Alyssa Ettinger on sat 30 jun 07
i'm using commercial, ^6 porcelain slip for my casting work, and trying to
troubleshoot a problem.
first, i use commercial because i don't have the space to safely be mixing
clay/slip. i had been using seeley's, which is basically doll slip, and
loving it: strong greenware, consistent drying, less cracking, etc... but
their production is out of whack, getting product on a regular basis is
difficult, it's expensive, and they've recently reformulated the recipes of
some of their slips with so much sodium silicate it turned my molds dark brown.
so i switched to laguna after trying a bottle. half the price, looks great
as a final product. but using it? gah. it's brittle and chalky, dries
unevenly in the molds (as in, one area of the piece is dry, the other is wet
enough to sag). and, frankly, it feels almost like i can't get the water
content down far enough, but i know by my ratios, etc., that this can't be
the case.
ok, i don't use a hydrometer, but i'm pretty good at this, even at recon,
without one. but this stuff, i'm losing more pieces so making more and more
recon, i try to tap things out of molds and some sections stay, others slump
to the point of making a cup, for example, look like it's a squashed down
t-neck sweater.
should i chuck my laguna out the window? can i add something to fix it? i've
emailed their tech people, but i wanted to see if anyone here has had
similar experiences.
Cindy Gatto on sun 1 jul 07
Alyssa,
We have a porcelain slip that works great. We have been selling it and using
it for about a year now and we have had nothing but good responses from
anyone that uses it. We have it all the time and it is $15.00 a gallon and we're
in the neighborhood.
Cindy Gatto & Mark Petrin
The Mudpit
228 Manhattan Ave
Brooklyn, NY 11206
718-218-9424
_www.mudpitnyc.com_ (http://www.mudpitnyc.com/)
mudpitnyc@aol.com
************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
John Rodgers on sun 1 jul 07
Alyssa,
Where are you? I have for years used Colorific Porcelain from Lynnwood,
Washington. Owned by Ralph and Jeannette Gullison, their porcelain slip
is excellent. Give them a call. Tell them I referred you.
http://www.colorificporcelain.com/
As for Laguna's porcelain slip, I have not used it, BUT -- I have worked
with Laguna's tech folk a lot and they have been really good about
listening to my complaints and working with me to work them out.
I use a great deal of Laguna's B-Mix stoneware throwing clay, AND B-Mix
slip casting clay. I mix all of my own slip.
Are you following closely the procedure that Laguna specifies for
adjusting their slips for casting? Those instructions are available
from their web site in a PDF format.
Even right from the 1 gallon containers, the slip should be checked for
proper density and viscosity before it is used. Density should be
between 1.75 and 1.85. Viscosity measure varys a bit depending the
testing method used. I use a viscosity cup from New Mexico Clay, and the
proper flow rate to empty the cup is 25-30 seconds. Anything greater
than that requires adjustment with sodium silicate only to loosen it up
a bit to proper viscosity.
If your work does not require significant translucency, and white color
is all you need, you might try mixing your own porcelain.slip. You can
do it in a 5 gallon bucket. Standard's porcelain is available
dry-bagged. Just add water, silicate, soda ash. Done in proper manner of
course. If you need colored porcelain, mason stains are in order, and
the slip would have to be ball milled. But with no colorants added, ball
milling won't be necessary.
If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
Good luick,
Regards,
John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL
Alyssa Ettinger wrote:
> i'm using commercial, ^6 porcelain slip for my casting work, and trying to
> troubleshoot a problem.
>
> first, i use commercial because i don't have the space to safely be mixing
> clay/slip. i had been using seeley's, which is basically doll slip, and
> loving it: strong greenware, consistent drying, less cracking, etc... but
> their production is out of whack, getting product on a regular basis is
> difficult, it's expensive, and they've recently reformulated the recipes of
> some of their slips with so much sodium silicate it turned my molds dark brown.
>
> so i switched to laguna after trying a bottle. half the price, looks great
> as a final product. but using it? gah. it's brittle and chalky, dries
> unevenly in the molds (as in, one area of the piece is dry, the other is wet
> enough to sag). and, frankly, it feels almost like i can't get the water
> content down far enough, but i know by my ratios, etc., that this can't be
> the case.
>
> ok, i don't use a hydrometer, but i'm pretty good at this, even at recon,
> without one. but this stuff, i'm losing more pieces so making more and more
> recon, i try to tap things out of molds and some sections stay, others slump
> to the point of making a cup, for example, look like it's a squashed down
> t-neck sweater.
>
> should i chuck my laguna out the window? can i add something to fix it? i've
> emailed their tech people, but i wanted to see if anyone here has had
> similar experiences.
>
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>
>
>
marci Boskie's Mama =^..^= on mon 2 jul 07
> Alyssa Ettinger said:
>
>i'm using commercial, ^6 porcelain slip for my casting work, and trying to
>troubleshoot a problem.
>
>should i chuck my laguna out the window?
HI Alyssa,
I know what you mean ...I have had really great luck
with porcelain slip from
T.M. Porcelain Co.
108 North Henry St.
Bay City
Michigan 48706
Phone is 989-893-3526
Marci Blattenberger Boskie's Mama =^..^=
http://www.marciblattenberger.com
marci@ppio.com
Porcelain Painters International Online http://www.ppio.com
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