primalmommy on wed 12 mar 08
If I were Tony Clennell I would have the nerve to title this post,
"Freezing your balls". I mean wadding balls, of course.
Mel, Tony and other northerners: How do you keep your balls of wadding
from freezing in winter? When I loaded the wood kiln last week, the wads
froze as soon as they were made, and so seemed quite sturdy when in fact
they were a bit soft (and a few softened when the kiln was candled, and
tipped pots.)
Not only that, but any wadded pot that was placed on a kiln shelf
instantly froze there, and I had to use my propane torch to move it
three inches this way or that.
Should I have warmed the kiln first with a weed burner? Rolled all the
wads beforehand and kept the warm balls in a thermos jug? Glued them on
and let them dry indoors, then stacked the kiln?
So whaddya say, guys? How do you keep your balls warm?
Yours
Kelly in Ohio
http://www.primalpotter.com
Steve Mills on thu 13 mar 08
Short answer: wooly knickers!
Longer answer: Firstly do warm up the Kiln a bit before you pack. Secondly: Make up a coarse/thick mixture of batt wash with some fine Molochite in it. apply to the shelf and comb it coarsely so that it is in ridges. Then set your work on that. This is a technique (or a variation of it) used by several wood/salt Potters over here.
Alternatively make up long-ish "worms" of Wadding, triangular in section, dry them completely, and then when loading, break them into short lengths and set your work on 3 armed "trivets" of the wad-worms.
I came across the trivet method last August, watching Kusakabe-san do this for his amazing wood kiln, it works really well.
Steve
Bath
UK
----- Original Message ----
From: primalmommy
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Sent: Thursday, March 13, 2008 3:50:51 AM
Subject: Freezing your wads
If I were Tony Clennell I would have the nerve to title this post,
"Freezing your balls". I mean wadding balls, of course.
Mel, Tony and other northerners: How do you keep your balls of wadding
from freezing in winter? When I loaded the wood kiln last week, the wads
froze as soon as they were made, and so seemed quite sturdy when in fact
they were a bit soft (and a few softened when the kiln was candled, and
tipped pots.)
Not only that, but any wadded pot that was placed on a kiln shelf
instantly froze there, and I had to use my propane torch to move it
three inches this way or that.
Should I have warmed the kiln first with a weed burner? Rolled all the
wads beforehand and kept the warm balls in a thermos jug? Glued them on
and let them dry indoors, then stacked the kiln?
So whaddya say, guys? How do you keep your balls warm?
Yours
Kelly in Ohio
http://www.primalpotter.com
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tony clennell on thu 13 mar 08
Kelly: Ya got it on the third try! Wad the pots inside the studio and
glue em on. Sometimes the wads stick to the ware boards so I glue the
wads on and then set them on their own individual little newspaper
coaster.
I saw your firing last weekend and decided i should offer you full
blown membership to the Wood Coons Society. Your kids get to burn a
cork from a wine bottle and paint two circles around your eyes. It is
what a stoker can look like after they take their protective glasses
off from a hard day of wiping their face with carbon stained gloves.
Kinda like a racoon but I call em "Wood Coons".
I once fired with wind chill -38. That makes me the real Tony Soprano.
Cheers,
Tony
P.S Most of us guys find that playing with our balls also keeps them
from freezing.
On Wed, Mar 12, 2008 at 11:50 PM, primalmommy wrote:
> If I were Tony Clennell I would have the nerve to title this post,
> "Freezing your balls". I mean wadding balls, of course.
>
> Mel, Tony and other northerners: How do you keep your balls of wadding
> from freezing in winter? When I loaded the wood kiln last week, the wads
> froze as soon as they were made, and so seemed quite sturdy when in fact
> they were a bit soft (and a few softened when the kiln was candled, and
> tipped pots.)
>
> Not only that, but any wadded pot that was placed on a kiln shelf
> instantly froze there, and I had to use my propane torch to move it
> three inches this way or that.
>
> Should I have warmed the kiln first with a weed burner? Rolled all the
> wads beforehand and kept the warm balls in a thermos jug? Glued them on
> and let them dry indoors, then stacked the kiln?
>
> So whaddya say, guys? How do you keep your balls warm?
>
> Yours
> Kelly in Ohio
>
> http://www.primalpotter.com
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, change your
> subscription settings or unsubscribe/leave the list here: http://www.acers.org/cic/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots2@visi.com
>
--
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http://smokieclennell.blogspot.com
John Boyd on thu 13 mar 08
I would have used little dabs of Elmer's wood glue indoors and wadded
all the upright pots as soon as I glazed them. Get a small pail of
wadding and float it within a 5 gallon bucket of very warm water when
you go out to work.
