Lily Krakowski on mon 23 dec 02
Have had several off list messages from people who took kindly to this small
rant.
I do want to add a postcript.
If one is going to get started with glaze one needs to think a lot more than
most novices do about the clay body.
Not only do the colorants in the clay body affect glaze color and texture,
but the impurities in the body can and do affect the glaze cover as they
(the impurities) burn out. They become gazes, and these gazes push their
way out of the clay body, and through the glaze quite as ferociously as
Christmas shoppers put their way to the checkout counters. One way of
limiting the pushiness is to bisque higher so that more gasses are gone by
the time the glaze fire starts.
One should start with several clay bodies, before committing to one. EVEN
IF one is sure one wants to us a particular body, one must remember the
manufacturer may have to switch feldspars or clay or something in making it,
(yes, it happens, wait a few years, you'll find out) or stop making it, and
you want versatile, good natured glazes.
One often finds that a glaze that works gorgeously on one body looks awful,
or is full of defects on another. This has to do with the clay body, and
cannot really be altered if one buys the body ready made.(An interfacting
slip may help)
IT WOULD BE SO SWELL if claybody manufacturers--hi there, guys--would offer
samplers; if someone new to that supplier, or new to glaze, could order a
box with five pound samples of each clay in a particular firing range. I
pay 21-30 cents a pound for my clay body, right now, as I buy small amounts.
But I would gladly pay twice that a pound for a sampler! It would be a
benefit to all potters who need to change suppliers, are changing what they
make, or simply into the glaze game.
And yes, manufacturers, if you insist, test your own extruders by offering a
box of 50 test tiles, the T shaped ones....all ready to go, all ready for
the novice to get started with.
And that is that.
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
| |
|
