Janet H Walker on thu 27 mar 97
I've just been trying my first few firings with the stilts I got to
put under saucers because I wanted to glaze the bottoms. Never seen
anyone use stilts before. Two questions I guess
- They seem to leave quite a large iron spot in the glaze. Will this
"wear off" as the stilts get used more? If not, or even if so, is
there anything I'm supposed to be doing, like say, dipping the little
sharp tips into kiln wash or something?
- In spite of being carefully dried and being on stilts so that the
heat gets evenly to all sides, many of the saucers are warping. They
are just small slabs, cut in a circle, and pressed into a bowl to
shape the bottom and rim. So, is there something I could be doing
differently so that the little saucers wouldn't warp on the stilts.
That is, maybe I'm asking if the saucers are warping because of the
stilts.
Descriptions of experience welcomed!
Jan Walker
Cambridge MA USA
Christine Davis on fri 28 mar 97
What are you firing to? Most stilts shouldn't be used above cone 6,
I understand. I fire to cone 04 and have had no problems with stilts.
Beverly Cohen on fri 28 mar 97
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I've just been trying my first few firings with the stilts I got to
>put under saucers because I wanted to glaze the bottoms. Never seen
>anyone use stilts before. Two questions I guess
> - They seem to leave quite a large iron spot in the glaze. Will this
>"wear off" as the stilts get used more? If not, or even if so, is
>there anything I'm supposed to be doing, like say, dipping the little
>sharp tips into kiln wash or something?
> - In spite of being carefully dried and being on stilts so that the
>heat gets evenly to all sides, many of the saucers are warping. They
>are just small slabs, cut in a circle, and pressed into a bowl to
>shape the bottom and rim. So, is there something I could be doing
>differently so that the little saucers wouldn't warp on the stilts.
>That is, maybe I'm asking if the saucers are warping because of the
>stilts.
>
>Descriptions of experience welcomed!
>Jan Walker
>Cambridge MA USA
>
Jan,
What temperature are you firing the saucers at? If this is low-fire,
then you shouldn't have the warping. If high fire (cone 6 or above),
you shouldn't be using stilts because the ware will warp at the higher
temperatures, and sometimes will even sag completely around the stilt
that you can't separate them. Anything over cone 2 should always be
dryfooted, according to those who taught me. If I'm wrong, I hope
someone will set me straight. :-)
As for the iron marks, I haven't had that problem so I can't say. My
biggest problem when I use stilts (on 03-06 earthenware) is the little
stilt marks left behind after the glaze firing. I use a special stone,
but it tends to scratch the glaze although it does take away the sharpness
of the stiltmark.
Just my couple of marks.
Beverly Cohen
bcohen@goldinc.com
http://www.goldinc.com/~bcohen/bcohen.html
Clay on sat 29 mar 97
I hope I can show you face to face.
Wraping shouldn't happen in earthernware if you fire bisq. to cone 03 & up
(which I think is necessary).
Reason why commercial painted glaze don't have stick on problem/stilt marks
is they put it on real thin glaze.
If you go & look at Italian dinner ware, a lot of the contempary one not
even bother cleaning the sharp litte thing/ mark.
However I use a dremel (it like a smaa\ll drill) to grind my little mark.
At 08:11 AM 3/28/97 EST, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>>I've just been trying my first few firings with the stilts I got to
>>put under saucers because I wanted to glaze the bottoms. Never seen
>>anyone use stilts before. Two questions I guess
>> - They seem to leave quite a large iron spot in the glaze. Will this
>>"wear off" as the stilts get used more? If not, or even if so, is
>>there anything I'm supposed to be doing, like say, dipping the little
>>sharp tips into kiln wash or something?
>> - In spite of being carefully dried and being on stilts so that the
>>heat gets evenly to all sides, many of the saucers are warping. They
>>are just small slabs, cut in a circle, and pressed into a bowl to
>>shape the bottom and rim. So, is there something I could be doing
>>differently so that the little saucers wouldn't warp on the stilts.
>>That is, maybe I'm asking if the saucers are warping because of the
>>stilts.
>>
>>Descriptions of experience welcomed!
>>Jan Walker
>>Cambridge MA USA
>>
>
>Jan,
>What temperature are you firing the saucers at? If this is low-fire,
>then you shouldn't have the warping. If high fire (cone 6 or above),
>you shouldn't be using stilts because the ware will warp at the higher
>temperatures, and sometimes will even sag completely around the stilt
>that you can't separate them. Anything over cone 2 should always be
>dryfooted, according to those who taught me. If I'm wrong, I hope
>someone will set me straight. :-)
>
>As for the iron marks, I haven't had that problem so I can't say. My
>biggest problem when I use stilts (on 03-06 earthenware) is the little
>stilt marks left behind after the glaze firing. I use a special stone,
>but it tends to scratch the glaze although it does take away the sharpness
>of the stiltmark.
>
>Just my couple of marks.
>
>Beverly Cohen
>bcohen@goldinc.com
>http://www.goldinc.com/~bcohen/bcohen.html
>
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