Lyla on tue 16 sep 97
Hello everyone-
now that it is getting cool :) a question about pit-fired vessels: i have
looked at betty lefree's book "santa clara pottery" which gives a very
detailed account of the whole pueblo pottery tradition, and did not see
comments on water-tightness, although i am assuming their pit-fired vessels
are very food functional due to all the slip application and burnishing.
someone a short while back asked if there was a pit fire "glaze" that could
be applied, but i didn't see any responses to that. i am wondering if
someone knows more about that and/or about slip application to make pieces
food functional or water-tight. lefree's book gives a slip recipe calling
in part for hematite and quartz. are these easy to come by? and, if so, can
this be applied to a clay body that is probably of different from what the
pueblos use (i am using a low-fired earthenware).
thank you,
lyla in NC
Carl meigs on wed 17 sep 97
At 06:55 AM 9/16/97 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hello everyone-
>
>now that it is getting cool :) a question about pit-fired vessels: i have
>looked at betty lefree's book "santa clara pottery" which gives a very
>detailed account of the whole pueblo pottery tradition, and did not see
>comments on water-tightness, although i am assuming their pit-fired vessels
>are very food functional due to all the slip application and burnishing.
>someone a short while back asked if there was a pit fire "glaze" that could
>be applied, but i didn't see any responses to that. i am wondering if
>someone knows more about that and/or about slip application to make pieces
>food functional or water-tight. lefree's book gives a slip recipe calling
>in part for hematite and quartz. are these easy to come by? and, if so, can
>this be applied to a clay body that is probably of different from what the
>pueblos use (i am using a low-fired earthenware).
>
>thank you,
>
>lyla in NC
>
>Check out Tom Gray's page:www.cclay.com and follow the link to Charlie
Riggs Pottery in Carthage. Charlie has some fine pit-fired examples on his
page and there is a description of his process in the site. I'm going to try
it myself when I fall out of love with my raku kiln.
carl
meigs@neca.com
VIP on wed 17 sep 97
Lyla wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hello everyone-
>
> now that it is getting cool :) a question about pit-fired vessels: i have
> looked at betty lefree's book "santa clara pottery" which gives a very
> detailed account of the whole pueblo pottery tradition, and did not see
> comments on water-tightness, although i am assuming their pit-fired vessels
> are very food functional due to all the slip application and burnishing.
> someone a short while back asked if there was a pit fire "glaze" that could
> be applied, but i didn't see any responses to that. i am wondering if
> someone knows more about that and/or about slip application to make pieces
> food functional or water-tight. lefree's book gives a slip recipe calling
> in part for hematite and quartz. are these easy to come by? and, if so, can
> this be applied to a clay body that is probably of different from what the
> pueblos use (i am using a low-fired earthenware).
>
> thank you,
>
> lyla in NCTo lyla in NC
I did a series of pit firing where I glazed my piece with a low to
medium fire glaze (usually clear and white) in an electric kiln then pit
fired them. These where sculptural pieces. Since the glaze was at a
higher temperature than the pit the glazes did not melt but instead they
crazed and smoke penetrated to the clay causing a raku type effect. In
some cases the glaze melted slightly to become sticky and picked up some
residual ash. In all the effects looked primative and rusty perfect for
what I wanted but not for food safe pottery. hope this helps somewhat.
Susan on the Peace
Vince Pitelka on wed 17 sep 97
At 06:55 AM 9/16/97 -0400, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Hello everyone-
>
>now that it is getting cool :) a question about pit-fired vessels: i have
>looked at betty lefree's book "santa clara pottery" which gives a very
>detailed account of the whole pueblo pottery tradition, and did not see
>comments on water-tightness, although i am assuming their pit-fired vessels
>are very food functional due to all the slip application and burnishing.
Lyla -
Properly prepared terra sigilatta will give you a very impervious finish,
but you cannot really expect a completely sealed finish from
pitfired/bonfired works. Even if you could get away with glazing and firing
the work previously (which seems like a complete contradiction in terms to
me, but I am a bit of a purist), the glaze would almost certainly crack
badly in the bonfire, and thus would not be impervious. There are some
important issues to be considered here. Tribal cultures all over the world
past and present have cooked and eaten out of ceramic vessels which are slip
coated, terra sig coated, or uncoated. From birth, they build resistance to
whatever bacteria grow in the clay. We do not have such resistance. The
results are similar to what happens when you drink the water in some Third
World locations, and can be very severe.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Carol Jackaway on fri 19 sep 97
Hi,
The only two suggestions I have for water tight containers in pit- firing
are:
Glaze the interior: using any ^ glaze. This of course
will seal the interior BUT
you will loose the shine of your burnishing
Wax the interior: using floor wax, this seals the
interior, I suggest bisque
firing in the ^ range of
^018-^020 then pit fire then seal
with floor wax. Wax can also
be used on the outside too.
As one now there really isn't a glaze formula for pit firing.
Hope this helps
CoilLady
Carol Jackaway
Carol's Clay Fantasies
Kurt L. Wild on sun 21 sep 97
Lyla wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hello everyone-
>
> now that it is getting cool :) a question about pit-fired vessels: i have
> looked at betty lefree's book "santa clara pottery" which gives a very
> detailed account of the whole pueblo pottery tradition, and did not see
> comments on water-tightness, although i am assuming their pit-fired vessels
> are very food functional due to all the slip application and burnishing.
> someone a short while back asked if there was a pit fire "glaze" that could
> be applied, but i didn't see any responses to that. i am wondering if
> someone knows more about that and/or about slip application to make pieces
> food functional or water-tight. lefree's book gives a slip recipe calling
> in part for hematite and quartz. are these easy to come by? and, if so, can
> this be applied to a clay body that is probably of different from what the
> pueblos use (i am using a low-fired earthenware).
>
> thank you,
>
> lyla in NC
I have used Tung oil as a post firing application. It does a good job
of sealing and successive coats would produce a watertight cntainer;
however, the smell lingers and it probably would taste peculiar. Do NOT
use a tung oil varnish, this will give you a gloss look and if youonly
want to seal the pot just plain old tung oil is best. Furniture
refinishers use tung oil and Warren MacKenzie told of seeing Japanes
potters dip raku pots into tung oil after firing (this was some years
ago).
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