Alisa og Claus Clausen on sat 5 may 01
Dear Clayart,
I am thinking that sometimes we are irritated or unhappy if someone does =
=3D
not give us credit for something we already know all about in clay. In =
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contrast, it can be unsettling if someone assumes you know something =3D
technical about clay that you do not have a real understanding of.
Such was that when I found Moley's Cafe in Glaze town yesterday. I =3D
thought it sounded like a place where I would meet Marek and Pauline. =3D
Turns out it is the town's Molecular Weight Cafe. I was having a latte =3D
and thinking over the mistake I had recently posted where I mixed up the =
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ratio for substituting Strontium for Barium. I was lamenting a bit that =
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if I really had a solid understanding of what I was doing, I could not =3D
make this type of mistake, short of careless inversion. =3D20
There was billboard there plastered with printouts from Clayarts =3D
archives. There I reread the note Tom Buck had sent to me at one point =3D
in reference to substituting materials, where he said to me that he =3D
knows that I know that I should substitute materials according to theie =3D
molecular weights. Eyes looked up and to the right, big gulp.
The first time I tried to understand the equations several Clayarters =3D
sent to me to help me understand the process of substitution, I was =3D
substituting Wollastonite for Whiting. The equation looked like this =3D
for 20 grams to Whiting to Wollastonite:
116/100x20. 20 grams of Whiting is subbed with 23.2 grams of =3D
Wollastonite.
I plugged in the numbers for almost every recipe I had with Whiting. =3D
But the big mistake was I was just plugging in numbers, after an =3D
example, much like I did as a kid trying to understand the quadratic =3D
equation. I could fit the numbers in, but did not really know what they =
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represented. =3D20
I realize my biggest oversight with the first sub. of Wollastonite for =3D
Whiting was that I read the 116/100 as a MW for Wollastonite, but in my =
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oversite and lack of understanding, read the 100 as a 100 gram batch. =3D=
20
It hit suddenly yesterday. I was studying the Periodic tables in Hamer =3D
and Hamer. There it was: MW for Whiting:100. Bam. =3D20
Take the MW of the material you want to use as substitute, divide it by =3D
the MW of the material you are replacing, and multiply the sum by the =3D
gram amount needed.
When someone thinks I am "with" a line a understanding and I am =3D
extremely boarderline about really grasping it, it is very worthwhile =3D
and rewarding to hit the books and try to figure it out. I keep telling =
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myself, that glazing is not mysterious but complicated. It is coming =3D
about slowly and the experimentation grounds keep widening. I am also =3D
glad to report that I am still testing a lot, but I am really narrowing =3D
my glazing pallet to three bases, and coloring them. =3D20
Moley's is the place where I am going to spend some long days trying to =3D
see what it is I am dragging along in substitutions and seeing what I =3D
can figure out about returning the balance in the glaze again.
Glazetown has a lot of cellar cafes.
Best regards,
Alisa in Denmark
AND, the sun is shining, the wind is blowing, the sky is mostly blue
and I am sitting here at 21.30, and the sun is a big red ball. Today =3D
is
the official start of the long nights. Love this country in summertime.
Come visit! We recently bought a little farm, with one field, a stable =3D
and
a lot of room for a kiln and a studio. Not moving there, but renovating =3D
and renting for now. I am thinking one day I will make a school there =
=3D
for ceramic courses and invite ceramists to summer workshops. In the =3D
meantime, if anyone wants a cheap vacation in Southern Denmark and can =3D
help me build a bourey box or cross draught or anagama or, or, or other =3D
type of wood burning kiln, let us talk!
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