Bronze Clay Tutorials

This page is packed with bronze clay tutorials covering all brands of bronze metal clay. It also outlines the evolution of bronze clay brands.

Bronze Clay Evolution

Bronzclay™ was launched at the PMC Conference in July 2008. In July 2010, Fast Fire Bronzclay™ was launched, download a flyer about it here.

Hadar’s clay

Hadar Jacobson sells her own brand of bronze and copper clay in powder form which you mix yourself. You’ll also find information about this form of clay here. She has also developed White Bronze Clay and Rose Bronze Clay, see below.

Prometheus bronze clay

Prometheus™ bronze clay is also available. Developed in Turkey, this bronze clay has a shorter, lower temperature firing schedule without the need for activated carbon. Available as lump clay and in syringe form. You’ll find information about Prometheus™ bronze clay here.

Meteor bronze clay

In December 2010, Meteor bronze clay was launched by a French developer and then Meteor copper clay was released in January 2011. Meteor white bronze clay was launched in July 2011. They also have gold bronze classic, pink bronze classic, white bronze classic, light bronze classic, gold bronze ultrafine, pink bronze ultrafine, white bronze ultrafine, light bronze ultrafine and copper ultrafine.

Goldie bronze clay

Goldie Bronze Clay™ was developed in Poland by Waldo Ilowiecki. The Goldie Bronze Clay is due for launch around September 2012.

Hadar Jacobson launched Brilliant Bronze (golden colored bronze) in September 2012 and Smart Bronze (24k gold colored bronze) in April 2013.

In January 2014, Hadar Jacobson launched Champagne Bronze.

Zab’s bronze clay

Zab’s Bronze metal clay was developed in France.

Aussie bronze clay

Aussie Metal Clay launched in 2014 and became available worldwide in 2015. It is available in a wide range of bronze colours, copper, 960 silver and 999 silver.

Bonschelle bronze clay

Bonschelle Metal Clay powder is a UK brand which comes in bronze only at the moment.

July 2015 – Hadar Jacobson has simplified her product range.

Make your own bronze clay

Want to make your own? Have a look here at our DIY metal clay page!

 

Bronze clay tutorials and information 

Content checked July 2021.

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AMCAW Tutorial Collections

The Alliance for Metal Clay Arts Worldwide (AMCAW) have lots of information for all skill levels in their learning center. Members also have access to tutorials and presentations by top metal clay artists from all over the world. Membership costs $60 for a year.

Bronzclay™ Getting Started Information from Cool Tools

This comprehensive tutorial tells you all you need to know about working with Bronzclay™.

Bronzclay™ – Margaret Schindel

Another fabulous HubPages article from Margaret Schindel. Great attention to detail, fab pictures and lots of very useful information and bronze clay tutorials. If you’re looking for everything there is to know about this new medium, this is the place. It includes some history, work by some of the leaders in the field and all you need to know to help you work with bronze clay.

Bronzclay™ Tools – Margaret Schindel

Comprehensive tools and suppliers list from Margaret Schindel. Together with her definitive Bronzclay™ article (above), this is everything you need to understand and start to work with the new base metal clays.

Bronzclay™ Troubleshooting Guide from Cool Tools

Fantastically thorough bronze clay tutorial about what can go wrong and how to tell if your clay is over or under fired. Great pictures.

Drying Bronzclay™ – from Cool Tools

Drying the clay using heat can lead to cracking. In this bronze clay tutorial, alternative ways of drying the clay are discussed and some surprising conclusions result!

Fast Fire Bronzclay MSDS

From Metal Adventures, this is the Material Safety Data Sheet for Fast Fire Bronzclay.

Fire Mountain Gems – Double Stranded Necklace with Bronzclay™ and Copprclay™

Learn how to make tube beads in bronze metal clay and copper metal clay with this great tutorial. Good pictures.

Firing Schedule for Bronze and Copper Clay using Evenheat or Sierra Kilns – PMC Connection

This short and easy to understand guide gives specific instructions for firing bronze and copper clay using the Evenheat and Sierra kilns. 

Gingko Pendant

This simple pendant is excellent for the metal clay beginner. It features a built in bail that is well proportioned and clean. Learn a simple technique for creating a layered effect with Jewelry Shape Templates. The finished pendant weighs 11 grams in bronze. Can be made with any kind of metal clay. From Cool Tools

Goldie Bronze Clay™ – Anna Mazon

This page has a wealth of information from Polish metal clay artist Anna Mazon. She has tested Goldie Bronze Clay and here are the results of those tests.

Hadar Jacobson – Copper and Bronze Clay Blog

This blog has tips and hints about using Hadar’s Copper and Bronze clay powder. Well written and illustrated.

Hadar Jacobson – Compatibility of Hadar’s Metal Clays

Great overview of the firing schedules for mixed metal clays using Hadar’s range of bronze and copper clays.