Cas
Lee on thu 13 mar 08
PM,
I sometimes wad inside, before I take the pots to the kiln.
Use Elmer's glue to stick the wads on with, they won't fall off when
they dry.
--=20
Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
"Ta tIr na n-=F3g ar chul an tI=97tIr dlainn trina ch=E9ile"=97that is, "T=
he
land of eternal youth is behind the house, a beautiful land fluent
within itself." -- John O'Donohue
Lee on thu 13 mar 08
Also, in my last load in in February, I put the kerosene heater in
the kiln before loading. When loading, the kerosene heater is on the
ground next to the kiln warming my feet, wheel a galvanized pail of
steaming water.
--=20
Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
"Ta tIr na n-=F3g ar chul an tI=97tIr dlainn trina ch=E9ile"=97that is, "T=
he
land of eternal youth is behind the house, a beautiful land fluent
within itself." -- John O'Donohue
John Britt on thu 13 mar 08
Kelly,
I wad indoors and glue them on and put them on ware boards. The only thing
to look out for is if the glue sticks the wads/pot to the ware board, then
you end up redoing them after you pick up the pots with the wads stuck to
the ware board.
Hope it helps,
John Britt
Dannon Rhudy on thu 13 mar 08
No, no. Craig Martell told me - and
I'll thank him forever - BISQUE FIRE
the wadding. You can make it into little
flat bars, like a thickish Hershey bar, score
lines, bisque it. Break it apart, put in a bowl
or something. It's ready when you are, and
won't squeeze up around the foot ring or
otherwise make problems. It always works
that way. You can use Elmer's or other white
glue to stick it on, dries almost instantly. Using
that system, you can even get your work ready
ahead of time, and glue the wadding on.
Everything ready to go, not much last minute
stuff, except for the last minute pots. Worked
every time for my students, too. And, because
a lot of the work already has the wadding on
when you're loading, the loading is quicker.
So - next time you bisque, make a big bunch
of wadding, it's worth it.
regards
Dannon Rhudy
----- Original Message -----
>
> Mel, Tony and other northerners: How do you keep your balls of wadding
> from freezing in winter? When I loaded the wood kiln last week, the wads
> froze as soon as they were made, and so seemed quite sturdy when in fact
> they were a bit soft (and a few softened when the kiln was candled, and
> tipped pots.)
vpitelka on thu 13 mar 08
Wadding in advance and gluing the wads on only works with three wads.
That's fine for mugs, jars, pitchers, other such shapes. But for larger
forms that need more than three wads, if the kiln shelf is not perfectly
flat, then all the wads do not touch when you set the piece in the kiln, and
it warps in the firing. For larger forms, oval dishes, plates, larger
bowls, I think it works better to wait and wad them outside as you are
loading the kiln. You could do as John Boyd says and keep a small bucket of
wadding floating in a 5-gallon bucket of hot water, or you could move to
Tennessee and forget the hassle of wood firing in weather that is trying to
kill you.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
Mary Leither on fri 14 mar 08
I hate being cold so I try to do as much of the work as I can ahead of time.
Loading is slow especially when multiple people are involved and the kiln
load is not constant. I like to glue my wads on at least the night before.
This allows me to use wheat bran and hawthorne bond wads on my pots which is
definitely more crumbly until it is dry vs alumina based wads. Overnight is
enough time to turn them dry, rock hard, and fairly safe from growing the
most amazing mold. (This is a wadding you definitely mix as needed) This
wadding means I can reposition without worrying about alumina finger
prints/pimples. I have various sizes of assorted thrown rings and crowns
which I can carefully use to position or to obtain various firing effects.
Certain pieces I may wish to fire inverted and stacked carefully positioning
and gluing wad stuffed seashells between the bottom supporting ring, the
base of the first piece and the face of the subsequent pieces for decorative
purposes. The supports get brittle in time but I reuse them with new wadding
until they break. I pack all items for travel to the kiln site in lidded
boxes 1 layer deep separated by drycleaner bag nests by height. Stacked
items or items on crowns are packed and glued together as much as possible
complete units by height so the loading is quite efficient. If critical
balancing of pots on crowns or stacking of multiple pieces was left to be
done at kiln site it would be rushed, forgotten, or made impossible because
of time. None of the pieces stick to the shelves because the wads are dry. I
have a bucket of alumina based kiln wash and another small bucket soft
alumina based wads prepared into balls for the posts to eliminate the amount
of hand washing in cold weather. Mary Leither
June Perry on fri 14 mar 08
I make my wads long before firing and they're fully dry when I glue them on
with Elmers glue. It's a job I do while watching TV at night.
