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fwd: glass in the bowl question

updated mon 12 dec 11

 

gina mars on sun 11 dec 11


Thanks Vince and Mel for your thoughts on this. I will mention it to =3D
the lady
selling the wares with glass although I sadly think she just wants to =3D
make money
and doesn't care.
Gina Mars

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Vince Pitelka"
> Date: December 11, 2011 10:36:47 AM EST
> To: "'gina mars'" ,
> Subject: RE: Glass in the bowl question
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> Gina Mars wrote:
> "This morning an inquisitive 10 year old brought a cup of beach glass =3D
to
> class. He asked me to fire it in the middle of his bowl to get some
> interesting effects. Before I do it, I have some questions. Is this =3D
safe to
> do at cone 6? Could the bowl split and the glass run everywhere? It's =3D
mostly
> blue glass chunks he found on the beach. At a gallery near my home, I =3D
see a
> lady sells large bowls and sushi platters with at least 1 inch or so =3D
of
> melted glass in the middle. it has lots of depth and cracks. How can =3D
this be
> food safe? The gallery owner mentioned the pots were fired to high =3D
temp and
> then fired again with the glass in the middle. Still I see all these =3D
cracks
> and can't help but think it;s not a good idea to put food in it."
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> Hi Gina -=3D20
> Mel's post pretty much said it all, especially at the end - "There are
> enough non food ideas to let you make glass bottomed pots for your
> lifetime." The people who sell functional bowls and plates with a =3D
thick
> accumulation of crackled melted glass in the food-contact areas are =3D
asking
> for a lawsuit. Everyone on this list knows that I speak out against
> over-the-top toxic/safety alarms, but in this case the risk is real. =3D
You
> never know when expansion and contraction are going to cause =3D
razor-sharp
> chunks of glass to come loose in someone's food, causing a broken =3D
tooth, cut
> mouth or tongue, or worse. It is not worth the risk on food-contact
> surfaces. Lots of people think the effect is pretty and obviously it =3D
sells
> well, but I would confine it to non-food items. Don't listen to the =3D
people
> who say this is not a risk, because in their case, they simply have =3D
not yet
> experienced the crackled glass coming loose unexpectedly.=3D20
> - Vince
>=3D20
> Vince Pitelka
> Appalachian Center for Craft
> Tennessee Tech University
> vpitelka@dtccom.net
> http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
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