Ellen Currans on mon 25 jan 10
I too use hot wax for most of my waxing, as well as some
liquid wax resist when I am waxing over glaze. =3DC2=3DA0I've done so for
most of my potting life which is approaching 50 years. =3DC2=3DA0I have nev=
er
had a fire or burned myself, however I do work alone in my own
studio and I have good control of how I do things and where I put
things like hot wax.
I use melted candles or paraffin if necessary, but friends pretty much
keep me in old candles, and thrift store candles are usually cheaper=3D20
than
new paraffin. =3DC2=3DA0For many years I used an electric potpourri pot whi=
ch
heated just barely to a usable melt, and I added lamp oil as needed to
make it more liquid. =3DC2=3DA0I got tired of waiting for the wax to melt i=
n=3D
that
little pot, so have moved on to a thrift store small french fry pot.
It holds more and is ready much sooner, but does not have a thermostat,
so I use a permanently placed candy thermometer in it to monitor the
heat. =3DC2=3DA0I have a wire across the top to clean off excess wax. =3DC2=
=3DA0Wh=3D
en the
wax reaches 275 I unplug the fryer and let it coast back down while
I am waxing. =3DC2=3DA0 I keep my fryer on a metal tray covered with alumin=
um
foil, in a corner of my spray booth, and I turn on the exhaust fan to
the spray booth when I am using the hot wax.
If the wax available to me is all white or clear, I add a bit of the red
colorant used to color candles, so that I can easily see where the
wax is and if there are drips I need to clean up.=3DC2=3DA0 I clean off dr=
ips
by first scraping off as much as possible with a thin flexible steel
rib, and then rubbing it down well with the white rubbing blocks for
used for cleaning up the bottoms of fired pots.
I brush on wax, rather than dip in a flat frying pan, because many of
my slab pieces are too large for a frying pan, and I want better control
of the glaze edge than I can get just dipping. =3DC2=3DA0 The brush is impo=
rta=3D
nt.
It needs to be fairly stiff but=3DC2=3DA0flexible. I use a Gainsborough Fla=
t=3D
=3D20
size l4
(1 1/4 inch wide) from Dick Blick. $11.39 last time I bought one. =3D20
They
last 3 or 4 years for me. The local suppliers don't seem to carry the
brushes I used to buy, and what they have are too expensive and too=3D20
soft.
When waxing flat slab plates or trays, I first draw a pencil line where=3D2=
0
I
want the wax to end. I do this by drawing a compass along the edge,
with the metal end riding on the edge, and the pencil end drawing the
line where I want the glaze to begin. It only takes a minute and having
a line to wax to makes it all much easier and quicker.
The glaze sheets off a hot waxed tray bottom much more quickly and
cleanly than it will off a cold liquid waxed bottom. And it is ready=3D20
to glaze
almost immediately.
I would think twice about having hot wax in a beginners class=3D20
situation,
especially with children, but it is a process one can use safely if you
use common sense.
Ellen Currans
Dundee, Oregon
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