Janet Kaiser on mon 8 nov 99
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I was at a tile making workshop today, where Meri Wells was telling us about=
her
time at a porcelain manufacturing company in Poland. I thought I would =
report to
you all about two interesting titbits I picked up:
1. All the work was slip cast and to =22stick=22 the bits --- handles, =
spouts, knobs
on lids, etc. --- they used a =22glue=22 which was porcelain slip, sugar and=
???
Yes, the language problem and the lack of interest or knowledge (=22it is =
just
what we always use=22) meant Meri does not know what that vital ingredient =
is.
Does anyone know? What she did say, was it was rather like using super =
glue=21
This =22slip=22 was applied and pressed without any scoring and it was =
instant and
permanent adhesion. Very rarely came adrift in the firing, which was in one =
end
of the kiln (wet=21) and out the other the next day (I think).
2. One whole area in this factory, was thousands of moulds which just =
produced
strips of porcelain. She asked what were they for and was shown (again lack =
of
language skills) that they were used on platters to prevent S cracks.
Now given the problems with platters that some have, this could be the =
=22long
lost=22 solution for some of you=21? Thinking about it, I have an oval =
platter which
has a raised foot and a similar strip down the middle of the same height... =
I
guess the middle =22rib=22 supports the large area of plate which would =
suffer a lot
of stress and combined with the foot rim will hold as much as possible off =
the
kiln shelf. Must be good, eh?
What do the experts on these things think?
Janet Kaiser
The Chapel of Art: Home of The International Potters' Path
Criccieth LL52 0EA, GB-Wales, UK
WEBSITE: http://www.the-coa.org.uk
EMAIL: postbox=40the-coa.org.uk
If you experience difficulties accessing our web site,
please e-mail me=21 Thank you=21
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