Dennis Mummert on wed 21 feb 01
Rachael; I dry tile pieces on a large bread cooling rack with a slight
amount of positive air movement - very slight. Usually just having a
low-speed fan operating somewhere in the same room (not blowing on the rack
itself) is sufficient.
Usually my 3-D shapes have enough lateral stiffness to avoid warpage anyway.
dimensional shapes. How do I dry them if I can't press them between
boards to keep them from warping? I have never had success keeping tiles
flat if I didn't keep them pressed with a weight on them. Thanks for
anyone's help on this.
Rachael
Mayssan1@AOL.COM on wed 21 feb 01
Rachael,
You asked:
.. How do I dry them if I can't press them between
boards to keep them from warping?
I make these totally flat slab trays with handles and sides, I dry them on
newspapers on open wire shelves and cover them with plastic, that way the air
is drying them from the bottom while gravity is pulling the water down, at
least that is what I think happens since it has been working and had no more
warping since I started drying them this way.
Good luck
Mayssan
STVC on wed 21 feb 01
Rachael Rice asked about drying 3D tiles:
"...I want to experiment with...three dimensional shapes.
How do I dry them if I can't press them between
boards to keep them from warping?"
Rachael,
Think variations on a sand bag theme. Wait till leather hard. Use soft,
tight weave cloth and clean, coarse sand. You can make a frame with
cardboard and tape, drape cloth over the frame and tile, and add sand. I
have also used a layer of foam rubber on the tiles with drywall on top if
the topography is relatively mild. The conforming and stabilizing qualities
of sand "bags" come in handy for ceramic sculpture also.
Steven Van Cleave
Vista, CA
Dai Scott on wed 21 feb 01
Hi, Rachel - I have dried 3-D tiles using either of two methods (my flat
tiles are, like yours, dried between pieces of drywall). Either method
requires that the edges of the tiles not have 3-D stuff on them, though.
1. Cut drywall somewhat larger than the proposed tiles, then cut out the
centers so that the 3-D parts can stick up through the cut-out part---so
what you have is a piece of drywall that looks sort of like matting for a
picture; the edges will cover the edges of the tile. Then you can lay
another piece of solid drywall over this "frame" and put some weight on
it--or you may have to stack 2 "frames" to allow for bigger 3-D. I actually
layer a number of tile "sandwiches" on top of one another.
2. Lay a piece of thick foam rubber over the tile, put your regular drywall
slab over and add some weight. This works well if your protrusions aren't
terribly frail, or don't stick out too far.
Hope one of these will work for you!
Dai, in Kelowna, BC.---editing for brevity and clarity.
potterybydai@home.com
Rachael Rice on wed 21 feb 01
When I make flat tiles I dry them between drywall boards and that has
kept them from warping. However, now I want to experiment with adding
extruded shapes to the front of the tile and building some three
dimensional shapes. How do I dry them if I can't press them between
boards to keep them from warping? I have never had success keeping tiles
flat if I didn't keep them pressed with a weight on them. Thanks for
anyone's help on this.
Rachael
Nanci Bishof on thu 22 feb 01
I use a system of 2 x 2 lumber as spacers/supports and the perforated light
diffusers for ceiling tile systems. The diffusers are 2' x 4'. I have the 2 x
2s cut in 2' lengths. I use approximately 5 equally distanced along the
length of the diffuser. The tiles are placed on the diffusers in between the
2 x 2s till its filled. Another diffuser can be placed above this and stacked
with more 2 x 2 spacers and tile. I then drape this with plastic and allow
the tile to slow dry. Because the tile get air circulation along all surfaces
and dry slowly they tend not to warp. Be careful not to bend them while
handling in the wet stage.
nanci
in overcast jacksonville fl where we still have no rain and the fire threat
increases
can smell the fires from the middle of the state and to our west
Richard Aerni on thu 22 feb 01
> Think variations on a sand bag theme. Wait till leather hard. Use soft,
> tight weave cloth and clean, coarse sand. You can make a frame with
> cardboard and tape, drape cloth over the frame and tile, and add sand. I
> have also used a layer of foam rubber on the tiles with drywall on top if
> the topography is relatively mild. The conforming and stabilizing
qualities
> of sand "bags" come in handy for ceramic sculpture also.
