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horsehair technique?

updated sat 5 jun 99

 

Patricia J. Smith on mon 31 may 99

I have had a request to do a horsehair piece..... I have a "very"
general idea of what this is. wrapping horsehair around the pot, and
firing it. Okay where to go from there. I have looked in the archives and
can not find enough info. Can anyone explain this to me. I understand it may
be a raku firing, or if wrapped in heavy foil, I may fire in my elec. kiln.
Any information would be appreciated, and you can e-mail me off line if
clayart has disscussed this before and it would be repetitious,, thanks,
Patti Ioway1@aol.com

Wendy Hampton on tue 1 jun 99

When I do horsehair I heat a bisqued piece in the Raku kiln to about
1100-1200 degrees F. I pull it out at that temp then touch 2-3 individual
horse hairs to the piece at a time. If you touch too many you will just get
a black smudge. Let it completely cool before you use a soft brush to wipe
off the hairs that didn't melt.
If you have further questions please let me know
Wendy

Barbra Kates on tue 1 jun 99

Hi Patricia, The horsehair technique I use is as follows:
Terra Sig applied to bone dry piece. Bisqued to Cone 06 or lower. Then
I fire the piece in a gas raku kiln to 1300 degrees F. Remove it with
tongs and lay piece on soft brick or fiber. Place strands of horsehair
on piece or stretch the hair and place where you want the hair pattern.
It will singe and leave a black curly mark. You will have to experiment
though. Too hot and the hair just burns up and leaves a big smoked
mark. Too cool and it won't burn. I have noticed, that there is a
window of about 5 minutes where the temp of the clay piece will accept
the hair. I then leave the piece to cool. After it is cool, I wipe off
the hair with a soft cloth and seal it with a sealer. The best horse
hair I have found to work is dark long tail hair. I buy entire
horsetails from a trading post for $10 bucks per tail. They sell all
kinds of animal parts to Native American crafts makers. One tail will
last a long time. In a pinch, I have also used the bundled horse hair
which is short and doesn't work as well as the longer hair.
I always wear a respirator as well as taking the other safety
precautions for handling hot pots.
Good Luck
Barbra Kates

Lynne Berman on tue 1 jun 99

Patti,
Here's information I received in answer to that question some time back. Good
luck; horsehair is a great look.
Lynne Berman in Philadelphia


Horsehair raku:

1. Find a horse for the hair.
2. Acquire Ferric Oxide (poisonous)
3. Get gloves, masque
4. Prepare a place to spray pot. Do not place pot on metal. Ferric Oxide
is a form of iron rust and will corrode any metal, so do not use your best
banding wheel. I usually place my hot pot on a brick.
5. Get a sprayer for Ferric Oxide. Mix F. Oxide with water
6. Cotton batting for smoking (you don't want your reduction material to
flame up since you will be working directly with the pot, but you want some
smoking.
7. You may terra sig your pot using any ts formula. This form of raku
looks great on a burnished terra sig'd pot
8. Take a bisque pot. Place in Raku Kiln and Heat. I don't know the part
icular temperature, or if it matters. I usually go by the atmosphere in the
kiln.
Probably 1500F. If you need to actually check temperature, place a clear
crackle pot in kiln. When glaze on crackle pot melts, your pot without
glaze will be ready.
9. Take pot from kiln with tongs.
10. Place pot on cotton batting.
11. Spray ferric oxide on pot.
12. Add strands of horsehair to hot pot. Horsehair will form webs or
squiggy lines.
13. Good luck. Be careful when spraying the ferric oxide.
14. I find it does no help to place your pot in a container to reduce. You
will lose the effect of the oranges and blue/browns of the ferric oxide. I
find that very little smoking is necessary.
15. Experiment and have fun.

Fran at Tin Barn Pottery/Manassas Clay, Manassas, Virginia
fnew@erols.com

Lee Marshall on wed 2 jun 99

Fire the bisqued pot ro raku temp. remove from kiln while still very hot( be
careful) lay single horse hairs on pot they will burn and krinkle, smell bad
etc but leave a thin black mark in the pot. repeat with as many hairs as
artistically needed. you will know if you have gotten the pot too hot if the
hair burns away without leaving a black mark. have fun!
Lee Marshall
lmarsh1220@aol.com

Jeff Lawrence on wed 2 jun 99

Patti Smith was asking about horsehair pots

Hi Patti,

I think the move is to remove a burnished pot from an oxidizing fire and
drop a horsehair on it while it is still very hot. The hair burns a
distinctive squiggly mark into the pot.

I have not done this but got the info straight from (ahem) the horse's
mouth when I bought one of his pots for my penultimate girlfriend.

Have fun,
Jeff

David W. Gordon on wed 2 jun 99

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I have had a request to do a horsehair piece..... I have a "very"
> general idea of what this is. wrapping horsehair around the pot, and
>firing it. Okay where to go from there. I have looked in the archives and
>can not find enough info. Can anyone explain this to me. I understand it may
>be a raku firing, or if wrapped in heavy foil, I may fire in my elec. kiln.
> Any information would be appreciated, and you can e-mail me off line if
>clayart has disscussed this before and it would be repetitious,, thanks,
>Patti Ioway1@aol.com


This is the technique used by several potters in my area:

1) After bisqueing, brush 2 to 3 coats of white terra sig on and buff with
t-shirt or rag.

