Heather Zirwas on mon 3 feb 03
I consider myself an inexperienced potter, as I have spent only a half-
dozen years on the wheel, both during and after my university education.
However, a friend of mine owns a "paint-your-own-ceramics" studio and has
decided to bring in wheels and clay (an area she is completely unfamiliar
with), and has asked me to help design and implement the entire program
(and teach a basic class when we open). I am a bit overwhelmed and seem to
be reduced to questions. So I pose these to the internet void and welcome
any suggestions:
1. The business glaze fires at cone 06. She would like to keep the clay at
the same temp for ease of fire and prevention of mix-ups. I, in contrast,
would like to fire at mid-range stoneware temps (strength and vitreosity is
my argument). What are the pros and cons of either, and which would you
suggest?
2. Lack of space and a dwindling budget leaves us without the option to buy
a mixer and/or (maybe) a pug mill. What to do with leftover clay and
recycling?
I welcome any input.
Thanks...
Marcia Selsor on mon 3 feb 03
The clay type is a biggy and I don't want to go there. But I have a nice
plaster vat for recycling scraps after soaking them down.I find this to
be a simple minimum labor process.
Marcia Selsor
> 1. The business glaze fires at cone 06. She would like to keep the clay at
> the same temp for ease of fire and prevention of mix-ups. I, in contrast,
> would like to fire at mid-range stoneware temps (strength and vitreosity is
> my argument). What are the pros and cons of either, and which would you
> suggest?
>
> 2. Lack of space and a dwindling budget leaves us without the option to buy
> a mixer and/or (maybe) a pug mill. What to do with leftover clay and
> recycling?
>
> I welcome any input.
> Thanks...
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at melpots@pclink.com.
>
--
Tuscany in 2003
http://home.attbi.com/~m.selsor/Tuscany2003.html
Snail Scott on tue 4 feb 03
At 01:44 PM 2/3/03 -0500, you wrote:
>a friend of mine owns a "paint-your-own-ceramics" studio and has
>decided to bring in wheels and clay...
>1. The business glaze fires at cone 06. She would like to keep the clay at
>the same temp for ease of fire and prevention of mix-ups. I, in contrast,
>would like to fire at mid-range stoneware temps...
I used to teach classes as a local shop that operated
that way - bisque-painting in front, and wheels and
tables in back. The owner agreed with us (the teachers)
about stoneware, and all the 'back room' work was fired
to ^6 in the same electric kiln. It wasn't hard to keep
the stuff for the different firings separated; you could
tell at a glance which stuff was the premade bisqueware.
The owner bought a couple of different pre-mixed clay
bodies (only white, though, for keeping clean), dry bags
of Moroccan Sand glazes mixed up in 5gal buckets, and no
pugmill or mixer. Students bought their own clay by the
bag, from the shop owner, and generally kept their own
scraps. I don't recall what was done with the throwing
slop (my handbuilding groups didn't generate much), but
you can waste a lot of clay before you pay off the cost
of a pugmill! I would think that the purchase of one
could wait for later, once the new clay area was up and
running and generating enough scrap to justify one.
Recycling in buckets wth a few plaster bats will serve
pretty well in the meantime. If you do plan to recycle,
though, I'd try to stick with just one clay body.
-Snail
| |
|
