Tiki Oasis 2013: Wiki Wiki VanTiki 5k - California Events

V VanTiki Member Hawaii Joined: Nov 25, 2005 Posts: 1046	V VanTiki Posted posted on Tue, Jul 16, 2013 12:10 PM Some run for glory, some run for fitness, but most (secretly) run for the cool medals. With that in mind, I wanted to put something together special for the folks who brave the sunrise (and possible hangover) with me on Sunday morning. I had a few unique criteria to deal with - mainly the fact that there is next to no $$ for medals, as well as next to to time to make them. With only a month to Oasis, I had to give up on my original idea of pressing a unique pendant. It would just take too long to sculpt, mold, dry, press, dry, and fire (whew!). On top of that, it would be a major time investment for me. What to do? Well, it just so happens that I was researching printable decals for clay while designing Tiki Jugs for oasis http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=18911&forum=18&start=885 And I realized the technique would be PERFECT for finisher's medals! Now, you are thinking "I don't want a medal with a plastic decal on it!" - don't worry, neither do I! These are special ceramic decals that you print with a standard laser printer and fire in the kiln. While cooking in the kiln, the toner vaporizes, and the iron oxide in the toner stains the clay brown - exactly like a classic oxide ceramic stain, but far more precise. At least, that is what is supposed to happen. Over the weekend, I designed the medals and had a few sheets of the special decal film printed (it is the exact same "water slide" decal paper that plastic model kit decals use). I had intended to use porcelain for the medal blanks - but the bag of porcelain in my studio tuned out to be unusable. With time running out, I grabbed a bag of white sculpture clay and set to work making blanks: Once they had dried out completely, I carefully cut out each decal, soaked it in warm water, and slid them onto the blanks: This morning I loaded them up in the kiln, and they are cooking as I type! Will they tun out OK? Who knows. I've never done this before, and I am worried that the rough sculpture clay may not yield results as nice as porcelain would have. We will know more in 24 hours :) See you at Tiki Oasis! Henrik "VanTiki" [ Edited by: VanTiki 2013-07-16 12:25 ]

Some run for glory, some run for fitness, but most (secretly) run for the cool medals. With that in mind, I wanted to put something together special for the folks who brave the sunrise (and possible hangover) with me on Sunday morning. I had a few unique criteria to deal with - mainly the fact that there is next to no $$ for medals, as well as next to to time to make them. With only a month to Oasis, I had to give up on my original idea of pressing a unique pendant. It would just take too long to sculpt, mold, dry, press, dry, and fire (whew!). On top of that, it would be a major time investment for me. What to do? Well, it just so happens that I was researching printable decals for clay while designing Tiki Jugs for oasis

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?mode=viewtopic&topic=18911&forum=18&start=885

And I realized the technique would be PERFECT for finisher's medals! Now, you are thinking "I don't want a medal with a plastic decal on it!" - don't worry, neither do I! These are special ceramic decals that you print with a standard laser printer and fire in the kiln. While cooking in the kiln, the toner vaporizes, and the iron oxide in the toner stains the clay brown - exactly like a classic oxide ceramic stain, but far more precise. At least, that is what is supposed to happen.

Over the weekend, I designed the medals and had a few sheets of the special decal film printed (it is the exact same "water slide" decal paper that plastic model kit decals use). I had intended to use porcelain for the medal blanks - but the bag of porcelain in my studio tuned out to be unusable. With time running out, I grabbed a bag of white sculpture clay and set to work making blanks:

Once they had dried out completely, I carefully cut out each decal, soaked it in warm water, and slid them onto the blanks:

This morning I loaded them up in the kiln, and they are cooking as I type!

Will they tun out OK? Who knows. I've never done this before, and I am worried that the rough sculpture clay may not yield results as nice as porcelain would have. We will know more in 24 hours :)

See you at Tiki Oasis!
Henrik "VanTiki"

[ Edited by: VanTiki 2013-07-16 12:25 ]

Post #686087 by VanTiki on Tue, Jul 16, 2013 12:10 PM