Art Clay Gold and ??

[ardenb]

How do you apply gold sheet material (small detail work) to 650 art clay using a torch?

[Metalman]

If you are using actual gold sheet, and depending on the gauge of it [the thickness] just fire the ArtClay and hard solder like you would with any metals.
I have also applied gold foil to the art clay. The foil is thicker then gold leaf but not thick enough to solder.  The method used for the foil application is to heat your piece on a hot plate and burnish the foil into the surface of the Art Clay.  To start, you will want to cut the foil to fit to the location on your silver piece. Heat up the hot plate - you need around 700° F to 900°F. Using gloves or tools to hold the piece stable, on the heat, burnish the foil down in location. The agate burnishers are excellant for this application.  The attachment is based on a combination of the heat and the mechanical effects of the burnishing.  This is a bit tricky to get down so experiments are in order.
Another way to get gold on the surface of Art Clay is to use the Art Clay Gold clay and make a thin paste which you apply to the surface and fire. It has to be a thin layer to fire well and if you want a thicker layer it would probably be best to apply and fire 2 layers separately rather then 1 thick layer.
Gold leaf tends to disappear when used with the clay - I think it mixes in too finely and you can't see it.
You could also embed small pieces of gold right into the clay. There would be various mechanics to work out due to shrinkage and fit but nothing insurmountable.
Experments are the key here - keep me posted so I can help if possible, and to let us all know what can be done.

[Polly]

The Art Clay Gold (Clay Type) fires at 1814 degrees F.

This week, we will post instruction sheets for the various types of Art Clay Silver (and one for Art Clay Gold).

--Polly

[Polly]

Here is the address for the Art Clay Gold instruction sheet (in English):
http://www.rings-things.com/acs/Art_Clay_Gold-22k_Clay.htm

The others are also available at:
http://www.rings-things.com/acs/instructions.htm

--Polly

[Glosie1]

The directions for Art Clay Gold are in Japanese.  What tempature is it fired at in a kiln?

[Metalman]

That would be 1814 F for  1 hour.
Let us know how it goes.

[Metalman]

We can special order Art Clay Gold for you if you are interested. Check out pg. 57 in the 2005 catalog.