Brian Molanphy on sun 1 apr 01
tom,
thanks for the blast from the past. there are two points in your post that i
don't understand; would you clairfy please. first, how did you vaporize
copper, salt, and tin? did you place crucibles filled with metallic
compounds in the kiln, or did you shovel the stuff in as in traditional salt
glazing, or did you spray in a dissolved solution as in soda glazing?
second, you remind us that vaporizing any metal is lethal. does this include
sodium from sodium chloride or sodium carbonate? if so, why don't books on
salt glazing include this grave warning? (perhaps i am a dangerously
delinquent reader of such books...)
> ----------
> From: peachblow pottery
> Reply To: Ceramic Arts Discussion List
> Sent: Sunday, April 1, 2001 4:26 AM
> To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
> Subject: Metallic-Vapor Glazing
>
> To answer Iandol's question, back in the 60's and 70's Don Reitz was
> throwing everything and anything he could get his hands on into his salt
> kilns. Some metals vaporized at that temperature and others did not.
> Historically, brick and sewer pipe manufacturers would put zinc in with
> their salt. I was a student(still am) back in the 60's and had an interest
> in copper reds. I spent 10 years working with a copper red vapor glaze. I
> wasn't salting a glaze, nor salting a slip, I was vaporizing copper, salt,
> and tin, producing a copper red vapor glaze, 60 cubic feet at a time.
> There was 90% loss, but I also learned to refire adding more glaze build
> up therefore helping the reds to form. I learned alot about copper reds.
> It was all single fire porcelain in a high alumina salt resistant kiln. I
> was teaching at the time and the research was more important than the
> sales. A thesis was written in 1973 at Clemson University in Clemson S.C.
> Please remember that vaporizing any metal is lethal, take extreme care.
> Copper red vapor over a porcelain with 1/4 % cobalt produced gorgeous
> lavenders and purples. Almost every load was fumed in the cooling cycle
> with stannous chloride for irredescence. Also realize that if you throw
> metals into a salt kiln, you contaminate that kiln for firings to come.
> This actually helped my situation, but in a school situation the next load
> may not want copper or whatever else preceded it. If anyone tries this,
> just be extremely careful to not breathe the fumes during firing. I'm sure
> there are masks that would filter the vapors. Good luck. Tom Turner
>
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