To wad, I squirt a bit of glue on the places on the pot where I want the
wads to go and then press the dried wad on the pots. That keeps the glue off the
bottom of the wad so you don't have to worry about the wads sticking to the
ware board.
I glue them either as I'm loading, or before hand.
I don't see the benefit of bisqueing them first. It seems like an
unnecessary use of time and firing costs; but maybe I'm just missing something here.
I'd love to know the rationale behind it.
Regards,
June
_http://www.shambhalapottery.com_ (http://www.shambhalapottery.com/)
_http://shambhalapottery.blogspot.com_
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Doug Trott on fri 14 mar 08
And for your larger pieces, such as platters, if your surface is uneven (sp=
anning shelves or resting directly on bricks), you want to apply wads at th=
e last moment so that they're still soft when you put the pots into place.
If you wad them too early, the wads harden, and then the pots are not evenl=
y supported and will warp.
Jeff Oestreich explained this to me as I was staring dumbly at some warped =
platters, fresh from the NCC kiln!
Doug
> Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2008 09:15:59 -0400
> From: burningcoffinpottery@GMAIL.COM
> Subject: Re: Freezing your wads
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
>=20
> I would have used little dabs of Elmer's wood glue indoors and wadded
> all the upright pots as soon as I glazed them. Get a small pail of
> wadding and float it within a 5 gallon bucket of very warm water when
> you go out to work.
> Cas
>=20
> _________________________________________________________________________=
_____
> Clayart members may send postings to: clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>=20
> You may look at the archives for the list, post messages, change your
> subscription settings or unsubscribe/leave the list here: http://www.ace=
rs.org/cic/clayart/
>=20
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots2@visi=
.com
Kelly Savino on fri 14 mar 08
Vince wrote:
"For larger forms, oval dishes, plates, larger bowls, I think it works
better to wait and wad them outside as you are loading the kiln. You
could do as John Boyd says and keep a small bucket of wadding floating
in a 5-gallon bucket of hot water, or you could move to Tennessee and
forget the hassle of wood firing in weather that is trying to kill you".
- Vince
Jeez, you sound like Patrick Green, who is pining for his misty
mountaintop. I can't say as I blame him. He can't get over the cost of
living here, the crime, the ice and sleet, the general attitudes.
Based on my time at ACC, I'm all for the steamy green woods, terrain
that actually has a terrain, deer and blue reservoirs and luna moths the
size of my face.
I'm starting to feel like it's cruel to raise outdoorsy children in a
place where we're trapped inside for several months. People who say,
"Ski! Sled! Enjoy!" are likely imagining a snowy Currier-and-Ives scene,
when the reality is often more like sleet, grey slush, dead grass and
bitter cold. I love the spring season where the snow melts and the
neighbor's yard becomes a sculpture garden of the winter's mounds of
frozen dog poop...
So. Hire me? lol
Jeff and I are both sending resumes to see who can land a job first in
any place kinder (weather or economy) than Toledo, Ohio. Whoever comes
in second gets to homeschool the kids.
Yours,
Kelly ... in the Carolinas? Kelly in Florida? Kelly in Oregon,
Tennessee, Georgia?
Russel Fouts on fri 14 mar 08
Speaking as a guy but not as a wood fire, I would glued them on in
the warm studio and then pressed them down on a table to level the
pot then, once done, take them all out to the cold kiln and placed them.
Russel
Russel Fouts
Mes Potes & Mes Pots
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 223 02 75
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vpitelka on fri 14 mar 08
Russel wrote:
"Speaking as a guy but not as a wood fire, I would glued them on in
the warm studio and then pressed them down on a table to level the
pot then, once done, take them all out to the cold kiln and placed them."
Russel -
If there are three wads, then there is no reason to level them so exactly,
because the pot will sit okay on three wads once they are dry and hard. If
there are more than three wads, then no amount of leveling on the table
inside will do any good because the flatness of the kiln shelf will very
rarely conform to the flatness of the table, and if there is ANY discrepancy
between the two, the pot will likely warp enough to ruin it. It is pretty
rare to find perfectly flat, smooth shelves used in salt, soda, or wood, and
when using such shelves and using more than three wads on the bottom of a
piece, it only works to do the wadding as you place the piece in the kiln.
