Imzadi Donelli on tue 9 oct 01
<< Another example of repeatable gibberish is our glaze dip times,
I count silently, "hippopotamus 1, hippopotamus 2, hippopotamus 3,
hippopotamus 4, hippopotamus 5, hippopotamus 6", so does Trev.
For years I've said he dips for a count of 5,
he swears I dip for a count of 7. Check out "Rhythm of Life" in
New Scientist 4 Aug. 2001, all about internal metronomes.
Guess what? We both get the same thickness of glaze on the pot.
>>
This is the second time I've run into people who say to leave the pot in the
glaze and WAIT! At the one place I learned to glaze, I was told to dip the
pot into and out of the glaze as fast as possilble. To hold the pot in the
glaze for any kind of count would saturate a pot and cause to thick a layer
in which the excess glaze would just crack off the pot, or worse, run all
over the kiln shelves. And you couldn't possible layer on a second glaze
color if you counted, you would run the risk of a too thickly glazed pot,
again glaze cracking off while drying. And forget using a runny glaze.
At the two new ceramics studios I've studied at since coming back to clay
after a ten year hiatus, I have dipped with my usual same results. Using the
fingertip ridge method of testing glaze thickness, the glazes are the same.
At one of these studios does teach the counting method. And there are a pots
by sticking to the kiln shelves each firing. You could build a house with the
shards of ruined kiln shelves.
So where did this method of glaze dipping come from?
Imzadi
John Hesselberth on tue 9 oct 01
on 10/9/01 3:48 PM, Imzadi Donelli at CyberSaving@AOL.COM wrote:
> To hold the pot in the
> glaze for any kind of count would saturate a pot and cause to thick a layer
> in which the excess glaze would just crack off the pot, or worse, run all
> over the kiln shelves. And you couldn't possible layer on a second glaze
> color if you counted, you would run the risk of a too thickly glazed pot,
> again glaze cracking off while drying. And forget using a runny glaze.
Hello Imzadi,
I think this is a matter of personal preference. There are a zillion ways
to apply glazes and if one of those ways works for you then its the right
way for you. I'm in the group who prefers to dip for the count of 5. I
thin my glazes so I get the right thickness with a 5 second dip. I just
feel I have better control that way. But if you want to mix your glazes
thicker and "dip and flip", have at it.
Regards,
John
Web site: http://www.frogpondpottery.com Email: john@frogpondpottery.com
"The life so short, the craft so long to learn." Chaucer's translation of
Hippocrates, 5th cent. B.C.
Des Howard on wed 10 oct 01
Imzadi
Try 33 years of proven workshop practice in a production pottery.
Please note I do not urge our techniques on anyone by stating
"must/must not", I merely share what we do.
We make & use one porcelaneous stoneware body for our thrown,
extruded, jiggered, coiled & slab pots.
The pots are bisqued to 985 C (just a handy mark on our digital
pyrometer), giving a standardised porosity.
Our glazes have either no clay or low clay, any glazes with a
plastic material content have part or all of the plastics calcined.
The pots are dipped (for a count) in glazes adjusted with a hydrometer,
2-3 layers, the glaze coats are THICK. Bases are cleaned by
scuffing them on a damp carpet, leaving a max 2 mm bare bisque edge.
We fire to Cone 12 Red. (1306 C) over 12 hours using forced air
gas burners. Our biggest firing problems are a degree of
slight warping & plucking, not glaze runs. The occasional Cone 10R
& Cone 11R firings we do have even less problems.
Again, please note, I share, to elucidate, not to pontificate.
Regards
Des
Imzadi Donelli wrote:
> <> glaze and WAIT! At the one place I learned to glaze, I was told to dip the
> pot into and out of the glaze as fast as possilble. To hold the pot in the
> glaze for any kind of count would saturate a pot and cause to thick a layer
> in which the excess glaze would just crack off the pot, or worse, run all
> over the kiln shelves. And you couldn't possible layer on a second glaze
> color if you counted, you would run the risk of a too thickly glazed pot,
> again glaze cracking off while drying. And forget using a runny glaze.
>
> At the two new ceramics studios I've studied at since coming back to clay
> after a ten year hiatus, I have dipped with my usual same results. Using the
> fingertip ridge method of testing glaze thickness, the glazes are the same.
> At one of these studios does teach the counting method. And there are a pots
> by sticking to the kiln shelves each firing. You could build a house with the
> shards of ruined kiln shelves.
>
> So where did this method of glaze dipping come from?
> --
Des & Jan Howard
Lue Pottery
LUE NSW 2850
Australia
Ph/Fax 02 6373 6419
http://www.luepottery.hwy.com.au
| |
|
