ceramic circuit – A DIY electronics maker has demonstrated a way to turn native clay into a circuit board by baking circuit traces into ceramic, then firing it again to fuse copper powder—resulting in a working demo board with blinking LEDs.
The idea sounds almost too charming to be technical: dig up clay, fire it, and—somehow—get an actual circuit out of it.
But that’s exactly what Emily Velasco showed. building on the solarpunk philosophy of pairing the DIY hacker ethos with sustainability and renewable resources. In her approach. the usual route to printed circuit boards—chemical baths and petrochemical-based resins—doesn’t sit well with the movement’s goals.
Velasco’s demo starts with a ceramic wafer made from native clay. The key step isn’t just repurposing pottery as a “board.” The circuit itself is baked into the ceramic. She stamps the desired circuit into unfired clay using a 3D-printed stamp, leaving depressions where traces will go. After the first firing, she fills those depressions with copper powder.
A second firing follows, this time in a reducing atmosphere. The goal is to melt or sinter—depending on what’s happening during the process—the copper powder into a conductive path without destroying the ceramic or burning off the work already done.
When the finished demo board is assembled, it doesn’t just look like an art project. A pair of LEDs blink steadily, driven by an astable oscillator circuit that’s been baked right into the clay, with the LEDs and any other components soldered to it.
To see the result, you have to click through to the demonstration.
There’s also a sense of momentum behind the technique. Velasco’s method will feel familiar to anyone who saw a similar project last year: the same basic approach. but using more-expensive silver powder instead of copper. and firing it with a campfire instead of a kiln. This time. copper and a kiln make the experiment feel more practical—especially given the mention that petrochemical inputs for conventional PCBs may be in short supply.
The tip for the project came from [smellsofbikes].
solarpunk DIY electronics ceramic circuit boards clay circuits PCB alternatives copper powder 3D printed stamp reducing atmosphere firing astable oscillator sustainable hardware
So it’s just… clay with copper and a kiln? Cool I guess, but does it last or is it like a one-time art thing?
I don’t get how “native clay” becomes a real PCB without like, destroying the signal. Also blinking LEDs means nothing if it can’t handle power right? Sounds nice but seems kinda gimmicky.
Wait so she makes the circuit in the clay itself, then fills it with copper powder, then fires again? Wouldn’t the heat crack the ceramic or ruin the copper? I saw “campfire instead of a kiln” and thought it was gonna be molten chaos lol.
This is awesome for sustainability but I’m confused why they’re even worried about petrochemical resins if copper is the main thing… like copper comes from mining too. Also “click through to the demonstration” is not great, I don’t wanna miss the details.