The metal clay community has been buzzing about it for months, and now the new bronze metal clay — or, more accurately BronzClay — is available to the public. The new Rio Grande catalog hit my desk yesterday, and the clay was listed among their new products.

We had the advantage of testing the clay early, prior to its public release... the resulting article was published in our July 2008 issue. Our article covered the basics, but as with any new product, there are still a lot of questions about how it works and how best to use it. As different metal clay artisans get their hands on the material and start playing, those questions will be answered, and new ones will undoubtedly pop up.

Based on our experience, that experimentation phase will be a lot of fun — and based on the lower price point of BronzClay (Rio is charging approximately $20 per 100g package) compared to silver metal clay, I expect to see a lot of artisans pulling out the stops, creatively. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing the pieces that start appearing. If you work with the new clay, send us a picture, send us feedback, let us know how it's going, and what techniques you've found work — or don't work. It's new to everyone.