TCOLSON@raychem.com on tue 9 jul 96
There have been so many great responses to this thread that I can only think of
one small contribution on top of them: producing a flat tile is a "whole
process" outcome! All of the steps can affect your flatness.
Eric and Jonathan are right that if you start with the wrong clay, you're in for
a struggle. You can proably make some % of your tiles flat, but it's going to be
tough. Groggy sculpture bodies are the way to go.
Karl is right that more even drying causes less stress in the green body that in
turn causes less warping on firing. Dry between sheetrock then move to wire
shelves.
Someone else (yesterday?, sorry I can't remember!) commented that slab forming
technique is critical to minimizing plastic memory (particle orientation)
effects. I've made some cool trapezoids (that were supposed to be square) by
ignoring this! Roll multiple directions and compress the slab with a rib.
My point is that you have to pay attention to ALL of these steps. There ain't
no magic bullet! After a couple of years of doing this, I usually escape the
potato chip syndrome, but it still happens.
Good luck, and when you get some pix of your new (flat!) tiles, send them to me
so we can make you a "tile artist's" page on Tiles On The Web!
Regards,
Tom Colson
tcolson@aimnet.com or tcolson@raychem.com
Tiles On The Web: http://www.aimnet.com/~tcolson/webtiles.htm
David Harmony on sat 13 jul 96
TCOLSON@raychem.com wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
> There have been so many great responses to this thread that I can only think o
> one small contribution on top of them: producing a flat tile is a "whole
> process" outcome! All of the steps can affect your flatness.
>
> Eric and Jonathan are right that if you start with the wrong clay, you're in f
> a struggle. You can proably make some % of your tiles flat, but it's going to
> tough. Groggy sculpture bodies are the way to go.
>
> Karl is right that more even drying causes less stress in the green body that
> turn causes less warping on firing. Dry between sheetrock then move to wire
> shelves.
>
> Someone else (yesterday?, sorry I can't remember!) commented that slab forming
> technique is critical to minimizing plastic memory (particle orientation)
> effects. I've made some cool trapezoids (that were supposed to be square) by
> ignoring this! Roll multiple directions and compress the slab with a rib.
>
> My point is that you have to pay attention to ALL of these steps. There ain't
> no magic bullet! After a couple of years of doing this, I usually escape the
> potato chip syndrome, but it still happens.
>
> Good luck, and when you get some pix of your new (flat!) tiles, send them to m
> so we can make you a "tile artist's" page on Tiles On The Web!
>
> Regards,
>
> Tom Colson
>
> tcolson@aimnet.com or tcolson@raychem.com
> Tiles On The Web: http://www.aimnet.com/~tcolson/webtiles.htmI have been doing
instuctor who gave me some good ideas, it's been trial by error. I have
finished one dining room table (final weight 360 lbs!!!), one coffee
table and am beginning the second coffee table. I would love to have
"tiling people" to talk to about some of the problems I find.
Sarah
PS - will send pictures - where?????
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