Eleanora Eden on sat 1 jun 96
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Re: white spotting due to pinholing
> question remains - how slow is slow? Currently I use a 16 hour glaze firing
> cycle with at least 4 hours of slow temperature rise from first color to shut
> off. Maybe this needs to be longer still?
How slow is slow? My firing is also about that, going slowly up
overnight, fairly quickly from 1000F to 1600F, then slow up to 06 and
slow back to 1650F and a soak before shut down. This usually, but not
always, lets all volcanos heal over.
> -use a kiln vent to draw air through the kiln to constantly clean the
> atmosphere in the kiln. This seems to make sense but I don't have one of these
> gadgets. Does anyone have practical experience with this?
I have a kiln vent that is on throughout the firings. If it is helping I
don't know, as these problems plague me as well.
> -change the clay body.
I use Miller 10 and Miller slip (both now Laguna) which are white bodies.
So these problems definitely are not limited to red bodies.
Now I am using underglaze color, not overglaze. But the problems are the
same. In the past it was the volcanos which would always be on the
not-underglazed areas, which is consistent with Tony's understanding that
the gasses are following the path of least resistance, which I also
concluded. For me, enveloping the piece entirely with glaze, it is the
undecorated portion which develops the craters.
But lately I have had afew pieces with these tiny white spots blemishing
first several pots only where the Reward violet was and subsequently a
piee only where the Duncan ruby EZ was. So my initial thinking that it
was some impurity in the violet was replaced by suspicion that a new
plague has erupted.
As I am dreadfully and chronically behind on my posts maybe this has
already been covered. I will be avidly looking for insights as to
how to deal with the white spot plague.
But here's a kind of funny story concerning my white spots. The ruby EZ
was the apple on a creamer that I had done several of for a special order
at a store which was of course long overdue. But then I got a phone call
asking for one of them as a retail sale and the other one had these white
spots so the store didn't get their creamer again. Then came the Vermont
Open Studio weekend and the lady who had been waiting for her creamer saw
a picture of my stuff in the paper and came to me directly and here was
this creamer marked down on the goodies shelf due to the white spots
which she couldn't see. So she got her creamer anyway. Nice.
Eleanora
Eleanora Eden 802 869-2003
Paradise Hill
Bellows Falls, VT 05101 eden@maple.sover.net
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