Creative Copper Clay Review

Since the rise and rise of the price of silver, I very rarely use silver clay any more, even though it's fun to work with, and useful for some designs. Instead - I make my test pieces in copper clay, and if they are successful - they can be cast in silver. I have used Art Clay Copper in the past, but decided to try a new brand - Creative Copper Clay, which is made in Turkey. It comes in syringe form as well. There is also Bronze which I have never tried.

It's really easy to use, extremely strong when dry (when you need to work on the pieces by sanding them etc') and it fired nicely in the kiln at 920C for 30 minutes, as suggested on the packet. The pieces came out black, and shed loads of firescale - so much so that I thought the patterns would disappear - but they didn't - they came out very well after pickling. The shrinkage was also minimal - about 5-6%.

The only problem I have had with these pieces is when trying to solder them - they seem to soak up huge quantities of solder, even when I have burnished the place to be soldered. So if you decide to use it - I would stick to pieces with holes in them for jump rings or cold connections. I have not tried torch firing with this brand yet - but I will get back to you on that...

You can buy it at Rashbel, and at £12.46 (plus V.A.T) for 50g you can afford to be a lot more experimental than with Silver PMC - £112 (Plus V.A.T)