ELCAB@delphi.com on sat 6 apr 96
I opened my salt kiln yesterday and was dismayed,to put it
mildly, to find most of my bowls full of tiny shards..I had
included in this stacking some very dark pots from the last
salt firing which I wanted to lighten up..All of them spit
little pellets from their bodies which made the mess...also,
the scars left od these pots were salted over, indicating that
this had happened
early in the firing before salting...They were spaced all over
the kiln, not just in the fla,me path and while I will never
refire salt pots again,I wonder why..WHY? anyhow, the refired
pots were all vitrepus and while they had been outside, they
had been under shelter..Thanx in advance Elca Branman
elcab@delphi
Marvin Bartel on sun 7 apr 96
At 09:55 AM 4/6/96 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I opened my salt kiln yesterday and was dismayed,to put it
>mildly, to find most of my bowls full of tiny shards. Elca Branman
>elcab@delphi
I've noticed even the kiln itself will do this trick after it has been
salted a few times. My assumption was that moisture is absorbed from the
air. The only way I've found to prevent it is to warm the kiln very slowly
over a fairly long pilot soak until the absorbed moisture is driven out of
the salt glazed surfaces.
++++++++++++++
Marvin Bartel, Chair, Art Dept
Goshen College, Goshen, IN 46526
marvinpb@goshen.edu
http://www:goshen.edu
++++++++++++++
TROY@JUNCOL.JUNIATA.EDU on sun 7 apr 96
".........the refired pots were all vitreous and while they had been outside,
they had been under shelter, " writes a dismayed potter.
"apparently vitrious," from what you say.
Even if kept from direct exposure to rain or snow, many fired clay pieces will
absorb enough moisture from the atmosphere to carry on in the manner you
describe, "spitting" flakes or small chips when they're refired and water forms
little steamy zits or divots thast blow out on the surface
My experience is to set such pieces near a woodstove or even on my oil-furnace,
where it's warm and dry, for a week or more prior to refiring them. I've never
had a bit of luck refiring chocolatey-cordovan, over-reduced salted
pieces,myself. The more they remind me of sewer-tile, the more likely they are
to get pitched into the Dumpster Hall of Fame.
Jack Troy
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