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Message started by slingingrocksforfun on Jun 3rd, 2020 at 2:13pm

Title: Hardening air dried clay glandes
Post by slingingrocksforfun on Jun 3rd, 2020 at 2:13pm
Hi folks,
Has anyone used NewClay and H2 hardener.
I bought 12.5kg clay and 454g of H2 and have been experimenting.
Wet glandes 125g mixed with 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 grams of H2.
Air dried to 105g and then oven heated slowly to 200C and allowed to cool.
My test range is hard packed gravel pitches and normal clay glandes breaks on impact.
Results - all survived many impacts from high lobbed underhand shots. The more hardener the less surface damage 4g and 5 g no surface damage at all.
Settled on using 2.5g per 125g of clay ratio works out at 2% addition of H2. ( 4g and 5g was hardenening too quickly as I was kneading, shaping and moulding clay).
Note - Do not mix large batches, I weighed out individual glandes one at a time.
Very satisfied with results. You can put in small coloured balloons and tie to help protect from water or find in grasslands.
Srff

Title: Re: Hardening air dried clay glandes
Post by Morphy on Jun 4th, 2020 at 1:13pm
Once hardened are they not water proof? I’ve been looking for a concrete substitute for awhile now. Wonder if this would work...

Title: Re: Hardening air dried clay glandes
Post by slingingrocksforfun on Jun 5th, 2020 at 5:04am
Morphy,
A very good substitute for concrete.  A much nicer material to work with.
12.5kg Newclay about £12 to £15 and the H2 hardener £8.50. If you can collect from store saves you on p&p. 454g of H2 is enough hardener for about 200 (125g) glandes. I find putting the glandes in balloons helps give grip of glandes in pouch to produce a rifled shot. As for being waterproof, the glandes will not disolve or flake when wet but they do get slippy.
I bought my NewClay locally in the UK.

Title: Re: Hardening air dried clay glandes
Post by slingingrocksforfun on Jun 5th, 2020 at 7:13am
Finished H2 glandes.
(Curious Addvark, can you please resize photo)
Glandes_001.jpg (129 KB | 30 )

Title: Re: Hardening air dried clay glandes
Post by Rat Man on Jun 5th, 2020 at 3:50pm
  I resized your photo, srff.  I use MS Paint.  It's a simple program that doesn't take up much space and it's relatively easy to use.

Title: Re: Hardening air dried clay glandes
Post by ilovepancakes on Jun 5th, 2020 at 4:30pm
Those are pretty.

Title: Re: Hardening air dried clay glandes
Post by Curious Aardvark on Jun 5th, 2020 at 5:49pm
nice job on the mould -m what's it made of ?

And what shop can you buy newclay from ?

The finish looks like fimo - the oven hardening plastic i used to make things out of 20 or 30 years ago.


Quote:
Newclay is a reinforced air-drying modelling clay. It is a unique product, providing the attributes of clay with the convenience of other modelling materials, yet it is characterised by being non-sticky and with slow shrinkage during drying. Newclay is malleable, it air dries without the need for heating, it can be used with professional pottery tools and, as it is nylon reinforced, it will not go brittle. It is suitable for use by both children and adults. While its reinforced finish makes it exceptionally strong, Newclay Hardeners (H1 or H2) can be applied to improve durability of the final article. For best results, finished pieces should be decorated with a good quality ceramic or acrylic paint and finished with Newclay Gloss or Newclay Satin. Newclay can also be kiln-fired with exceptional results.
 

Hmm, so a sort of hybrid between clay and polymer.
Not terribly enviromentally friendly though - full of nylon strands.

But interesting with the hardener.

Be interesting to see if it sticks to my press moulds.

Title: Re: Hardening air dried clay glandes
Post by slingingrocksforfun on Jun 6th, 2020 at 7:13am
Hi CA,
NewClay and H2 is made in Devon. I got mine from MBfiberglass in Belfast. Big Arts&Craft and Education Stores stock it.
Most Air Drying Clay has some sort of reinforcement materials in them (nylon?). I think the H2 is some sort of sodium silicate compound.
The mould is made from silicone squeezy stuff and corn starch, using mineral oil (Johnsons baby oil) as a lubricant for hands you mix the stuff together and form two balls.  Press the ball into suitable dishes and press your mould shape into mixture. I used polysyrene eggs with pointy ends cut off and stuck together with masking tape. Use cling film to seperate moulds when pressing mould shape into moulds.
Plenty of you tube videos of working with corn starch and silicone.
I think the NewClay and H2 would work in your roller moulds. You have to work briskly with clay as you can feel it stiffening as you knead H2 into clay.

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