Bill Ratliff on thu 2 jan 97
If anyone has any website information on saggar and soda fumed ceramic
sites it would truly be appreciated. Also, I am currently creating
Polaroid emulsion transfers on glazed sculptures. Has anyone else done
this? If so, what coating works best to seal the emulsion to piece?
Thank you, Nancy.
"Rafael Molina-Rodriguez (Rafael Molina-Rodriguez)" on wed 8 jan 97
Nancy :
The only site I'm aware of that might possibly be related is Nancee
Meeker's. I believe her work is pit-fire or saggar-fire. Does anyone on
the list know her address? I had it but I can't find it at the moment.
I don't have a website but I do have extensive experience with low-fire
saggar/ salt firing. The following are tips I've gathered from the
experience :
I have used Terra Cotta, Stoneware, and Porcelain clays. Each has
there own responses to texture and color. Terra Cotta does not give a
high shine and yields black when reduced and orange when oxidized.
Stoneware can be burnished to a high sheen and yields some nice
colors such as white, black, gray, yellow, pink and orange. Porcelain (a
gray porcelain is fine. Grolleg didn't give me a measurable difference in
color or texture and more difficult to work with) being the finest material
can produce a mirror finish when burnished and the colors are the most
intense.
I do not use a terra sigillata. IMHO, the time and labor in preparing and
applying TS is not worth it when I can achieve the surface quality,
texture and color, I want without it.
Bisque fire between ^ 016 and ^ 010. The higher you bisque-fire you will
lose the surface if you burnish. I also feel the less porous the clay the
less responsive it is to vapors/flashing.
If you make saggars use coarse stoneware or raku clay. They can be
thrown or slab constructed. I prefer to use terra cotta planters for
containers and saucers for lids. They don't last many firings but I
consider it an expense I can get back with the retail sale of each piece.
Organic materials used in saggars can include sawdust, hay, salt (I use
Morton Salt). Animal dung never gave the intense black I wanted as well
as fine sawdust.
Seaweed has never worked well for me. Instead, I use hay soaked in
saltwater and then dried out for firing. It produces lavender, pink and
orange flashing.
I've experimented with oxides and carbonates in powder form placed in
saggar and found they didn't vaporize or flash the way I wanted. Some
like cobalt oxide, vanadium pentoxide, and redart, did give interesting
results. I've also tried sulfates like cobalt, copper, and iron. Not very
interesting results in granular or liquid form and I think they may have
made me ill. Use protective gloves, goggles, and a NIOSH approved
respirator.
I've fired in electric kilns, commercial gas kilns (Alpine 24), and a hard
firebrick salt/soda kiln I've constructed. The results are similar in each.
Final firing should be around ^ 08. No higher than ^ 010. A typical firing
takes about four hours to reach temperature with a 24 hour cooling
before opening.
Soda fuming is another process I'm about to explore. I've constructed a
kiln for that precise firing process. It's a miniature MFT. Approximately
10 cu ft. Hard firebrick. One 14' x 28" shelf. I hope to fire soon.
Good luck!
Rafael
rmr3431@dcccd.edu
>>> Bill Ratliff 01/02/97 10:01am >>>
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
If anyone has any website information on saggar and soda fumed
ceramic
sites it would truly be appreciated. Also, I am currently creating
Polaroid emulsion transfers on glazed sculptures. Has anyone else done
this? If so, what coating works best to seal the emulsion to piece?
Thank you, Nancy.
Harvey Sadow on thu 9 jan 97
Rafael Molina-Rodriguez (Rafael Molina-Rodriguez) wrote:
>
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Nancy :
>
> The only site I'm aware of that might possibly be related is Nancee
> Meeker's. I believe her work is pit-fire or saggar-fire. Does anyone on
> the list know her address?
Nancee Meeker's web site is: http://www2.nancee-meeker.com
Cheers, H
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