If you're working at home, in a studio, or for a business, you need a clean work area set aside for Art Clay. The simplest solution is to use easy-to-clean clear acrylic work sheets, which you can pick up and move around without having to put away your work-in-progress.

In addition, you'll probably need some of the following: a teflon non-stick sheet, some non-stick paper, a clear acrylic roller, three different pairs of clear acrylic thickness guides, a clear acrylic rolling block, a black rubber work block, a black rubber work sheet, and a black acrylic finishing sheet.

NOTES

You can't buy acrylic tools or rubber blocks in the high street: we cut and finish them at Kitiki. They're cut on an industrial laser bed or a high speed saw table, so are not easy to cut or saw cleanly at home without special equipment.

You can shop at Kitiki: on line, by phone, or with a cheque, using your ticked list as a guide. Alternatively, post it with your card details or a cheque.

You'll enjoy using good tools rather than continually improvising. They'll help you manage a creative and efficient work environment. And they'll last a long time.

ACRYLIC WORK SHEETS

ROLL OUT THE CLAY

At Kitiki, and during courses, we usually work on two acrylic sheets: a transparent general work sheet and a black finishing work sheet. Acrylics have a number of trade names, such as: Perspex, Setacryl, or Iridis.

The transparent sheet is useful when rolling out clay as the shape can be drawn on paper underneath as a guide. Also, you can put a photograph, coloured paper or a design underneath to personalise your work area or help with ideas and colour decisions about beads, glass, gemstones, shells, and other materials.

Don't cut or trim Art Clay on a wooden board as tiny slivers of wood may get rolled in: these will burn away during firing leaving a small hole or a fine crack. Don't use a plastic kitchen chopping board: most have a slight texture and cut marks which will press into the clay.

The black finishing sheet puts everything into high-contrast, making it easier to refine your work. Fortunately, every bit of dust notices, so it's a continual reminder to clean up.

Keep the two work sheets separate so that you don't pick up clay snippings or dust filings. Don't use the sheets to dry or fire the clay: they'll buckle or burn.

If you're working in your kitchen, it's handy to be able pick up your work on the sheets and move it, rather than clear up the kitchen table every mealtime.

The sheets included in the Kitiki Kits are 240mm x 180mm x 3mm. They can be washed in luke-warm detergent and dried naturally. Don't put them in the dish-washer: they'll distort.

New acrylic sheets have a protective film on each side. Although it may have handling marks and minor scratches, when it's peeled off the acrylic will look fine. However, peeling it off generates static electricity which attracts dust: so do it away from any surfaces.

Don't clean acrylics with domestic cleaning cloths, dusters, or kitchen roll, as they'll get covered in fibres which will be hard to blow off. Rinse them, or use lint-free cloths.

MIXING AND STORING AGS

To mix Accent Gold For Silver, add five drops of medium to the gold powder and stir until it's a thick cream: you can add more medium, but only one drop at a time.

It will last a long time at room temperature, with the top on, but you can add a little more medium to freshen it up: be careful not to over-dilute it as it will be too thin to use successfully. Some people use water.

To minimise waste, stir it with a piece of thin wire, such as a paper clip. Don't use a matchstick, as tiny slivers of wood may get stirred in: these will burn away during firing leaving a tiny hole or a fine crack. Always keep the pot the right way up so that the paint settles in the bottom.

USING AGS WITH ART CLAY OR PMC

Before using AGS on Art Clay or PMC, the piece must be fired and allowed to cool. Don't touch the area where you'll apply the paint. And don't polish or burnish it as a little roughness helps adhesion.

Generally, apply the AGS with a small brush or a shaped tool, such as a clay shaper, in a reasonably smooth, thick, layer which. If you get it on unwanted areas, clean up very carefully with a modelling knife, returning any clean bits to the bottle.
It's a good idea to keep a brush just for AGS so that, for example, you don't use a brush with tiny left-over particles of dry Art Clay still in the brush hairs.

Let it dry naturally. If you can see through the paint, it's not thick enough: so apply a second layer. Don't dry the paint too fast, such as with a hair dryer, or it may not adhere well to the silver after firing.

FIRING AGS IN A KILN

The manufacturer recommends that Accent Gold is fired in a kiln, as described below. However, for many people, it seems to work better when torch-fired: perhaps it needs an oxygen-rich environment.

Fire the piece by putting it into a kiln on a kiln shelf both preheated to 900°C. Put the piece on the shelf, close the door, and let the temperature return to 900°C: no higher. Fire it for seven minutes, remove it, and let it cool naturally. If the paint is thin, longer firing may cause discolouration as the silver diffuses into the gold.

It's OK to fire several pieces at once, although the time required for the kiln to return to 900°C will be slightly longer if more silver is used. If coverage of the gold is not complete, apply more AGS in the areas where the silver is showing, dry the piece, and fire it again.

FIRING AGS WITH A TORCH

If you've fired Art Clay with a torch, successfully, this will be easy: you just need to maintain the correct temperature. Lay your piece on a kiln shelf or similar material and heat it with a butane torch. Allow it to reach a medium orange colour, not a bright orange: dim the lights in order to see and maintain the colour. Fire it for three to four minutes, and be careful not to melt the piece.
The kiln shelf will get very hot and burn most worktops: so lay it in a tray of vermiculite, on ceramic fibre blocks, or on some other heat resistant material.

FINISHING AGS

After firing, let the piece cool naturally. It can be polished with a burnishing tool, matted with a wire brush, or lustered by tumbling with stainless steel shot in water.

Although unlikely, if the gold layer comes off the silver piece, the firing temperature may have been too low. Add paint to the bare areas and repeat the firing process.

AGS AND STERLING SILVER

Applying AGS to sterling silver needs a different technique. Heat the piece to a dull red until a dark oxide forms on the surface, use a mild acid to remove the scale, and rinse the piece in water. Repeat this cycle until no more oxide forms: the surface will now be pure silver. AGS can now be applied as with fine silver.