Terra Cotta: My musings on...and resulting actions with.

[HorseloverFat]

This thread is so eccentric and I love it

Thank you!!!!

 

[HorseloverFat]

Used some scraps for glaze tester pieces.. ALSO utilized this opportunity to “learn” about some of the tools in my kit that I haven’t used yet. Getting two birds stoned at once.... or somethin’ like that.

 

[TinyArt]

Your pots are going to have some amazing patterns & textures, I can tell!

 

[HorseloverFat]

Your pots are going to have some amazing patterns & textures, I can tell!

Thanks!!!

 

[sorce]

847

Edit 547!

I get happy at 5:47 o'clock.

Your mini detail is superb!

And that you allow the clay to be, and work with it, means your success as an artist with this medium is imminent.

G.

Sorce

 

[HorseloverFat]

More “fun with scraps”

I’m messing around with “two-piece” construction..

I’m working on this 2-piece moon-accent pot..
Only about half-way done.. but was taking a break.. blah-yadda-cetera

 

[HorseloverFat]

Trying out a new concept for my signature.

(Also a sneak peak at an eye-shaped pot.. @liquid_back_draft thinks that the shape (eye) should be referred to as “the lid”... I like it!)

 

[TinyArt]

Complex signature -- you could carve a "negative" stamp & fire it

 

[HorseloverFat]

It’s actually just a parallel-line projection of my Initials in my handwriting.. Adding a dimension. (And then the date in da’middle)

I’ve been interesting in carving stamps AND texture tools, lately.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Thought I’d share this.

Owners of Algoma ‘Ceramic Shoppe’ closing business, looking to get rid of more than 30,000 ceramic molds

ALGOMA, Wis. (WFRV) – The owners of a ceramic shop in Algoma are almost ready to call it quits. John and Virginia Haske are the owners of the Ceramic Shoppe in Algoma. After 42 years in busin…

www.wearegreenbay.com

Aaaaand bisque tomorrow... weather permitting...

I’ve never fired stoneware.. should be fun.... i was PLANNING on bisque-ing() to 06-1 .. but not sure exactly... thoughts?

 

[TinyArt]

Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday, dear Le-oooo
Happy Birthday to you!!!!!!!!

 

[HorseloverFat]

You got to it before my LOCAL family!

 

[sorce]

PLANNING on bisque-ing() to 06-1

If you've already become comfortable glazing greenware, I'd skip the bisque like a rock into the lake.

If not, getting comfortable would be my recommendation.

I can't find the text that tells of actual organics burnout taking place all the way through 1900F, but it is somewhere on DF. Most text says it happens way earlier, but it is totally dependant on many more things, including the fact that 98% of potters will never witness the problems associated with an incomplete burnout of organics. We are the 2%.

Bisque

Potters and some manufacturers fire ceramic ware twice, once to prepare it for glazing (call bisquit firing) and the second time to melt the glaze onto it.

digitalfire.com

Most of what you'll find is about the absorption of glaze at different bisque temps. The larger concern is the burnout of organics.

06 will absorb more glaze than 1.

Because almost no kiln fires perfectly even, I believe most glaze problems come from folks not realizing the actual amount of glaze they are applying to bisque.
A one second dip of a 06 pot is going to leave more glaze than a 05 bisque.
It's technically impossible to adjust for that.

Glazing greenware removes that uncertainty, since the bonedry clay will be more similarly and consistently porous.

I think the information about organics burnout is actually in Steven Hills PDF "An approach to Single Firing." Google download.

The benefit we get as bonsai potters, is the unglazed inside will allow for organics gasses to still pass through somewhat, even after the glaze has sealed the outer surface.

IMO....
Bisqueing leaves many variables and unanswerable questions. Too many failures with an unidentifiable cause.

The only difficulty in glazing greenware can be easily adjusted by changing the specific gravity of the glaze. You get to see this upfront without wasting gas and there is no question. Pot breaks if you glaze too much too fast, or if the specific gravity is too low. This is better than wasting gas, ruining shelves, and having pots take up space in the kiln that won't certainly make it through.

No Bisque Less Risk.

Sorce

 

[HorseloverFat]

Yeah..
Brush-on Glazing oven-dried greenware is all I know.. because all I HAVE fired is earthenware.

 

[HorseloverFat]

Alright! So i did more research into glazing greenware at higher temperatures.. and it does, STILL feel like glazing the greenware “fits” my processes best..

I will just adjust it so there is a 5-10 percent (similarly coned) clay body present in my glaze. Acting as a portion of it’s Alumina content..

Also, @sorce , that Clear you sent back up here to the woods.. you said it can go to 6.. but is slightly unstable and “crazes” a bit... My thoughts are.. using a Sodium/Magnesium mixture as a secondary flux, then filling out the silica portion with.. um.. WHATEVER the hell Silica source I’m experimenting with...

One would Think that the Na/Mg (Mostly NA) mixture would stabilize the flux to a higher temp.. while adding the equivalent of silica would “complete” overall balance (While allowing room for experimentation).. and Matching the Alumina with Kaolin or Tennessee Ball which will gear the WHOLE mixture...

..towards glazing greenware..

 

[Crawforde]

THAT is awesome! I love seeing what you come up with -- the details & solid impression in so small a thing. Your landscapes are gonna be amazing!

What he said.
And Happy Birthday

 

[LanceMac10]

32? Look, the years are clicking off now!!!




@WeeMac has one of these in his future.....enjoy your day, good sir!

 

[sorce]

experimentation

Your chemistry is beyond me and I know I can't stop you!

I would try to fire a 3rd unglazed pieces.
A third "sure" glaze pieces, like that little green one, which I was thinking will probably be wicked in reduction, from 6-10.
And a third, experiments.

As much as I enjoy and am amazed by your experiments, which, seem to have enough thought put into them that they are hardly even experiments, I think it will serve that end product better, to practice with and gain the rewards of what it working with "ready made" stuff.

Reckon "practice with" is like 90% learning the kilns zones, so you can maximize efficiency with proper consistent placement and mass, with stuff that doesn't take much effort, so you can fire much more.

Rain Rain Go Away!

Sorce

 

[HorseloverFat]

Your chemistry is beyond me and I know I can't stop you!

I would try to fire a 3rd unglazed pieces.
A third "sure" glaze pieces, like that little green one, which I was thinking will probably be wicked in reduction, from 6-10.
And a third, experiments.

As much as I enjoy and am amazed by your experiments, which, seem to have enough thought put into them that they are hardly even experiments, I think it will serve that end product better, to practice with and gain the rewards of what it working with "ready made" stuff.

Reckon "practice with" is like 90% learning the kilns zones, so you can maximize efficiency with proper consistent placement and mass, with stuff that doesn't take much effort, so you can fire much more.

Rain Rain Go Away!

Sorce

Thank you! For your kind words. I shall consider all of these thoughts/angles.. there are actually a few that I WANT unglazed.. not to mention all those structures which will remain unglazed..

You know me too well.. I was GEARED UP..getting ready to “test glaze recipes” on ALL these pieces... I see, NOW.. what you are saying, Afro-mbre!

 

[HorseloverFat]

The forecast cleared for TODAY.. so I was gonna bisque.. but I will be glazin’ some of these bad boys (emphasis on bad HAHA!).. and planning a FULL
fire for Sunday.. if the rain does, in fact, stop Saturday night..