John Britt on sat 17 aug 96
Hey Alex,
Yes, I have used the amazing Gail Nichols mehtod of soda firing with good
results. That is, I have a 40 cubic foot LP gas two venturi burner kiln. I
introduced fourteen pounds of the mixture (3.5 lbs of soda ash, 3.5 lbs of
bircarbonate ofsoda and 7 lbs of whiting add water and then chip up the
mixture) in five saltings. That's about three pounds per salting in two
vent holes (or 1.75 lbs per side) using angle irons. Then I closed the
chimmney for about five minutes and then opened it again for about 7 minutes
and began again. The kiln was fired in oxidation until this point 8.5>. I used porcelain clay and a flashing slip.
On the last salting I couldn't resist adding an extra borax and table salt
chaser, as I am a complusive experimenter. So I added about a pound of
borax and about one half a pound of table salt. As far as I can tell the
borax and salt added a bit more wetness to the final look. Most everything
was a dry orange flash but some areas were a bit splotchy with salt wetness.
It is hard to describe. And some of the matt glazes went glossy where the
borax/salt hit.
Anyway more experiments are mecessary, but the book "SODA GLAZING" by R.
Tudball is excellent!!Lots of methods are discussed recipes are listed in
the back.
Good luck, I tried to make it concise so if you need more info let me know.
John Britt
Dys-Functional Pottery
claydude@erinet.com
http://www.erinet.com/claydude/britt1.html
Joyce Lee, Jim Lee on sun 2 nov 97
Thank you to all the wonderful clay gurus on Clayart for your 32 posts
from around the world, both via Clayart and direct e-mail, on salt/soda
kilns, salt/soda firing and salt/soda decorating. You referred me to
books and videos AND, most importantly, offered a priceless list of "how
to's" and "don't ever's." I was most impressed and grateful. Your
sincere, thoughtful and immensely thorough responses were better than
any "course" could possibly be, no matter how well taught. Since it is
better for us NOT to build our own kiln (though we had a ball at Nils
Lou's kiln-building workshop), we sucked it up and ordered a fiber-lined
kiln, which will be sprayed with ITC and have the ports for soda/salt
firing. There will be a delay of several months, so in the meantime I'm
chaotically working to improve, improve, improve my skills before it
arrives!!! (Remember Lucy on the candy assembly line?...that's my m.o.
right now.)
Joyce
A rusted-out old derelict in the Mojave not letting the nineties leave
her in the sand...thanks to Clayart buds.
Carol Durnford on tue 11 nov 97
At 11:03 AM 11/2/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Thank you to all the wonderful clay gurus on Clayart for your 32 posts
>from around the world, both via Clayart and direct e-mail, on salt/soda
>kilns, salt/soda firing and salt/soda decorating. You referred me to
>books and videos AND, most importantly, offered a priceless list of "how
>to's" and "don't ever's." I was most impressed and grateful. Your
>sincere, thoughtful and immensely thorough responses were better than
>any "course" could possibly be, no matter how well taught. Since it is
>better for us NOT to build our own kiln (though we had a ball at Nils
>Lou's kiln-building workshop), we sucked it up and ordered a fiber-lined
>kiln, which will be sprayed with ITC and have the ports for soda/salt
>firing. There will be a delay of several months, so in the meantime I'm
>chaotically working to improve, improve, improve my skills before it
>arrives!!! (Remember Lucy on the candy assembly line?...that's my m.o.
>right now.)
>
>Joyce
>A rusted-out old derelict in the Mojave not letting the nineties leave
>her in the sand...thanks to Clayart buds.
>
>If possible could you could package this into together I would appreciate
it. We are just in the process of building a new soda/salt kiln. It was
donated to our university by someone who hadn't fired this kiln in many
years and he gave us no instructions. The young man rebuilding it has done
soda firing, and spent the last summer at the Archie Bray making pots, but
with soda he still feels somewhat of a novice. It is a canternary arch type
of kiln, and we may try to get the ITC to coat it. The pot chamber is about
6 foot tall and about 4 ft wide. Looks nice so far, but progress is so
slow. The NOT to do's would really help since we can't afford many mistakes.
If possible, thank you in advance.
Dave Durnford durnford@selway.umt.edu
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