Paul Taylor on fri 10 mar 00
Dear Martin
This saga I wrote to Centa. I Thought it would go to the group as well -
Outlook Depressed.
----------
From: "Paul Taylor"
To: centa@wenet.net
Subject: Re: hump molded...
Date: Thu, Mar 9, 2000, 2:42 pm
Dear Centra.
Yes I have read a book on raw glazing I forget the name but Parker rings
a bell. He also fired with waste oil. I liked his attitude. There was a
potter from England called Andrew Holden I. Again can not remember the name
of his book which has disappeared from my library. I met Andrew and saw
round
his work shop he was the potter I aspired to be. He sadly died in a car
accident . His book contains some nice raw glazes and a methodology for line
blending that would suit the non technical ( that's not to suggest that you
are not). I have used the method. It is especially good for designing glazes
with materials that you have dug yourself and can not afford to get
analyzed.
Andrews glazes formed the basis of my glazes until my titanium glaze
pinholed then I turned to more balanced recipes that still contained enough
clay to raw glaze. The new glazes are based on classical chinese formulas
ware as Andrews glazes look similar to earlier glazes.
They raw glazed beautifully but they were not very tough , did not take
well
to overfiring and did not have as high a ring when you tapped the pot as the
ones I use now. I am however thinking that the perfect ring may be another
standard set by industry and not necessary for art/craft pottery. Andrews
glazes looked especially beautiful on strongly thrown cookery ware. I wish
I could remember names and titles.
There is a man on this list that knows all about pottery books and
sells them. He is bound to know, again I forget his name . You are right
that nearly all glazes can be made to raw glaze. I have rawglazed all bodies
including porcelain.
Any way to my experience
I liked raw glazing but it was difficult on the nerves .
What I liked about it was the fluid way the glaze went on the pot. I
liked making and glazing one batch of pots at a time . I do not like the
feel of biscuit ware; the way it absorbs the moisture from your finger tips
.
What I did not like, and I now biscuit fire, Is that pots like teapots
and Jugs , unless judged right, would crack when I glazed them. The
firings were longer and I found them stressful, having to worry about
bloating with too early reduction. It is not that I did not manage but I
decided that the few cracked pots that I lost would pay for the biscuit
firing. The early nights ( shorter firings ) cut out a lot of stress and I
have no bloating in
my bread crocks or casseroles. There again I am very absent minded and
slovenly. If you are more disciplined or have a kiln you can program well.
The firing should be of no difficulty.
I still use some of the glazing technics I had to develop for raw
glazing to glaze my biscuit ware. I hate waxing so, apart from lidded pots,
I don,t. I still glaze the inside or outside separately. The bottoms of my
pots are unturned. This does put a compression strain on the pot by not
having a foot and glaze on the bottom of the pot. But since the body is not
fully vitrified there seems to be enough give all round to leave them oven
proof. The softer glazes were even more heat resistant (I THINK).
Every pot seemed to demand different treatment and the amount of clay in
the glaze also made a difference to when and how I glazed.
A glaze with lots of clay 50% like a temocue would always go on a dream.
The pot could be fairly wet and as long as the pot was showing no dry bits
you could glaze away. However I still had to avoid the pot getting too wet
and collapsing .
Glazes with about 10 % clay or greater, and especially ones relying on
bentonite, I would put on the pot when the pot started to show a little
white. The glaze would fall off the pot if there was not a little dryness in
the body for the glaze to fill into, and a little shrinkage of the body from
leather hard.
I could glaze the inside first if the pot was not too dry. It was
always necessary to let the glaze on the inside or outside- depending on
which you decided to put on first- dry and dry well. If you did not, big
blisters would appear in the middle of the body when you put the rest of the
glaze on.
As I said before , if handles and spouts got too dry they would absorb a
lot of water and fall or crack or blister . I expect you have noticed that
very dry clay breaks down quicker than leather hard .
Since most handles are on the outside it was better to glaze the outside
first before they got too dry. the spout would glaze the outside of the pot
first .
also the outside was the most difficult to control so a mistake was less
likely to show and was easily corrected - a little double dipping on the
inside never showed.
The most difficult to glaze was a tea pot . I would hot wax the
gallery and holding my thum over the spout would dip the pot in upside down.
This left the bottom unglazed. A little air some times glugged out of the
pot if I did not hold it straight.
Lots of glaze in a big bucket was also a necessity, giving me plenty of
room, because the finger on the right hand was holding the rim and the thumb
was stopping glaze going up the spout. When the pot was dry-ish I would
swirl glaze round the inside and pore it out the spout.
The sieve holes were big enough not to fill with glaze but I would blow them
out through a Biro case if the glaze did fill them. If the pot was not
completely dry and the pot not to thin the sieve part would hold together.
But I always felt it was only just. I had to use my fingers and no wires or
tongs so as not to mark the body. A dab of glaze from a brush or a finger
would cover the glaze missed. The style of pot and the style of glaze would
forgive this sort of slapdashery.
The firing was just the same as a biscuit except at 800 centigrade I
would soak the kiln for an hour well Oxidized . Sometimes I wish I had done
two, when a good bread crock bloated. Then I would reduce as a gaze firing.
As I said before too stressful for me. I was firing with cones. Now I have
all sorts of fancy measuring equipment I could go back to it, but I wont.
Regards Paul T
----------
>From: centa
>To: taylor@mail.anu.net
>Subject: hump molded...
>Date: Wed, Mar 8, 2000, 5:35 pm
>Paul,
>. By the way, I am also
>interested in learning about raw glazing or once firing, whichever. I
>heard there is a book on the subject by, is it Michael Parker
>Centa
>
Russel Fouts on sat 11 mar 00
Paul,
I, myself am having more and more "senior moments", That's why I have my
computer and my "Filofouts" ;-)
"Raw glazing and waste oil firing book and guy" is Dennis Parks "Fired
Free", Great book, we worked a lot from this book while I was in school.
"Book Guy on ClayArt" is Steve Branfman of "The Potter's Shop"
"Paul Taylor" Aren't you the guy with the dancers? I'm terrible with names.
The loss of Andrew Holden is felt here as well.
We raw glazed in school, leather hard pots and slip glazes, waste oil fired
with a "Harrow" pipe burner, nice way to go. Now I apply slips and sigs to
bisqued pots and fire in an electric kiln. "Turn, turn, turn......"
Russel
Russel Fouts
Mes Potes & Mes Pots
Brussels, Belgium
Tel: +32 2 223 02 75
Mobile: +32 476 55 38 75
Http://www.mypots.com
http://www.Japan-Net.ne.jp/~iwcat
| |
|
