Lgeese@aol.com on wed 25 sep 96
I have the opportunity to do some soda firing, but this is a whole new
experience for me. I'd be interested to hear some of your best experiences,
tips, warnings, etc. using this type of firing/surface treatment.
E-mail me privately at Lgeese@aol.com
Thanks in advance!
Lisa in Des Moines
Joyce Lee on tue 14 apr 98
I have two great salt-firing references, including Jack Troy's
difficult-to-find "Salt-Fired Ceramics" (just don't give up and "it will
come," to paraphrase) and videotapes by Gordon Hutchins, all of which
were recommended by Clayarters. NOW, however, I'm ready to consider June
Perry's (GURUSHAKTI) advice on soda firing. Thank you, June, as always.
Do any Clayarters have any books, tapes etc to recommend for SODA
firing and decorating? I know I will learn more in the long run by just
experimenting and keeping good records. (You have teached me good, as
one of my bright and dyslexic students once commented.) But my life is
moving into the shorter run, so any tips will be greatly and sincerely
appreciated.
Joyce
In the Mojave where she just watched the ten-year old chess champion on
television...and remembering how he once visited to watch our Chess Club
play (under five then) his older brother, who was eight and won ALL
games hands down against several opponents at a time.
GURUSHAKTI on wed 15 apr 98
Dear Joyce:
I believe there is a book on Soda firing. Have you checked out this site? Gail
does beautiful soda firings and I believe she has published a book. You can
find out by checking out her site.
Gail Nichols
Here are a couple of mixtures for soda firings:
#1
36 Sodium Carbonate
8 Potassium Carb.
4 Lithium carb
3 Borax
48 Whiting
1 Bentonite
#2
35.30 Soda Ash
7.10 Pearl Ash
4.50 Lithium carb.
50.50 Whiting
3.00 Borax
You can prepare these in paste form and wrap in aluminum foil packets. Some
people mix these in water and spray into the kiln. Perhaps a book on this
would give proper instructions. That can be a dangerous, supposedly, due the
reduction caused by the excess water being introduced. I may have an article
on this somewhere in my many file folders.
I haven't used this so I would be interested in your results. I have a kiln
that I designed for wood and salt and have never fired salt in it; but I have
plans for trying soda firing. I believe it is less destructive to the kiln and
also gives you the option of using the same kiln for other types of firing
without worrying about salt build up affecting your glazes. Perhaps others
with experience is this can give feedback on this. I would love to hear
more.:-)
I have a lot of recipes for salt engobes, claybodies suitable for salt,
wadding, some salt glaze recipes. Let me know if you need any of these.
Good luck with your new adventure. Please post your results here for all to
see.:-)
Warmest regards,
June
Mmpottery on wed 15 apr 98
Try Ruthanne Tudball's book SODA GLAZING.Its one of those Ceramic Handbooks.
Maybe Axner has it. Good Luck!
Michelle
Ron Roy on sat 9 may 98
I need some information about cone 6 soda firing - what kinds of clays are best?
The choises are many and include porcelain, light, white and medium brown
stoneware clays.
Is it better to use slips?
Thanks
Ron Roy
93 Pegasus trail
Scarborough Otario
Canada M1G 3N8
Phone: 416-439-2621
Fax: 416-438-7849
Web page: Home page http://digitalfire.com/education/people/ronroy.htm
Dannon Rhudy on sun 10 may 98
I like porcelain best for soda firing, but not grolleg, because
in my experience it does not flash. I use a porcelain made
with epk; works well. I like slips too, though, and use porcelain
slips on stoneware sometimes, as well as BLUE slips on porcelain
(the devil made me say that). Slips have the advantage of
creating some texture for the soda to catch the edges of...
They all work, actually. The stonewares will just be darker,
especially the brown.
Dannon Rhudy
potter@koyote.com
----------------------------Original
message----------------------------
I need some information about cone 6 soda firing - what kinds of
clays are best?
The choises are many and include porcelain, light, white and
medium brown
stoneware clays.
Is it better to use slips?