Instruction Manual for Hadar’s One-Fire Clays – Hadar Jacobson

This downloadable PDF was added in January 2017.

Instruction Manual for Hadar’s Clay™ Quick-fire Copper, Bronze, Pearl Grey Steel, Steel, and White Bronze and Rose Bronze – Hadar Jacobson

This comprehensive guide covers everything you need to know about working with Hadar’s base metal clays. It replaces all the previous guides and contains a quick reference guide which is perfect for your studio wall or to give to students. Hadar updates this regularly so check out whether you have the most up-to-date version.

Meteor Bronze Clay

The French bronze clay from Meteor is available to buy here. The bronze clay tutorial is in French.

Mixing Instructions for Copper and Bronze Clay Powder – Hadar Jacobson

Mokume Gane with Bronze Clay, Copper Clay and Paper Clay – Cindy Silas

Download this great tutorial about making mokume gane with the base metal clays.

Mokume Gane without an Extruder – Hadar Jacobson

The three clays which create the pattern of colors are Friendly Bronze, Friendly Copper, and Pearl Grey SteelXT. Most of the mokume-gane techniques in metal clay are done with an extruder. Here is a beginners’ project for mokume-gane which does not require an extruder. It is a downloadable PDF called “Twist and Slice.”

Prometheus™ Bronze Clay Firing Instructions and Schedule

Prometheus™ Bronze Clay is a claylike material which turns into pure, solid bronze when fired in a kiln. It is a mixture of micron sized bronze powder, water and organic binder. It can be formed by hand, rolled into a sheet or a rope. It can be molded, textured, even turned on a potter’s wheel. Prometheus™ Bronze Claycan be fired with most lab-created gemstones (cubic zirconias), pre-tested natural stones, glass beads, ceramic and porcelain.

Sherri Haab’s Ultimate Guide to Bronzclay™

This bronze clay tutorial from Sherri Haab and Metal Clay Supply covers everything you need to know about working with Bronzclay™.

Spoon and Fork Earrings – Hadar Jacobson

These simple but effective earrings are made with Hadar’s Brilliant Bronze clay. Read how to make them in this bronze clay tutorial.

  

Tricks for Sealing Your Metal Work – Wanaree Tanner

Great article showing how to seal patina or preserve the surface color of metal without losing the qualities of the color.

Understanding Metal Clay – Hadar Jacobson

Very useful and informative article by Hadar. It explains the sintering process that all metal clays go through during firing. Hadar demystifies the alchemy of metal clay firing and talks about all types of metal clay.

Welcome to Bronzclay Booklet from Rio Grande.

Official guide to using Bronzclay.

White Bronze Mosaic Pendant – PMC Connection

Learn how to work with Hadar’s white bronze and make this textured pendant with this bronze clay tutorial.

Zab’s Bronze User Guides

Metal Clay Zab’s Bronzes™ are available in three colors,  Luna Bronze™ a white bronze, Sol Bronze™ a golden bronze and Rojo Bronze™ a red bronze. Download user guides here.

Xuella Arnold – Bronze Clay Exploration

Xuella has written up some of her experiences with Bronzclay™ especially for the Metal Clay Academy….

“I’ve been busy working with the bronze clay, I’ve just finished running some workshops in schools with the Henley on Thames Youth Festival, which is on over April.

I went into primary schools and worked with children around the age of 9-10 and they made flying birds which had the starting title of freedom, it was great to see how they got on with the bronze clay, they definitely found moulding it the hardest ,as they found it cracked a lot with a lot of use. When I fired the moulded heart shapes it was interesting because on some of them, the inside was hollow and a lot of black dust came out, which was obviously unsintered clay it didn’t affect the outside shape , I’m not sure if it was because the clay hadn’t fully dried out, but it could be used  to an advantage, to create hollow shapes.

I also noticed that the pieces that were fired further down in the container had a more golden colour with the coal based carbon. Here is a picture of one of the birds that one of the children made.

I’ve also been having a nightmare making a bronze pagoda, which is becoming a never ending project! I’ve been fabricating the pieces with templates and then joining and assembling it with slip, but there are a lot of problems with the shrinkage rate, which distorts the shape ,which in some cases has been used to an advantage, but other times the piece just gets pulled apart on the joins. I have managed to rebuild some of the pieces and to rejoin unfired clay to fired clay using slip and extra clay, but it’s very slow going. I hope to have it finished for the Henley show which is on May 15th. If anyone else is making anything of this sort of size any advice would be great. The finished piece is going to be about 20cm high. Heres a photo of work in progress!

It’s looking quite a mess at the moment.  Also if anyone knows where you can get a larger stainless steel container and lid that will fit inside a pmc evenheat kiln, as the ones you can buy are very small.”

Bronze and Silver Compass