Judy Musicant on sat 14 jun 03
Hello potters,
A friend of mine brought me a bowl she recently brought home from =
Provence, France for my opinion on food safety. It's obviously =
earthenware, and looks to me like it's glazed with commercial glazes, =
although I guess I'm not sure about that (inside is a bright yellow). =
Funny thing is, when you put water in the bowl, very obvious crazing =
appears. The crazing starts out as fine dark lines, and then the lines =
widen so that eventually the entire inside, or the part covered by =
water, is a uniform darker color than the glaze. Then, viola, at some =
later point, with water still inside, the bowl turns the original =
lighter color again, and the craze marks disappear. (how can that =
happen?) When the bowl is dry, no crazing is visible to the naked eye. =
The bowl does not seep - it's glazed on the outside bottom - obviously =
fired on stilts. Her question is whether the bowl is food safe for such =
things as cereal and salad. If not, it will be relegated to candy and =
perhaps to party magic tricks. Opinions?
Thanks.
Judy
F.Chapman Baudelot on sun 15 jun 03
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>A friend of mine brought me a bowl she recently brought home from=20
>Provence, France for my opinion on food safety. It's obviously=20
>earthenware, and looks to me like it's glazed with commercial glazes,=20
>although I guess I'm not sure about that (inside is a bright=20
>yellow). Funny thing is, when you put water in the bowl, very obvious=20
>crazing appears.
This bowl seems to be just like the ones made here in southern Spain. When=
=20
red earthenware is used it is first coated with a white slip (usually=20
available in 25 k sacks, just add water) then decorated with brightly=20
colouored commercial stains, yellow being the most popular colour, royal=20
blue a close second. The latest tendency is to bisque at this stage, but=20
some pieces are still single-fired. They are almost always glazed with an=
=20
industrial lead bisilicate or sequisilicale glaze and fired to 1000C=BA. =
In=20
years gone by, they were glazed with 'galena' . White earthenware is also=
=20
used, the process being the same except for the slip coating. A lot of=20
people do use these for food and drink, but I imagine that there is usually=
=20
some lead seepage and the crazing as described is very common. Even when=20
glazed on the bottom, they generally start leaking after a few hours.
Fran=E7oise in Spain
http://indalopottery.tripod.com/fenix.html
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Lily Krakowski on sun 15 jun 03
I would NOT use it for anything but wrapped candies and parlor tricks.
BYTW: it is noteworthy that people are allowed to bring into the country
objects covered with dubious paints (lead maybe?) toys for tiny kids with
stuff on them that any young child can choke on, AND POTTERY MEANT TO BE
FUNCTIONAL THAT IS NOT. When you have nothing else to do, you might want to
write your representatives.
Judy Musicant writes:
> Hello potters,
>
> A friend of mine brought me a bowl she recently brought home from Provence, France for my opinion on food safety. It's obviously earthenware, and looks to me like it's glazed with commercial glazes, although I guess I'm not sure about that (inside is a bright yellow). Funny thing is, when you put water in the bowl, very obvious crazing appears. The crazing starts out as fine dark lines, and then the lines widen so that eventually the entire inside, or the part covered by water, is a uniform darker color than the glaze. Then, viola, at some later point, with water still inside, the bowl turns the original lighter color again, and the craze marks disappear. (how can that happen?) When the bowl is dry, no crazing is visible to the naked eye. The bowl does not seep - it's glazed on the outside bottom - obviously fired on stilts. Her question is whether the bowl is food safe for such things as cereal and salad. If not, it will be relegated to candy and perhaps to party magic tr
icks. Opinions?
>
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage....
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