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Bring your metal clay work into the digital age with Burn Aways metal clay template molds

Burn Aways are made of pressed paper with an image engraved into its surface.  Any metal clay can simply be pressed into the mold and allowed to dry before being fired in the kiln.

Burn Aways are versatile too! Depending on how your clay is prepared you can demold the Burn Aways and sometimes may be able to use them multiple times. 

Economical and Ecological: Not made from costly rubber or silicone compounds, but made from part post-consumer paper products. So the savings are passed on for you to have your own custom made Burn Aways for less than other standard molds.

Image with Depth:  Burn Aways gives you 3D printed like designs with the depth you need for oxidated contrasts and colored enameling. The relief (engraved depth) of the mold is typically .7mm - .9mm in depth. meaning your unfired clay could have a raised design that is up to 9/10'ths of a millimeter from base.

Use Burn Aways molds for medallions, coins, charms, buttons and rings. 

Using Burn Aways Molds

Metal clay that is pressed into the mold generally does not stick to it as it dries, but however if it was pressed onto with great force such as with a rolling pin, or the clay was very moist the clay may stick to it as it dry. Very detailed molds may also stick and  its image can tear away from the mold when dried.

It is important that you allow the metal clay to fully dry before attempting removing the mold. Still moist or soft clay can become stuck in the design of the mold thus ruining your clay creation. 

The Burn Aways molds have there images burned away off the paper. That image actually has a microscopic layer of ash which further makes the clay less likely to adhere to the mold as it dries.

And as its name implies, the mold can be burned away in a kiln.  If you feels your metal clay is too fragile to pull away from the mold, you can place the whole piece mold side down in the kiln and fire it as you would any other metal clay. The average Burn Aways mold will vaporize to just a few thousandths of a gram of ash.

Remember the dark or engraved area of the mold will be the raised areas of your finished clay. See the 'tiger' mold and silver right.

Custom Burn Aways Template Molds

We do offer custom designs too! And the rates are low.  If you have a design or drawing we can make you a mold of it!  We can even incorporate it into the design of a ring mold as well.  Give us your ideas.  When you buy a custom mold we give you two of them and of course you can purchase as many duplicates of the mold as you'd like. Simply email your design to us: CLAYPOWDER @GMAIL.COM it will be review and you will receive an invoice for the charges typically $20.  To make it even better we'll cut $5 off the purchase of MCPSILVER999 if you purchase custom Burn Aways template molds.  Actual custom ordered Burn Aways will differ from those samples as above as they will have special attention to detail and make use of higher quality materials.  We are able to exact size the molds for you too! For example if you make cuff-links that need to be 3/4" and your clay shrink 15% as in MCPSILVER999 the mold will be sized accordingly.

Techniques Using the Burn Aways

The most simple molds may be used over again depending the quality of the mold and template. However many times the mold may stick to the dried clay.  For the most part the mold is weaker than the adherence of the dried clay. A corner of the mold can been peeled away (torn off) layer by layer until the raised surface of the clay is exposed. Sanding and finishing work can be done while the mold template is still in place. If you want to use your mold multiple times you may try to soak the mold in heated mineral oil and dust a coating of talc powder (baby oil and baby powder) over the template.

Ring molds are sized to your finger with allowance for clay shrinkage.  Ring molds are shaped into a loop held together with tape and held in place with a collar while clay is forcefully pressed into mold. Then the clay is set, remove the mold from the collar and allow the clay to fully dry. Peel off mold then refine your clay pre-fire.

Wet setting clay. Another technique is to use a metal clay paste (very sticky wet clay) and apply it on to the template. When it dries, a layer of clay is pressed on atop the clay covered template.  Almost always the clay will adhere to the mold, so it will have to be peeled away or burned away in the kiln.  If MCP SILVER999 is used it is necessary to use the 3 recommended additives (soap-glue-glycerin) as these reduce drying shrinkage which could form breaks and cracks as the clay dries in the template mold.