ONE at 48 on sat 23 may 98
Hi Julie,
I make lots of frames and there is a very simple solution. Just ever so
slightly round the inside corners and the cracking stops. I use red and brown
clays which tend to crack more easily along stress lines and this little trick
has stopped the cracking for me.
Sara O'Neill
Melissa Carpenter on sat 23 may 98
Julie,
I also make picture frames. I have found two ways to stop the inside
corners from cracking. The most effective process is to have a cooking
cutter made for the entire frame. I had one made from a template that I
provided at a local sheet metal place. The trick is to have the inside
corners made a little rounded. The cutter also gives the edges a nice
finished appearence instead of the cut look. This works great, but
creates an additional problem of getting the clay out of the cutter. I
solved this by running a wagner heat gun along the OUTSIDE edges of the
cutter. The edges of the frame pulls away and the clay drops out.
However, the is a slow process and does not lend itself for just banging
'em out. The second method is faster, I cut them out by putting a
template down and go around the outside and the inside edge with a pizza
cutter. The pizza wheel does not fit all the way into the inside
corners so I cut that with a small straight edge that is only 1/4"
wide. As long as the inside corners are rounded (ever so slightly) I
have had NO cracking at corners. I also think that putting the dry wall
directly stacked on top does not leave enough freedom for shrinkage.
Good luck.
_____________
Melissa Carpenter
Claytime Studio
State College, PA
claytime@vicon.net
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