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft
Tennessee Tech University
vpitelka@dtccom.net; wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka
Lee on sun 16 mar 08
On Fri, Mar 14, 2008 at 1:33 PM, Kelly Savino w=
rote:
> Vince wrote:
>
> in a 5-gallon bucket of hot water, or you could move to Tennessee and
> forget the hassle of wood firing in weather that is trying to kill you".
> - Vince
Mashiko's weather is about like D.C.s, close to Vince's maybe. It
butt ugly. I was sooo relieved to be greated by snow when I arrived
in Minneapolis.
Now, the snow is melting! Turning brown and ugly, just like where the
faint of heart live. ;^) At least, I had a good week after my
arrival of Mother Nature's white winter blanket!
Notice how the winter tempers the trees, just like it does the
people. We still have Elm trees!
Some photos from today's walk on the Mississippi River:
http://mnnature.blogspot.com/
=3D
--=20
Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
"Ta tIr na n-=F3g ar chul an tI=97tIr dlainn trina ch=E9ile"=97that is, "T=
he
land of eternal youth is behind the house, a beautiful land fluent
within itself." -- John O'Donohue
sacredclay on mon 17 mar 08
:
>
> Kelly,
>
> I wad indoors and glue them on and put them on ware boards. The
only thing
> to look out for is if the glue sticks the wads/pot to the ware
board, then
> you end up redoing them after you pick up the pots with the wads
stuck to
> the ware board.
>
> Hope it helps,
>
> John Britt
this leads me to ask this question, as I don't have the opportunity
(yet!) to do wouud firings- what do you do with your spent balls? Can
you reuse them? Why, or why not? Where do you guys discard them for
most part? Kathryn Hughes in NC
Lee on mon 17 mar 08
On Sun, Mar 16, 2008 at 8:40 PM, sacredclay wrote:
> this leads me to ask this question, as I don't have the opportunity
> (yet!) to do wouud firings- what do you do with your spent balls? Can
> you reuse them? Why, or why not? Where do you guys discard them for
> most part? Kathryn Hughes in NC
I use them as filler for my driveway.
One advantage of shells filled with wadding is that the
shells keep their shape and don't deform under heavier pots.
I don't wad dishes. I sometimes wad heavy platters.
All my shelves are nice flat carbide shelves. I put alumina on them,
then resist to protect the alumina.
--=20
Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
"Ta tIr na n-=F3g ar chul an tI=97tIr dlainn trina ch=E9ile"=97that is, "T=
he
land of eternal youth is behind the house, a beautiful land fluent
within itself." -- John O'Donohue
David Woof on mon 17 mar 08
Kathryn asks "what do you guys do with your spent balls?" Kathryn, I do=
n't=20
know about other guys but a little soaking and kneading gets mine back in=20
fine form. This is for unused/unfired wads that dry out while we are loadi=
ng. =20
=20
The fired ones end up in a container marked "used smart pills" and become=20
the inner core of wadding for large heavy forms. =20
=20
Because they are somewhat contaminated by ash and salts deposits =20
I don't crush them up and reuse them for wadding but they do go in=20
as a refractory non load bearing aggregate in poured insulating refractory=
=20
for kiln floors etc.
=20
They could be ground up and used to replace some of the added constituents =
of=20
ash glazes with possible interesting results but that is not where my inter=
est=20
is now, so just and idea.=20
=20
Back to the original question of this thread, Freezing wads: When I li=
ved in=20
the cold upper mid west and fired every 4-6 weeks throughout the winter I=20
pre heated the kiln the nite before beginning loading with a Knipco type=20
kerosene heater. The kilns residule heat radiated and kept it above freezin=
g=20
unless it was 20 below or more and then the knipko ran all the time. =20
=20
Outside the kiln was a portable wood fired barrel stove placed to put me=20
and the loading crew between it and the kiln. Even tho we had kiln sheds,=
=20
wind breaking sheets of metal, behind and around, kept us quite comfortable=
.
=20
We didn't have to wad and dry ahead of loading, which to me was a hassle=20
and as Vince cautioned only works well where three balls apply. =20
=20
David Woof
Clarkdale,Arizona
928-649-5927
=20
Those who hesitate get to watch =20
_________________________________________________________________
Shed those extra pounds with MSN and The Biggest Loser!
http://biggestloser.msn.com/=
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