Bronze Clay is easy to work with: you can shape it in minutes, dry it quickly with a hair drier, and fire it in your kiln. You start with soft clay and end up with real solid bronze: ready to wear, give, or sell.

You can design and make your own unique anklets, beads, bracelets, brooches, charms, earrings, keepsakes, necklaces, ornaments, rings, seasonal decorations, and torcs.

You can add bronze clasps and pins to clothes, overlays to gift cards, motifs to handbags, highlights to wood, ceramics, glass, and shells, and produce complex shapes, textures, and patterns from moulds.

You can shop here now: on line or by phone with a card, or by post with a cheque. Prices include UK VAT and duty, and insured door-to-door UK-mainland delivery: there are no other charges. For other destinations, mail or call.

All the products mentioned on these pages are in the on-line shop: use the shop link below the menu bar near the top of the page.

To look at the photos, hold your mouse over the zoom buttons below. The photos are 480px x 360px and about 60KB so, if you're not on a fast internet connection, they'll take a short while to download.

Celtic Bronze Torc.

Bronze Mask By Gordon Uyehara.

Bronze Bracelet By Celie Fago.

True bronze is a copper-tin alloy, although other metals can be added to produce bronzes with different characteristics. Since its discovery about 5500 years ago, we've used bronze to make bearings, bells, ceremonial symbols, clasps, coins, containers, decorations, electrical connectors, gears, jewellery, pins, statues, tools, and weapons.

Bronze Clay is a clay-like material, made from fine bronze powder and water-soluble organic binders. As it's fired, the binders vapourise, releasing very small amounts of non-toxic carbon dioxide and water vapour, and the metal powder sinters, leaving solid bronze: an alloy of 89% copper and 11% tin. Real metal, not something that just looks like metal.

BronzeClay is ideal for Celtic or Roman designs, primitive styles, bangles, bowls, and figures. Compared to SilverClay, it's inexpensive, and better for larger stronger pieces.

There are three makes of bronze clay: Prometheus Bronze Clay made by Odak, Bronze Clay made by MetalMania, and BronzClay made by Metal Adventures.

Prometheus BronzeClay is fired in a similar way to Art Clay Silver and PMC: put your dry pieces in a kiln and programme the temperature and hold-time.

The others have to be embedded in activated charcoal granules in a stainless steel container, and covered with a lid. Firing in charcoal is described in the next section.

Whichever one you choose to try, make sure that you choose the same make in the on-line shop. Make a note now that Prometheus Copper Clay doesn't need charcoal: the others do.

However, I can't recommend one clay as being the best. There are differences in the feel, the firing, the shrinkage, the strength, and the surface patinas, so try them and experiment: they're not expensive.

Comprehensive instructions are included with the products, although you could do a one-day course at The Kitiki Studio.

The firing temperature and time are important: metal clay has to sinter, not melt. There's a difference between sintering and melting: during sintering, the binder in the clay vapourises and the metal powder particles bond to produce solid metal whereas, during melting, the metal powder particles liquify and lose their original clay-shape.

During normal exposed firing, the surface of the clay oxidises to form metal oxide. To minimize this, the clay is embedded in activated charcoal granules in a stainless steel container, and covered with a lid. Charcoal made from coconut shells produces a natural bronze colour, and charcoal made from coal produces a colourful range of patinas.

The Kitiki MiniKiln isn't large enough to hold a container. The Paragon SC2, Caldera, Xpress E9A, and Xpress E10A can all hold a one litre container. The Paragon Xpress E12A can hold a three litre container.

The 1230°C firebrick E12A costs more than the 1095°C ceramic-fibre SC2. However, it's two and a half times larger than the SC-2 and is a versatile mixed-media kiln suited to continual high temperatures.

The container for the Paragon SC-2 measures 162mm x 176mm x 100mm, and holds one litre of charcoal. The container for the Paragon E-12A measures 162mm x 265mm x 152mm, and holds three litres of charcoal.

A container of hot charcoal takes a long time to cool off, so a second container with fresh charcoal allows you to prepare your next batch of work.

If you want to use both types of charcoal, two containers make cleaning and storing easier, especially as both types of charcoal look similar.

Metal clays shrink slightly during firing, so it's important to do some tests before starting on your best ideas. However, it does mean that details and textures become more focused.

All particulates represent a health risk if they're breathed in, so it's important to wear a HEPA mask when mixing the powder, handling the charcoal, sanding the dry clay, and cleaning out your kiln. Ideally, use protective glasses.

Kilns, clays, stainless steel containers, charcoals, masks, protective glasses, and other tools and materials, are in the on-line shop: use the shop link below the menu bar near the top of the page.

To learn more about kilns, use the main menu link below the menu bar near the top of the page, then choose the Electric Kilns link above the menu bar.

The Kitiki Studio currently offers jewellery-making classes, demonstrations, masterclasses, and workshops, and Art Clay Levels One and Two courses taught by Aida-certified teachers, in the pretty village of Corfe Castle, in Dorset, England.

There are also classes for related products and techniques, art events, craft demonstrations, guest-teacher classes, the local arts weeks, studio open-days, and general jewellery-making opportunities. If you're interested, mail or call.

To learn more about jewellery-making, transfer to The Kitiki Studio using the Kitiki link above the menu bar near the top of the page.

MiniKiln is a Cherry Heaven on-line shop and an EU distributor, sales, spares, support, and repair centre for kilns: it's not a bead, ceramics, crafts, glass, or metal-clay shop, selling a few kilns to a market niche.

Although it's an internet resource, you can still mail or call an engineer about kilns, power supplies, home diagnostics, repairs, spares, safety issues, a special project, or reselling opportunities.