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once fired ware glaze application

updated tue 12 oct 10

 

Dinah Snipes Steveni on sun 10 oct 10


Yes, there is a huge difference in methods of application. A couple of folk=
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s have mentioned -- quite helpfully and thank you for those postings-- the=
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ir experiences and I thought I'd chime in here too to back them up. I solel=
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y brush on glaze to once fired ware. Now, the person who posed the initial =
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query did posit at the end of her message something along these lines: wil=
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l I get the usual high standards I and my customers expect? The answer is t=
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hat perennial chestnut which philosophers and other wise potters put forwar=
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d: how long is a piece of string? Just exactly what are High Standards? For=
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some folks HS is the fact that something will hold water without staining =
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the Bechstein. Raku or Pit Fired won't submit to this definition of HS. Not=
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without a lot of chemical interference. Those recent posting were relevato=
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ry and helpful for those of you selling raku and pit fired ware to people w=
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ho you need to say to that those pieces are okay on the Bechstein. For othe=
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rs HS means that the teapot spout has a built in "sniff" and won't dribble.=
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Choose your ware designs and your methods for Once Firing carefully, and m=
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ake sure you've acquired skills and the patience to carry those ideas throu=
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gh.

My Constant Potter reference here is to look at Lucie Rie. She brushed on h=
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er glazes. So did Hans Coper, but beware of the manganese as he brushed it =
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on textured surfaces then scraped back without adequate respirator protecti=
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on before he glazed, and was a smoker. The good die young. Take some time =
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to really look at Rie's work and her surfaces. She layered those glazes, an=
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d then layered some more. She fired to 1250d centigrade in an electric kiln=
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. Once fired heat work is not the same ramp/hold you've programmed for your=
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normal glaze firing. Test. Test. Test. Research. It's all out there for th=
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e learning. Now, look at her shapes again. You will have to cut your coat a=
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ccording to your cloth when you once fire. Not really for the faint-hearted=
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or the stack it high and flog it cheap at the Farmers' Market. It's more i=
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n the vein of a personal journey and I sure hope you can get it to do every=
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thing you wish for.

Oh, heavens...did I omit to cut and paste a snippet of the original message=
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? I think I'm coming through loud and clear here as it's in the subject lin=
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e.


Dinah=3D20
http://www.dinahsnipessteveni.com
Facebook: Dianthus Visual Arts
http://www.washingtonpotters.org/WPA_Gallery.htm
jd.steveni@comcast.com
360.336.6624

Robert Harris on mon 11 oct 10


Like Dinah, I think that Lucie Rie is one of those potters who serve
as an inner compass point. There are many stories about her, but one
of the most often quoted is that in EVERY single firing she had a test
piece of some sort - and often more than one.

This is something I still strive to do - but when deadlines loom, or
it's midnight and you want to get the kiln on, it's often difficult to
hold to. However it is well worth it.

Robert

Lee Love on mon 11 oct 10


On Sun, Oct 10, 2010 at 3:16 PM, Dinah Snipes Steveni
wrote:
> Yes, there is a huge difference in methods of application. A couple of fo=
=3D
lks have
>mentioned -- =3DA0quite helpfully and thank you for those postings-- their=
e=3D
xperiences and
> I thought I'd chime in here too to back them up. I solely brush on glaze =
=3D
to once fired
> ware. Now, the person who posed the initial query did posit at the end of=
=3D
her
>message something along these lines:

Dinah, all of Hamada's "winter" Okinawa work was singled fired. He
would trim the pot made with dark clay and then apply thick slip
hakeme style. Let if dry and then brush on the glaze and single fire.
He'd ship these glaze fired ware to Mashiko and give them an enamel
firing for color.

When you are not using factory methods, you have to
experiment to make it work. Not all clay bodies work. Not all slips.
Not all glazes. It helps if the glaze has a nice portion of clay
in it.

--
=3DA0Lee, a Mashiko potter in Minneapolis
http://mingeisota.blogspot.com/

=3D93Observe the wonders as they occur around you. Don't claim them. Feel
the artistry moving through and be silent.=3D94 --Rumi