1.  I was wondering if a fired piece of bronze clay can be painted or plated with silver paste and then fired again? 

2.   Also, where can I find specific firing schedules for Copper and Bronze Clay?  I can find adequate ones for silver Artclay and silver PMC.

3.  And could a piece of copper or bronze be fired in a kiln that may go only as high as 1550? could it be fired longer at a lower temp?  I think I found that it needs about 1700, but again, I'd like to get more info on this!   And what is the absolute smallest bin of charcoal that could be used?   5" x 5" x 3" high?

 Thank you all! This site is great!!

 hello :) I cant help with some of those questions but can with others...

1. I have seen various clays combined but it can be tricky to get the skill tamed - in another one of my posts I posted a pdf from someone experimenting with copper and silver combinations showing outcomes failures and the methods employed to get that outcome - will try hunt it down. 

2. firing schedules - http://www.metalclay.com.au/workshops/workshops_info_sheets.html

Thats a fantastic resource with the information contained on the firing sheets you get with the clay plus some added info.

 3. you bin should be suited to the pieces being fired as I understand - you need some relative clearance with which you fill with charcoal of course between the piece and the bin- smaller pieces will allow for smaller bins just make sure they are packed.  Good news is that a new copper clay is coming out which does not require carbon and is similar to the silver clay firing process and has less shrinkage!

I guess the trick is to find a bin small enough in stainless that suits the size of the peice - larger peices require a larger bin - are you limited by kiln size?

best,

cynthia

 other resources:

all about bronze clay

that copper and silver combination pdf I was talking about