deborah goletz on tue 24 aug 99
Okay Martin, now I'm intrigued ... give us some of those cat litter glaze
recipes! I've got a rural friend whose used litter pile is becoming a
small hillside on his property and although I am a city dweller (whose
refuse dissapears down a small shoot in the hallway) - I cringe at the
sight of those heaping garbage scows on the Hudson River. So please, give
us the scoop (sorry, couldn't resist).
DeBorah Goletz
New York, NY
Martin Howard on thu 26 aug 99
All my glazes are for cone 02 through to cone 1 using a medium/high
temperature red earthenware.
20 dried sieved cat litter. I leave mine on the top of the kiln to dry
and then use an old coffee grinder to break it down nicely to sieve
through a 100 lawn.
20 granite dust from a monumental mason, dried and sieved through 180
lawn.
60 Standard Borax Frit 2263
Then add colourants such as 2 percent Cobalt Oxide, or 3 percent Copper
Oxide etc. Perhaps a little Rutile to help the colours run or speckle a
little.
Your results will all be different, depending on the granite dust.
I ran line tests between the cat litter and the Borax Frit, and between
the granite dust and the Frit. Then combined the two; tested again and
found I had a good standard clear glossy glaze.
I am now using the finest sieved cat litter as a "terra sigillata". Add
a little (3-5 percent) silicon carbide to test local reduction reaction,
if like me use an electric kiln.
Really cat litter is based on Fuller Earth and is montmorillonite and
bentonite. But get the full composition from your cat litter dealer and
put that in your computer glaze program. I use David Hewitts, Glaze
Workbook.
Use a borax frit to offset the shrinking characteristic of
montmorillonite. No crazing so far.
Martin Howard
Webbs Cottage Pottery and Press
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE
Essex CM7 5DZ
01371 850 423
araneajo@gn.apc.org
Vince Pitelka on fri 27 aug 99
Martin -
Forgive my tendency to be devil's advocate, but could I be picky here and
point out that with the additions listed, the following is not, in any way,
by any stretch of the imagination, a terra sigillata. Different brands of
cat litter have different composition. If your cat litter is
montmorillonite, and if you are preparing some sig from pure pulverized cat
litter, then that certainly does meet the criteria. But if you are adding
borax frit or almost anything else, you are corrupting the sig with
unnecessary non-plastics. Why not just combine the cat litter sig with a
sig from a lower shrinkage claybody? Why even make sig from a
montmorillonite, unless you are using it on a predominantly montmorillonite
body?
Best wishes -
- Vince
>All my glazes are for cone 02 through to cone 1 using a medium/high
>temperature red earthenware.
>20 dried sieved cat litter. I leave mine on the top of the kiln to dry
>and then use an old coffee grinder to break it down nicely to sieve
>through a 100 lawn.
>20 granite dust from a monumental mason, dried and sieved through 180
>lawn.
>60 Standard Borax Frit 2263
>Then add colourants such as 2 percent Cobalt Oxide, or 3 percent Copper
>Oxide etc. Perhaps a little Rutile to help the colours run or speckle a
>little.
>Your results will all be different, depending on the granite dust.
>I ran line tests between the cat litter and the Borax Frit, and between
>the granite dust and the Frit. Then combined the two; tested again and
>found I had a good standard clear glossy glaze.
>I am now using the finest sieved cat litter as a "terra sigillata". Add
>a little (3-5 percent) silicon carbide to test local reduction reaction,
>if like me use an electric kiln.
>Really cat litter is based on Fuller Earth and is montmorillonite and
>bentonite. But get the full composition from your cat litter dealer and
>put that in your computer glaze program. I use David Hewitts, Glaze
>Workbook.
>
>Use a borax frit to offset the shrinking characteristic of
>montmorillonite. No crazing so far.
>
>Martin Howard
>Webbs Cottage Pottery and Press
>Woolpits Road, Great Saling
>BRAINTREE
>Essex CM7 5DZ
>01371 850 423
>araneajo@gn.apc.org
Vince Pitelka - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
Home 615/597-5376, work 615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Pamela Jo Stamper on fri 27 aug 99
Hello,
OK, being a cat owner of sound mind (possibly), I can no longer
maintain lurker mode. Drying cat litter on top the kiln does suggest used
cat litter. You are talking about unused cat litter....right? Because,
the first time I fired my raku kiln after the cats had marked it as part of
their territory; every tom cat for ten miles must have made note of the
event.
Also, the brand of litter would make a difference. That clumping
kind is not what you are talking about...or...is it?
Also, as long as I decided to throw cat like caution to the wind and
ask; Why use cat litter at all? Is it cheaper than more conventional
materials or easier to come by, or just your effort to recycle the
material?
Just sign me curious as a cat. Pamela Jo
Jeff Seefeldt on sun 29 aug 99
I totally agree with Pam, i've been feeling the same way about these posts /
along with the nail fungus conversation, I cant think of any more unpleasant
topics to read each morning before work.
and by the way, lets talk about health concerns!!! I cant think that handling
cat pee and poop can be all that healthy. Me, when am asked to babysit for a
friends cat my first question is " I wont have to change the litter box, will
I?"
Not much of a cat lover anyway,
jeff
Pamela Jo Stamper wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Hello,
> OK, being a cat owner of sound mind (possibly), I can no longer
> maintain lurker mode. Drying cat litter on top the kiln does suggest used
> cat litter. You are talking about unused cat litter....right? Because,
> the first time I fired my raku kiln after the cats had marked it as part of
> their territory; every tom cat for ten miles must have made note of the
> event.
> Also, the brand of litter would make a difference. That clumping
> kind is not what you are talking about...or...is it?
> Also, as long as I decided to throw cat like caution to the wind and
> ask; Why use cat litter at all? Is it cheaper than more conventional
> materials or easier to come by, or just your effort to recycle the
> material?
> Just sign me curious as a cat. Pamela Jo
Martin Howard on sun 29 aug 99
Vince, the same conclusion had come to me.
I must be picking up your thoughts. My cat litter is almost pure
montmorillonite. One from Spain is definitely not, so we do not have
that one anymore.
Yes, I agree. I do not need the frit for a terra sig, just another clay,
filtered until it is also a terra sig.
And I have some London Clay, from the foundations for the Pottery,
sitting in the garden.
Normally we do not use London Clay around here, because it tends to have
too much chalk in it. But making it into a terra sig should be OK.
Then mix the two. What fun.
Will keep you informed.
Martin Howard
Martin Howard on sun 29 aug 99
Jeff, the world is divided in two parts. Cat lovers and the others.
Talking about health though, the more opportunity you give you body to
come to terms with, build up its own resistance to, outside entities,
the healthier you will be.
That is where homeopathy comes in, which is a direct contrary view to
the normal medicine with hospitals so clean that when a new germ arrives
there is a sudden outbreak of the dreaded naggers.
Martin Howard
Webbs Cottage Pottery and Press
Woolpits Road, Great Saling
BRAINTREE
Essex CM7 5DZ
01371 850 423
araneajo@gn.apc.org
| |
|
