Pat Southwood on wed 11 sep 02
Primalmommy,
No wonder she left town! How did she think that pugging the clay would
remove the plaster???
I would hack a bit off, slake it down, seive it, dry it out, make a pinch
pot and fire it in a saggar. You can use a bisque pot as a saggar, if you
want. This will save your kiln if she blows!
Pat.
----- Original Message -----
From: "primalmommy"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 3:59 AM
Subject: bought a pig in a poke
> I recently bought a load of porcelain from a potter who was leaving
> town. I fire ^6 ox and have never worked with porcelain, but it was
> cheap since most of it had dried rock hard and it was, the potter said,
> contaminated with specks of iron from a community pug mill. I didn't
> mind; I wasn't even sure why I wanted it, just thought it might come in
> handy.
>
> Once it was all loaded inthe back of my van and paid for the potter
> remembered WHY she had run it through the pug mill: to try to get out
> the plaster it was contaminated with! Yikes! It was too late to unload
> and get my money back (and I didn't want to be a jerk) but plaster? She
> suggested I might not mind throwing with the plaster chunks in there and
> that I could use it for handbuilding, but as most potters know it's
> firing the stuff that causes the nightmares and pop-outs...
>
> So. Common sense tells me I should cut my losses and leave the stuff on
> the curb for the garbage man. But it's here, and I hate to waste it...
> what if I soaked it and thinned it to a watery slip, then poured it
> through fine mesh fiberglass screening, then into the tied-shut legs of
> a couple of old pairs of jeans to stiffen up a bit?
>
> Keep in mind that a) I'm on a tight budget, b) I love B-mix but have
> never thrown porcelain, and c) I'm not put off by a little hard work.
> But if this is doomed to failure I can think of things I would rather
> do. In my few years on clayart I have learned that the best answer is
> usually "try it and see" -- but from where i am now to firing a pot and
> looking for pop outs is a long road.
>
> If it's not worth it, any ideas what else I might do with it? I have a
> big bucket (marked with a wide red ribbon) of waste clay (plaster
> contaminated or whatever) that I use to make thrown molds a la dannon
> Rhudy, and will be thinning out to make her paper saggars... I have used
> it mixed with sawdust to chink the gaps in my brick pit-firing kiln...
> what else?
>
> I just hate to pass up an opportunity to scrounge. By the way, my
> earlier request for info on building a pit firing cage was recently
> solved when my hubby brought home three cubes, about a yard square,
> welded from rebar (they had been used as sampling traps for a river) --
> and my neighbor the welder is going to make them into a cage like
> vince's (from a photo I gave him). Vince, I'll send you the royalties as
> soon as they cool... ;0)
>
> Yours, Kelly in Ohio... who had dinner last night with the charming
> Helen bates, our very own URL-guru, at the home of potter Ellen Marks...
> came home with one of Helen's bowls. A lovely time was had by all...
>
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=?iso-8859-1?B?R+lyYXJkIENhcnJp6HJl?= on fri 13 sep 02
I used to pick local clay with limestone in it. Since I have a farmer's
hammer mill, I would mill it, mix it with water, cream consistency, sieve=
it
through a 60 mesh sieve which allows through only particles 180th of an
inch. This took care of lime pops. Clay and glazes may have been somewhat
affected by the lime content but the users did not notice considerable
differences. We thought the lime might have made the clay paler but we
wondered if it was the quantity of rust (iron oxide) which was just lower
than in other local clays. I would often mix half and half this low firin=
g
local clay with a local kaolin or fireclay and I could reach cone 6 witho=
ut
problems. Could a porcelain with plaster be treated in the same way? You
might want to try it if you are equiped to do the work or you could ask t=
he
gurus. I'm just a simple joe from No=EBlville. But since I always tell pe=
ople
I don't use the process much anymore because I do not have help, you coul=
d
bring your clay to my place sometime and we could treat it together as lo=
ng
as you're willing to help me with mine. Remember this is a long process w=
ith
primitive equipment. G=E9rard near the beautiful French River, la rivi=E8=
re des
Fran=E7ais, the preferred route of the Voyageurs.
----- Original Message -----
From: Pat Southwood
To:
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 1:47 AM
Subject: Re: bought a plaster/porcelain pig in a poke
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