Cindy on wed 23 jul 97
Hi, everybody.
I've been following the posts about pit-firing glazed ware with interest.
I'd like to glaze my pit pieces inside in order to make them more
functional--for flowers, lotion, stuff like that. First let me explain what
I've been doing . . .
I bisque pieces made from ^6-7 brown stoneware clay to ^06, line my pit
with charcoal (burning--white), then set the pots on top. I drop grasses,
pine cones/needles, sawdust, whatever, in around them, then cover the hole
with a grate and build a fire on the grate. I put a pipe in the hole to
provide a little O2 (I like the stuff to be variegated--not all black.)
Then I keep throwing wood on the fire until the pit is full of burning
coals. When it cools off enough, I take the stuff out and wash it off, then
wax it and decorate with rawhide, beads, feathers. Very nice, but I'd like
it better if it weren't permeable to liquids. The wax helps, but a friend
put aftershave in a bottle he got from me, and of course the alcohol cut
right through the wax within a couple of days. (He expected it would--it
was an experiment.)
Now, what (I think) I'd like to do: I want to raw-glaze the inside of the
leather-hard pieces with a clear, preferably un-shiny, low-fire
(^04-06--whatever) glaze, fire them once, then pit-fire them. Any
possibility this will work? Can I get a low-fire glaze that will fit my
stoneware clay? (It doesn't have to be food-safe, and I don't really care
if it crazes--just so it doesn't leak.) Any glaze recipe suggestions?
TIA,
Cindy Strnad
John H. Rodgers on thu 24 jul 97
-- [ From: John H. Rodgers * EMC.Ver #2.5.02 ] --
Cindy, you have raised some interesting questions here, similar to some that
I have.
I have been asked by several people to make replica period pots ( if they
can be called that), representative of Mississippian Period pottery and of
the periods succeeding the Mississippian Period. The latter will use shapes
and designs typical of Indian pottery of the Southeastern US in the last 500
years. These typically have a bottom surface that is somewhat pointed on the
bottom, thus on level ground they would tip over but sitting an the ashes in
a cooking fire the would rest quite well.
The people requesting the pots participate in various period festivals, and
want to be able to actually cook over an open fire with the pots. The pots
need to be glazed inside, and left unfinished and pitfired on the outside.
The clay in the pot itself must be fired sufficiently to survive this rough
treatment. And it must be food safe. I would appreciate any suggestions as
to how to go about this. Throwing or coiling the pot is not the problem, but
obviously glazing and finishing is.
Thanks for the input!!
John Rodgers
Alaska Sourdough suffering in the heat.
-------- REPLY, Original message follows --------
Date: Wednesday, 23-Jul-97 09:02 AM
From: Cindy \ Internet: (cstrnad@gwtc.net)
To: CLAYART LIST \ Internet: (clayart@lsv.uky.edu)
Subject: Pit-fired, glazed inside
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Hi, everybody.
I've been following the posts about pit-firing glazed ware with interest.
I'd like to glaze my pit pieces inside in order to make them more functional
--for flowers, lotion, stuff like that. First let me explain what I've been
doing . . .
I bisque pieces made from ^6-7 brown stoneware clay to ^06, line my pit with
charcoal (burning--white), then set the pots on top. I drop grasses, pine
cones/needles, sawdust, whatever, in around them, then cover the hole with a
grate and build a fire on the grate. I put a pipe in the hole to provide a
little O2 (I like the stuff to be variegated--not all black.) Then I keep
throwing wood on the fire until the pit is full of burning coals. When it
cools off enough, I take the stuff out and wash it off, then wax it and
decorate with rawhide, beads, feathers. Very nice, but I'd like it better if
it weren't permeable to liquids. The wax helps, but a friend put aftershave
in a bottle he got from me, and of course the alcohol cut right through the
wax within a couple of days. (He expected it would--it was an experiment.)
Now, what (I think) I'd like to do: I want to raw-glaze the inside of the
leather-hard pieces with a clear, preferably un-shiny, low-fire (^04-06--
whatever) glaze, fire them once, then pit-fire them. Any possibility this
will work? Can I get a low-fire glaze that will fit my stoneware clay? (It
doesn't have to be food-safe, and I don't really care if it crazes--just so
it doesn't leak.) Any glaze recipe suggestions?
TIA,
Cindy Strnad
-------- REPLY, End of original message --------
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