mel jacobson on mon 26 apr 10
The other delightful part of using ash with kids is that they, `GET IT`.
When ms helen blew, it was an ideal time for me to bring ash into the
mix of our new clay program at the high school. It obviously was not pure
or consistent, but it was cheap and it left spots and texture as others hav=
e
pointed out. Kids don't need a pure glaze, they need to understand melt.
yes, simple melt, how rocks melt on clay.
In fact, it is always good to melt glass bottles in kilns with
kids...fill up some
bowls with real glass and let it melt in the firing. They really do
the Wow, stuff.
I must thank Richard Behrens for the idea and for the simple slide rule sys=
tem
that ash and gerts will produce. Change the percentage of gerts and the gl=
aze
changes. Ash is the base, gerts is the flux and fix. I always had some we=
t
bentonite around to add to the ash glazes. It helps in the sinking part, a=
s
does the gerts.
My kids dipped out an ice cream pail of base, and then added oxides to tast=
e.
basic, teaspoons for measure. Secret glaze 23.56B. Those glazes buckets w=
ere
hidden in their hall locker. "Hey , who made this great blue green
glaze.? Hey
Jennie, how the heck did you get that color?" Jennie goes mum. It
is her glaze
and her secret. Seat of the pants science, just what kids need.
Jennie experiences "Self Worth".
mel
from: minnetonka, mn
website: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/
clayart link: http://www.visi.com/~melpots/clayart.html
new book: http://www.21stcenturykilns.com
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