Thanks
Ron Roy
93 Pegasus trail
Scarborough Otario
Canada M1G 3N8
Phone: 416-439-2621
Fax: 416-438-7849
Web page: Home page
http://digitalfire.com/education/people/ronroy.htm
Ivor and Olive Lewis on tue 15 may 07
Dear Vince,
I accept your descriptions of the practical application of both Soda and =
Sodium chloride and see no reason for disputing their effectiveness. =
Yes, spraying a hot saturated solution into the kiln is the best way of =
distributing the chemical among the pots. Drying would be almost =
instantaneous showering melting soda onto the pots, allowing the =
chemical process described by Durrant (see my note to RR). And I have =
dumped many paper faggots stuffed with damp salt into the path of flames =
in a gas fired salt kiln.
I have not read or seen Ron Meyers in action nor do I recall seeing =
illustrations of his pots. So any comment I might make would be sheer =
speculation. Perhaps you can explain and send me some pictures. I have a =
stock of terra cotta and could rig up a temporary kiln for a couple of =
firings if you can fully describe the process. After all, good =
observation is at the foundation of science.
Best regards,
Ivor
Vince Pitelka on wed 16 may 07
Ivor Lewis wrote:
"I have not read or seen Ron Meyers in action nor do I recall seeing
illustrations of his pots. So any comment I might make would be sheer
speculation. Perhaps you can explain and send me some pictures. I have a
stock of terra cotta and could rig up a temporary kiln for a couple of
firings if you can fully describe the process. After all, good observation
is at the foundation of science."
Ivor -
Ron Meyers is one of America's best-known and best-loved potters. I am
lucky to have a number of his low-fire salt pieces. As far as I know, the
kiln is salted in a conventional fashion anywhere from cone 04 to cone 2,
obviously affecting the density of the clay and the degree of fusing of
sodium and silica. I'll see if I can find some more information. I have
Jack Troy's book on salt firing, and I'll check tomorrow and see if he talks
about low-fire salt.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
Ivor and Olive Lewis on fri 18 may 07
Dear Vince Pitelka,
Can we be quite clear about the work of Ron Meyers. Is the active =
ingredient he uses Sodium Chloride, Sodium Carbonate, one of the other =
cheap Sodium compounds or a mixture of several ?=20
Jack Troy refers to three temperature ranges for the use of Sodium =
chloride.
Early literature does examine the idea of using other Sodium compounds.
In a conversation with a gallery owner several years ago she told me she =
would not stock Salt Glazed objects that would come into contact with =
food or beverages because it was her experience that they contaminated =
the taste with both with salt and bitter flavours.
I have demonstrated the crazing of Sodium chloride glazes using a Dye =
disclosure test but it can usually be seen with a X10 hand lens.
I have had samples that, on standing in a dry location with normal =
atmospheric humidity, have exhibited efflorescence with well formed =
crystal formations growing from the fissures in the glaze. This came =
from a batch of clay that did not vitrify at cone 8. It caused me a lot =
of bother because fluids seeped through it and was one of the reasons I =
abandoned the process.
I look forward to any information you can give me.
Sincere regards,
Ivor.
Lee Love on fri 18 may 07
Ivor, I search Meyers on google images for you:
http://tinyurl.com/2ny6l7
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
"To affect the quality of the day, that is the highest of arts." -
Henry David Thoreau
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
Les on thu 10 apr 08
Hi -=20
I have been invited to participate in a ^10 soda firing of a gas fired =
kiln.
Is there a glaze or type of glaze that works best in this type of =
firing? I have a wood fired kiln with glazes that I use regularly and =
have good luck with ...... would the glazes for a soda firing be =
similar?
Les in Nanoose Bay, B.C. (our Northwest Rainforest weather is now =
beginning to look and feel like spring!)
lcrimp@shaw.ca
Paul Herman on thu 10 apr 08
Hi Les,
I recommend you try some colored slips. To me, the more interesting
surfaces we've been getting from our salt kiln are slips. They never
run off the pot, either.
Best wishes,
Paul Herman
Great Basin Pottery
Doyle, California US
www.greatbasinpottery.com/
On Apr 10, 2008, at 9:19 AM, Les wrote:
> Hi -
>
> I have been invited to participate in a ^10 soda firing of a gas
> fired kiln.
>
> Is there a glaze or type of glaze that works best in this type of
> firing? I have a wood fired kiln with glazes that I use regularly
> and have good luck with ...... would the glazes for a soda firing be
> similar?
