Anyhow, I am really liking the steel a lot and plan to sell some tomorrow during my little Facebook bead update. They are light, and have a great antique pewter look to them.
I can't wait to make more!
Have any of you played with the steel clays? What have you found that you like / dislike about them?
3 comments:
this is great, staci - i tried steel clay a couple of years ago. i don't have a kiln so my friend let me put some in. i love it - and outside of it's obvious limitations, i think it's really unique. clear guard is my sealer of choice as well.
Can anyone please tell me WHERE I can purchase metal clay besides online? I live in Sacramento and cannot find ONE local place that sells it! Please help....thank so much!! :-)
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