Dupre Mr Marcy M on fri 17 may 02
LOOKING FOR INFO ON RE USE AND RECYCLING:
I'm looking for information on anything related to re use and recycling...
waste oil firing, sawdust firing....burning waste cardboard, paper,or wood
in a kiln fired with another primary fuel. Using ground glass in clays or
tile making..oddball ingredients in glazes like cement etc.
Gail,
Sometimes I think potters are the original packrat recyclers. We have a
tendency to to use any and everything in our quest for the elusive "art" of
pottery.
"The Self-Reliant Potter" by Andrew Holden is an excellent work for oil and
waste oil firing, kiln construction and general pottery. "Ash Glazes" by
Robert Tichane has some interesting suggestions for the use of
non-traditional materials in glazing. I found one entry on Portland cement
as a substitute for ash in a glaze particularly interesting.
Unfortunately, the Holden book is out of print and expensive (US$50+) to buy
through used book stores. Tichane is available.
I am currently experimenting with a glaze formulated for ^6 oxidation, using
ground up wine bottles, called "cullet." Actually cullet is plain ground
glass, of any type. I use the green bottles because they are already
colored and make a lovely glaze on textured surfaces. One drawback to using
cullet is that the powder is heavy in liquid glazes and has a tendency to
settle quickly. I add 2% bentonite to a glaze to assist with suspension.
volcanic ash 33
nepheline syenite 33
cullet 34
Add:
bentonite 2
I stir slowly before each application to get a good coating of all the
materials.
Your next question is where can I buy some of this marvelous cullet? Not
the fish market, for certain... :o) I make my own. First, I put several
bottles in old canvas tote bags and beat hell out of them with a hammer to
get small shards of glass. I then put the shards in a ball mill jar with a
handful of large steel nuts (from hardware store). Grind for 24 hours, more
or less. Sift the large pieces out and store in a jar.
ALWAYS WEAR A MASK WHEN HANDLING CULLET! I cannot stress that enough! Many
other ceramic materials are annoying and mildly irritating, and some are
dangerous to inhale. Cullet is among the DANGEROUS. I also use leather
gloves and eye protection when handling this stuff.
In application on textured surfaces, it makes a crackled, celadon-like
glaze. Very nice!
Hope this is a good start.
Tig
Play Dirty!
| |
|