>
> Steven Van Cleave
> Vista, CA
>
Well, I suppose this would work for a small amount of tiles, or for ones
that don't have any fragile undercuts, but it strikes me as a lot of work if
you're going to produce a large amount of tiles.
I would recommend that you make adjustments to your clay body so that it is
less prone to warpage. I'm sure the clay gurus will have lots of advice on
this if you ask them. For one project I was involved in, which had some
pieces where the bas relief was six inches above the base tile, we solved
the problem by adding large amounts of grog (close to 1/3 by weight, if
memory serves me right) which eliminated the warping problem. We also
formulated this clay body so that it had exactly 10% shrinkage at cone 10,
which was a help in figuring the design, since the piece stretched on for
about 90 feet in length.
If you're getting into serious relief tiles, another issue you'll probably
have to deal with is carving out the backs, so they have a cross section
that is approximately the same, wherever possible. This will help eliminate
drying and firing faults in the finished piece as well.
Good luck,
Richard Aerni
Bloomfield, NY
> Rachael Rice asked about drying 3D tiles:
>
> "...I want to experiment with...three dimensional shapes.
> How do I dry them if I can't press them between
> boards to keep them from warping?"
Scsclay@AOL.COM on thu 22 feb 01
Rachael,
You can also use the plastic grids that go on fluorescent lights for
drying. Easy to find. Some of my relief tiles are very large, up to 21",
and the main thing for me is slowing down the drying, starting with layers of
plastic. I also have a humidifier which I use when I need to (winter).
You will find that some clays will warp more than others, too.
Susan Schultz
Stonington, Ct.
Dolly Traicoff on thu 22 feb 01
My tiles are relief, some thicker (more dimensional) than others. I went to
Home Depot, my home away from home, bought the pantry shelving components,
standards, pantry shelves, (white coated wire shelves, sixteen inches wide)
and the brackets. I attached them to the studs on my basement wall. I've
never used drywall and my tiles dry flat. The wire shelves that are are
designated for pantry use have the wires closer together for a sturdier
shelf. My basement is dry and I make sure that the air from the registers is
deflected and doesn't blow directly on the shelves. Hope this is helpful.
Dolly Traicoff in snowy Michigan
>
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Rod, Marian, and Holly Morris on thu 22 feb 01
I just had this problem, though with a small amount of tiles. I drew from a
recent discussion on drying in humid heat, and laid the tiles out on my
usual boards, but with a layer of plastic, then a layer of cloth underneath
to minimize water drawing out from the bottom, before drying out of the top.
I then wrapped the whole thing in plastic and put it in my furnace room
which is around 100-120 much of the time. Though this was a bit slow, it
worked just dandy. At leather hard, I loosened the plastic and let the
drying go faster.
Oh, and I did, as another discussant suggested, move to a commercially
produced "sculpture clay" with more grog, which is definitely helping my
other tiles, though I hated to move away from my beloved terra cotta.
Marian in Michigan
Snail Scott on thu 22 feb 01
At 10:05 PM 2/21/01 -0500, you wrote:
>building some three
>dimensional shapes. How do I dry them if I can't press them between
>boards to keep them from warping? I have never had success keeping tiles
>flat if I didn't keep them pressed with a weight on them.
>
>Rachael
Put balls of clay on the low parts,
to bring the height up level with
the high parts, then stack the drywall
and weight well. Wrap the stack to
even out the drying process.
-Snail
Rod, Marian, and Holly Morris on fri 23 feb 01
You know, this makes sense, because air is getting to both the top and
bottom, hence no uneven drying.
I'll have to try it.
Marian, also in Michigna
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dolly Traicoff"
To:
Sent: Thursday, February 22, 2001 12:18 PM
Subject: Re: A question on drying three dimensional tiles
> My tiles are relief, some thicker (more dimensional) than others. I went
to
> Home Depot, my home away from home, bought the pantry shelving components,
> standards, pantry shelves, (white coated wire shelves, sixteen inches
wide)
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