>
> Les in Nanoose Bay, B.C. (our Northwest Rainforest weather is now
> beginning to look and feel like spring!)
> lcrimp@shaw.ca
Hank Murrow on fri 11 apr 08
On Apr 10, 2008, at 9:19 AM, Les wrote:
>
> I have been invited to participate in a ^10 soda firing of a gas
> fired kiln.
>
> Is there a glaze or type of glaze that works best in this type of
> firing? I have a wood fired kiln with glazes that I use regularly
> and have good luck with ...... would the glazes for a soda firing
> be similar?
Dear Les;
When I was t the Appalachian Center for Craft for two weeks, I made a
series of pieces for their soda kiln from a fairly light clay body. I
slipped these pieces with a range of recipes and this one was the
winner:
Smooth Orange Slip for soda fire
OM-4.............40
EPK...............40
Zinc...............10
Borax..............5
Deep orange color in soda firing on light clays.
Cheers, Hank
will send a pic if interested.
Mike Gordon on sat 12 apr 08
Here is the web site of Matt Long who does soda
firing.....www.fullvictory.com, he has a lot of his soda fired pots in
the gallery section. Here a couple of his glazes for C/10 soda. These
are from a handout he supplied at a demo with Steven Hill, here in
Walnut Creek, Ca. a few years ago. Mike Gordon
"Long 90-10, C/11"
Cornwall stone ........... 90
Wollastonite................ 10
Bauer Orange slip,C/10
EPK...............42
Ball................42
Zircopax........10.5
Borax............5.5
Phil's 103 White, C/10 soda
F-4.................51
Dolomite........15.6
Magnesium carb..5.7
EPK...............17.1
Silica..............10.6
Zircopax......... 10
Deborah Thuman on sun 13 apr 08
I just discovered the university now has a kiln for soda fire. What
exactly is soda fire and why do I want to do it? (Besides it sound
like fun and I haven't done it yet so I gotta try it.)
Deb Thuman
http://debthumansblog.blogspot.com/
Nils Lou on thu 4 nov 10
Dannon gives good advice about spraying.
I would add that ITC is effective for awhile, but
if just coated on the hot face does not prevent
soda from getting around it. In our soda kiln each brick
was dipped to coat all six sides. It holds up well after
three years. I did make the mistake of trying to introduce
salt with "burritos" and melted out the bottom layer of=3D20
bricks. I now salt/soda with a garden sprayer. Three small
holes on each side coated with ITC. With the nozzle inside the=3D20
kiln there is little to no soda etching in the entry holes.
If you do use "burritos", you need to have high alumina trenches
to accept them and contain the soda melt.
I get much better results with spraying.
nils lou, professor of art
http://nilslou.blogspot.com
www.tinyurl.com/bpc5nm
503.883.2274
"Play is the essence of creativity", and
"What is not brought forward into consciousness....
we later call Fate", Carl Jung
James Freeman on thu 4 nov 10
On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 10:02 AM, Nils Lou wrote:
> I did make the mistake of trying to introduce
> salt with "burritos" and melted out the bottom layer of
> bricks. I now salt/soda with a garden sprayer.
When we built the salt kiln at the local college, I sprayed the salt
in with a cheap spot sand blaster gun from Harbor Freight
(http://www.harborfreight.com/21-oz-hopper-gravity-feed-spot-blaster-gun-95=
=3D
793.html).
We replaced the short blaster nozzle with a home made extension
nozzle about 18" long to keep hands and the plastic parts of the gun
away from the salt ports. Works great! The dry salt goes well into
the kiln in a fine spray which volatilizes instantly. Much better
results than with wet burritos or with angle iron filled with salt.
For soda I used an old orchard sprayer with a metal wand. Cut the
nozzle off of the wand, then flattened the metal pipe a bit with a
hammer. Mixed soda ash into hot water to saturation, no measuring
necessary.
For what it's worth.
...James
James Freeman
"All I say is by way of discourse, and nothing by way of advice.=3DA0 I
should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed."
-Michel de Montaigne
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jamesfreemanstudio/
http://www.jamesfreemanstudio.com/resources
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