Tips and Tricks, Pg 3

How to clean stones and glass before firing
When placing gem stones or dichroic glass in wet metal clay, you may inadvertently “dirty” them by transferring a small amount of clay with your tools as you refine the setting. After firing this residue will not create an interesting overlay design but rather make the surface look dull and cloudy. For best results be sure to thoroughly clean the stone/glass before firing. First, let the project dry completely, then remove any thick deposits of clay with the tip of a clean toothpick. Use a flat; square; dry brush to gently but firmly sweep away any remaining metal clay dust particles. Finally, a clean; round brush dipped in denatured alcohol can be swiped across the table or crown of the eye clean stone/glass to remove oily fingerprints or any lingering residue.

Dealing with mold
Depending on the chemicals and minerals in your particular water system, you may notice a blackish brown discoloration clinging to your clay if you have used tap water to hydrate it. This is a non toxic mold and will just burn away in the firing process, but you can use a knife or other tool to scrape it away (put it in the “dirty scrap” pile to refine) or if there’s just a small amount, knead it back into the lump. To avoid this problem in the future, try using distilled water if you need to refresh or re hydrate your metal clay.

Modifying playing cards
There are many great spacers available in the market place, but I like the freedom of using ordinary playing cards. The slick surface of today’s cards makes them slippery and they tend to fan out which affects the intended height of my project, so to make them easier to deal with (pun intended), I use double sided tape or glue to bond cards together. I like to choose a suit and then attach the correct number of cards to the back of a face card. So when I pick up a five of hearts, I know there are four cards bonded to it and I have a stack of five. You can also simply use coffee stirrer sticks, picture frame matt board or anything else you can think of.