Overall, when you’re working to form pieces, I’ve found CopprClay to be much more user-friendly than the PMC or SilverClay. When it’s time to fire them, that’s a bit of a different story. Copper will turn completely black if it oxidizes while firing. Therefore, it must be fired in a kiln, not by torch the way you can do with silver, and it must be buried in activated charcoal while firing too.
Nonetheless, I was still pretty darn please with the results. You can read all the details of the firing at Firing CopprClay.
When it comes to finishing the pieces, they all need to be brass brushed to remove any firescale, and then they can be buffed, polished, patinated, enameled, or a host of other treatments. Here’s a side-by-side of what the pieces look like before and after brass brushing. If you want to read more about my experiments in finishing, all the details are at Finishing CopprClay:
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