Hubert Kerstens Posted November 14, 2023 Report Share Posted November 14, 2023 Hello, I recently heard about high fire wire as a means to ad loops to clay objects in order to hang them etc. Can I also use high fire wire inside clay sculptures fired at around 1050C ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pyewackette Posted November 14, 2023 Report Share Posted November 14, 2023 Now that you mention it, I wonder about this as well. A lot of figures I've been interested in (trying to) sculpt require some sort of armature, or wire as part of the sculpture itself (like say bird legs). I also wonder if this may be part of the reason some ceramic sculptures I've had in the past were done in low fire earthenware ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Callie Beller Diesel Posted November 14, 2023 Report Share Posted November 14, 2023 I don’t know how much Kanthal wire will add structural integrity to a fired sculpture, but if it’s a matter of building a figure around an armature, as long as the finished piece will support itself you should be ok to just leave it in place. If you want a piece such as a bird to stand on wire feet, you’d be better off adding the wire after the firing as a cold process, as it may get brittle after firing to those temps. Kanthal isn’t the first wire choice I’d use for large sculptures though. 1 lb of Kanthal runs about $70 CDN. Most figurative sculptors that I’ve seen use additive methods and wire armatures will cut the sculptures apart and remove the armature, hollow out some of the excess clay and put it back together. Rae Reich and Pyewackette 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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