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another west texas anomily

updated mon 31 mar 97

 

Chris Stanley on tue 18 mar 97

In West Texas, Odessa in specific, we have several interesting situations:

Problems solved:
Excessive amounts of Chlorine in the water cause silver nitrate to become
silver cholride. We must
mix gold glazes for Raku as if we are in a Kosher Kitchen. All utensils
must be cleaned with distilled water and kept seperate from other tools .
From our understanding silver chloride never becomes an active ingredient
in the glaze. ( your thoughts on this phenomon would be appreciated)
This is following the strange water thread!!!!

Odessa is at the bottom of an ancient sea. Commonly this area is refered
to as the Permain Basin.
The common clay in the area is filled with lime. It is wonderful to work
with; however, after the bisque firing it "lime pops" all over the place.
Oh, and yes we have considered using it as studio clay due to its
availibility. (Has anybody else played with this type of clay???)
FYI. We test the clay with vinager to see if it is "GOOD" or "BAD". If
the dryed out sample bubbles then it has lime in it.

New Problem:

Our plaster is molding. In other words our moulding plaster is molding.
Once cast the positive begins to develope spore deposits. This is
primarily happening to the sculptors. Has anyone out there ever used
Bleach in plaster? My statement to the Students has been that there work
is so wonderful that the Pygmailion (sp) effect is kicking in and there
work is coming to life!

Any and all comments on these items would be appreciated.


Thanks
xris.

stanley_c@utpb.edu