Russel Fouts on fri 24 sep 99
Thanks for your comments, here's the scoop
The sig is already made, and it is good, it just contains too much water to
make it easy to transport on a plane (yes, call me crazy). I want to get as
much water out of it as I can with out drying it.
I haven't had very good luck reconstituting sig from dry, the particles
never break up again to the same small size, LOTS of it settles out
(experienced this with dry sig I took to Italy). Maybe a BRIEF ball milling
would do the trick here. Not being too familiar with ball mills, how long
should this be? I'm thinking it should be a VERY short time.
Someone's suggestion of simmering rather than boiling sounded possible. I
agree with Tom Buck, boiling ruins good sig. It gets a scum on top that you
ARE able to skim but the "texture" (sorry, can't explain it any other way)
changes and it's not the same.
I LOVED Tom's suggestion of using a Reverse Osmosis Unit but my contact with
one (YES, I really did have one!) recently moved to Japan.
Still looking
Russel
Russel Fouts
Mes Potes & Mes Pots
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 223 02 75
Mobile: +32 476 55 38 75
Http://users.skynet.be/russel.fouts
http://www.Japan-Net.ne.jp/~iwcat
Vince Pitelka on sat 25 sep 99
>I haven't had very good luck reconstituting sig from dry, the particles
>never break up again to the same small size, LOTS of it settles out
>(experienced this with dry sig I took to Italy). Maybe a BRIEF ball milling
>would do the trick here. Not being too familiar with ball mills, how long
>should this be? I'm thinking it should be a VERY short time.
>
>Someone's suggestion of simmering rather than boiling sounded possible. I
>agree with Tom Buck, boiling ruins good sig. It gets a scum on top that you
>ARE able to skim but the "texture" (sorry, can't explain it any other way)
>changes and it's not the same.
Well, Russel, my experience has been contrary to the above. Every summer
when I teach my "Ancient Clay" workshop around the country, I prepare
quantities of redart and ball clay terra sig, put the thin sig in big metal
pans, and dry them out completely in an electric kiln. I don't imagine it
actually boils, but it does get bone-dry overnight. When I get to my
destination, I put the sig in a container, cover it completely with water
and leave it overnight. The next day I mix it up thoroughly with a drill
mixer or hand blender, and then thin it to 1.15 specific gravity using a
hydrometer. It is always just as good as the fresh stuff which has never
been dried. However, if you do have access to a ball mill, go ahead and
ball mill it overnight before you use it. It certainly can't hurt. One
thing you should check out is the acidity or alkalinity of the water you are
using. It is possible that your sig is not adequately deflocculated, if
your tap-water is slightly acidic. Check it out.
Good luck -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
Roger Korn on mon 27 sep 99
Vince, you are right on the money here. I tried reconstituting with tap
water here (ph=5.5) and had flocculation problems which were solvable by
adding a bit of soda ash. Next time, I tried using distilled water
(ph=7) and no flocculation problems. "It's the water..."
Roger
Vince wrote:
Well, Russel, my experience has been contrary to the above. Every
summer
when I teach my "Ancient Clay" workshop around the country, I prepare
quantities of redart and ball clay terra sig, put the thin sig in big
metal
pans, and dry them out completely in an electric kiln. I don't imagine
it
actually boils, but it does get bone-dry overnight. When I get to my
destination, I put the sig in a container, cover it completely with
water
and leave it overnight. The next day I mix it up thoroughly with a
drill
mixer or hand blender, and then thin it to 1.15 specific gravity using a
hydrometer. It is always just as good as the fresh stuff which has
never
been dried. However, if you do have access to a ball mill, go ahead and
ball mill it overnight before you use it. It certainly can't hurt. One
thing you should check out is the acidity or alkalinity of the water you
are
using. It is possible that your sig is not adequately deflocculated, if
your tap-water is slightly acidic. Check it out.
Good luck -
- Vince
| |
|
