Milky Way – a work in progress by Julie Broughton

This piece is called Milky Way, and I thought it might be of interest to see the basic phases of it’s creation.
In the first photo you see the results after the clay was rolled out, stamped with a texture stamp, cut to size and dried.
At this stage it can be brittle as any green clay might be. The piece still needs to be sanded and cleaned up before the first firing.
I have positioned the stone and glass on the new background to check for design and fit.
Stage one – green

Stage two is to fire the piece with the glass and silver casting grain in place. (the fire agate can not be fired with the piece and will be added with a bezel)
The fired silver clay has a white appearance due to the surface structure after firing.
It can be polished or tumbled with stainless steel shot to produce different percentages of luster.
Stage two – first firing

Stage three. I’ve finally decided on the bail design.
Ideally this would have been part of the original base piece. Better late than never, but now I will need to join the pieces with a paste made from the silver clay and do a lot more cleanup work.
Siver bezel wire has been cut to the size of the agate and will be part of this firing as well. The same paste is used to attach the bezel.
The second photo is after firing to check the fit of the bezel with the agate again.
Stage three – second firing

Stage four will be filing and clean up, and the polishing.
When I’m satisfied with the results, I will complete the forming of the bezel around the fire agate and possibly add some patina to the crater areas.
Stay tuned for the final photo.

3/21/10
Still waiting for the photo? Me too!
Stage four was NOT a resounding success. The dichroic glass dots, which should have fired well – did not, and seperated.
So I’ve moved on to a new project.
Keep checking back for where I go next.