2) Heat in a raku kiln to 1300-1400 degrees f.

3) Remove and immediately place horsetail hair, feathers, sugar. or
sawdaust on the pot in whatever artful design you can come up with.

4) Optional-spray ferric chloride (etching solution diluted) onto the
still-hot pot for orange highlights.

5) Wash and polish with 2 or 3 coats of hard paste furniture wax.


David Gordon

Sharon R Pemberton on wed 2 jun 99

I terra sig my pots, fire in a small electric kiln or my rake kiln, and put
the horse hair onto the pots when they are removed (approx ^06/05) from the
kiln.


Pax,

Pug

Sharon R Pemberton on wed 2 jun 99

If you place the pot on cotton batting...........................wouldn't it
ignite and negate any results of the horse hair?

Pug

Ilene Mahler on wed 2 jun 99

Okay..Here goes...Whitewear..bisque...Fire to raku
tempature..18000...1600..Let it cool slightly out of the kiln
slightly..Then with gloves on separate your horse hair to singles doubles
triples and sort of drop it on the pot exactly where you want it and keep
doing this untill you get the pattern you want or too cool for the hair to
melt into the pot you caN then when cool buff it up with wax and rub with
an old t-shirt..Play thats the best way this is just basic info...Ilene in
Conn

At 09:04 PM 5/31/99 EDT, Patricia J. Smith wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I have had a request to do a horsehair piece..... I have a "very"
> general idea of what this is. wrapping horsehair around the pot, and
>firing it. Okay where to go from there. I have looked in the archives and
>can not find enough info. Can anyone explain this to me. I understand it may
>be a raku firing, or if wrapped in heavy foil, I may fire in my elec. kiln.
> Any information would be appreciated, and you can e-mail me off line if
>clayart has disscussed this before and it would be repetitious,, thanks,
>Patti Ioway1@aol.com
>
>

Jeff Seefeldt on thu 3 jun 99

While I was visiting SanAntonio I visited with a woman using this technique, thi
is exactly as she described, we are preparing to Raku next week, 2 questions

1. Where can you buy Ferric Chloride?
2. Are there any severe health hazards? I raku with a bunch of beginners and
I'd prefer not to make them sick.

Just sit'n here wrapped only in a towel; doing two of favorite things,,,, playin
on the computer and talking about pottery. Looking forward to great weekend
weather, What do you think move the wheel to the porch for a few days???

jeff


"David W. Gordon" wrote:

> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> >I have had a request to do a horsehair piece..... I have a "very"
> > general idea of what this is. wrapping horsehair around the pot, and
> >firing it. Okay where to go from there. I have looked in the archives and
> >can not find enough info. Can anyone explain this to me. I understand it may
> >be a raku firing, or if wrapped in heavy foil, I may fire in my elec. kiln.
> > Any information would be appreciated, and you can e-mail me off line if
> >clayart has disscussed this before and it would be repetitious,, thanks,
> >Patti Ioway1@aol.com
>
> This is the technique used by several potters in my area:
>
> 1) After bisqueing, brush 2 to 3 coats of white terra sig on and buff with
> t-shirt or rag.
>
> 2) Heat in a raku kiln to 1300-1400 degrees f.
>
> 3) Remove and immediately place horsetail hair, feathers, sugar. or
> sawdaust on the pot in whatever artful design you can come up with.
>
> 4) Optional-spray ferric chloride (etching solution diluted) onto the
> still-hot pot for orange highlights.
>
> 5) Wash and polish with 2 or 3 coats of hard paste furniture wax.
>
> David Gordon

David W. Gordon on fri 4 jun 99

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>While I was visiting SanAntonio I visited with a woman using this
>technique, thi
>is exactly as she described, we are preparing to Raku next week, 2 questions
>
>1. Where can you buy Ferric Chloride?
>2. Are there any severe health hazards? I raku with a bunch of
>beginners and
>I'd prefer not to make them sick.
>
>Just sit'n here wrapped only in a towel; doing two of favorite things,,,,
>playin
>on the computer and talking about pottery. Looking forward to great weekend
>weather, What do you think move the wheel to the porch for a few days???
>
>jeff
>

Jeff,

Jeff,

You can get ferric chloride at Radio Shacks. They call it "etching
solution." It's diluted 1 -to-2,3,or4 depending on how much orange you
want. I use a preval sprayer from Sherwin Williams in order not to corrode
my regular sprayers.

It is nasty stuff--will stain your skin semi-permanently at full strength
if you don't wear gloves and use care with it. It can't be too great for
your lungs either. I'm always upwind and use a respirator when there's no
breeze or the wind is shifting.

I wouldn't use it with beginners or in uncontrolled situations.

The wheel on the porch sounds great as long as you don't have to drag it
too far.

David Gordon