Overall's on sat 28 aug 10
Clayarters,
I hope you can help me with this.
I just finished my first teaching clay class at church.
It was held three consecutive Saturdays and today was the last one.
One of the members sculpted a cowboy bust on a half-inch dowel.
He did wrap the dowel with paper so it slides off.
The paper will burn off easy enough, BUT,
I just can't figure out how to support it in the firings - bisque and glaze=
.
It's high fire stoneware and will be in reduction.
It's too small an opening to insert any kiln posts I have and the design
has a thin bandana design around it's neck which draps beautifully front an=
d back,
but no structural support to speak of.
Could I take the bust off the dowel,
stuff the head with bits of ceramic fiber
place it on a metal dowel rod about 1/4" diameter
that is inserted into an ISF to fire it upright
and secured with kiln wadding so it won't wobble.
(picture a robot's q-tip)
If a metal rod can be used, which metal to cone ten reduction?
How about a long 8" x 1/4" galvanized bolt with the head upside down in the=
ISF
and the threaded end cushioned with the c-fiber?
Your solution suggestions/recommendations will be greatly appreciated
as I didn't think to ask beforehand when he was creating it as he mentioned
bronzing them in the last class.
Help in Houston!
Kim Overall
Lis Allison on sun 29 aug 10
On August 29, 2010, jeanette harris wrote:
> >One of the members sculpted a cowboy bust on a half-inch dowel.
> >He did wrap the dowel with paper so it slides off.
Can you make a clay support? I'm envisioning a sloped mound with a short
vertical bit to engage the hole where the dowel was, but only to keep it
from skidding around on the top of the slope. You can hollow it out.
Watch out about stilts, btw. Good suggestion, but many of them will not
support any real weight at cone 6. They are designed for earthenware. A
long piece of stilt material will definitely bend at cone 6. Most will
also only survive a few firings at that temp.
--
Elisabeth Allison
Pine Ridge Studio
website: www.pine-ridge.ca
Pottery blog: www.studio-on-the-ridge.blogspot.com
Garden blog: www.garden-on-the-ridge.blogspot.com
Snail Scott on sun 29 aug 10
On Aug 28, 2010, at 8:13 PM, Overall's wrote:
> ... clay class at church...a cowboy bust on a half-inch
> dowel...can't figure out how to support it in the firings - bisque
> and glaze...
If he wants to take it to be bronzed, (in other words,
electroplated) then it doesn't need glaze, and he
probably wouldn't want the loss of detail glaze
would create anyway. So, you can fire it in any
direction at all. If the bandanna is too fragile to lay
it down, then make a nest of fiber or sand and set
the bust on the top of its head. Or, use a kiln post to
prop it up at an angle that keeps the weight off the
fragile bits. No fancy logistics needed.
Anything that impedes the flow of atmosphere around
the clay may affect the color in a reduction firing, but
if he is planning to coat it afterward, it scarcely matters.
One side note, likely irrelevant, but...
Many people think that bronze sculpture is made by
bronzing a pattern made of some other material, the
way bronzed baby shoes are done: the original object
is still there inside, thinly coated with a layer of metal.
Although there's no reason this process can't be used
to make art, actual bronze sculpture is made by casting.
A mold is taken from the artist's pattern, then that is used
to make a hollow wax replica which is in turn replaced
by metal after the wax is melted out. It's a very different
process, resulting in an entirely metal sculpture, not a
thin skin of metal covering the original pattern material.
Maybe he knows this already and has made that choice
anyway, but I find that many beginners are unaware that
there is any difference at all. I'm just concerned that he
may be expecting something else. Not necessarily your
problem, but maybe worth mentioning just in case.
-Snail
John Post on sun 29 aug 10
> I just can't figure out how to support it in the firings - bisque
> and glaze.
> It's high fire stoneware and will be in reduction.
>
> It's too small an opening to insert any kiln posts I have and the
> design
> has a thin bandana design around it's neck which draps beautifully
> front and back,
> but no structural support to speak of.
Kim,
Just make a custom support out of clay. Picture a funnel with a long
spout. Imagine the wide side of the funnel as the base. The tapered
side will be sticking up. Make the tapered side long enough to fit
into whatever hole is at the bottom of the cowboy bust. Use this same
support in both firings.
John
jeanette harris on sun 29 aug 10
>
>One of the members sculpted a cowboy bust on a half-inch dowel.
>He did wrap the dowel with paper so it slides off.
>The paper will burn off easy enough, BUT,
Re: firing problem
Kim, go to your local ceramic supply shop with the bust. Take a look
at all the different stilts they have for sale. Not seeing the bust,
I don't know what will work, but there are stilts that are 3-pronged,
joined cone shaped that might work as well as bead holders. There are
long, spikey log-like stilts--two of them in parallel might do the
trick.
Since you may have to use the stilts twice, it might be a good
investment--they aren't epensive anyway.
I sometimes use the 3-prong tall cone-like stilts to support a teapot
lid from the inside so that I can glaze the whole thing.
Cheers,
Jeanette
--
Jeanette Harris in Poulsbo WA
http://www.jeanetteharrisblog.blogspot.com
http://fiberneedlethread.blogspot.com/
http://www.washingtonpotters.org/WPA_Gallery.htm
gayle bair on mon 30 aug 10
I've been using the same stilts for ^6 firings (electric) for going on =3D
10 years now.
My trick is to use multiple stilts to distribute the load evenly. I =3D
primarily use the ones that have one or two rows of wire.=3D20
Once in a while a few will bend and I just gently realign them. Now I =3D
haven't tried them on very heavy pieces mostly on 1-5 lb oddly shaped =3D
pieces.
Gayle Bair
Bainbridge Island WA
Tucson AZ
gayle@claybair.com
www.claybair.com
On Aug 29, 2010, at 5:17 PM, Lis Allison wrote:
> On August 29, 2010, jeanette harris wrote:
>>> One of the members sculpted a cowboy bust on a half-inch dowel.
>>> He did wrap the dowel with paper so it slides off.
>=3D20
> Can you make a clay support? I'm envisioning a sloped mound with a =3D
short
> vertical bit to engage the hole where the dowel was, but only to keep =3D
it
> from skidding around on the top of the slope. You can hollow it out.
>=3D20
> Watch out about stilts, btw. Good suggestion, but many of them will =3D
not
> support any real weight at cone 6. They are designed for earthenware. =
=3D
A
> long piece of stilt material will definitely bend at cone 6. Most will
> also only survive a few firings at that temp.
>=3D20
>=3D20
> --
> Elisabeth Allison
> Pine Ridge Studio
> website: www.pine-ridge.ca
> Pottery blog: www.studio-on-the-ridge.blogspot.com
> Garden blog: www.garden-on-the-ridge.blogspot.com
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