Simona Drentea on wed 12 nov 03
Ooo, good idea & if glaze drips on the unglazed beads, they could become
glazed beads :-)
Simona
<< Hello Simona- You could have a very small unglazed spacer bead between the
two, a round one. That way the unglazed area on the end of the other beads
could be quite small. Hope this is clear. >>
Simona Drentea on wed 12 nov 03
<< I'm also looking for a way to raku fire beads. I've been placing larger
beads on small stilts and scooping them up with tongs, but I have no
idea what to do with smaller beads. It seems that in a basket I would
definitely not want to use a crackle glaze or they would melt into the
basket. Even so, has anyone done large scale raku firings of beads? I'd
love to hear a good way to do it. >>
Just when I was sitting here feeling guilty that I have so many questions &
am too much of a beginner to contribute...comes a question I can give some
input to! Maybe :-) I'm not familiar w/the term "stilts", so maybe that's what
I'm about to describe :-)
Several people in my class are doing beads & they have created a small tray
in which they've put pieces of high temp wire about 4 inches tall. they build
up a little cone at the bottom where the wire goes into the tray to help keep
it in place. bisque fire the tray. Then they put the bead holes thru the
high temp wire. That way they can just remove one small tray & it can have a lot
of beads on it. I am unclear on how they keep the glaze from the bottom of 1
bead from sticking to the top of the other bead, but I'll try to find out or
maybe someone here knows that secret.
I have fashioned something similar for my small flat pieces, my tray is long
& narrow & has 3 parallel sets of high temp wire, so that the pieces can lean
up against the wire. I haven't used it yet, so I don't know how it'll work,
but in theory it will allow me to grab 6-8 pieces out of the raku kiln at one
time.
Thanks for letting me feel like I know a little something :-))))
Simona
Ann Brink on wed 12 nov 03
Simona wrote: "I am unclear on how they keep the glaze from the bottom of 1
bead from sticking to the top of the other bead, but I'll try to find out or
maybe someone here knows that secret."
Hello Simona- You could have a very small unglazed spacer bead between the
two, a round one. That way the unglazed area on the end of the other beads
could be quite small. Hope this is clear.
Ann Brink in Lompoc CA
Logan Oplinger on thu 13 nov 03
On Wed, 12 Nov 2003 22:59:28 EST, Simona Drentea wrote:
>Ooo, good idea & if glaze drips on the unglazed beads, they could become
>glazed beads :-)
>
>Simona
>
><< Hello Simona- You could have a very small unglazed spacer bead between
>the two, a round one. That way the unglazed area on the end of the other
>beads could be quite small. Hope this is clear. >>
Dear Simona,
I recently Raku fired about 60 beads using 1/8 in. stainless steel welding
rods, and a homemade stainless steel bead rack w/ a ss wire handle.
The bead rack is made of ss expanded metal bent into a U shape with a flat
bottom like |_|. The sides are about 4" high, and the base is 3" wide.
For easy access in loading and unloading the rack, it is only about 3" deep.
With the handle attached it looks like
__
/ | |
|__|
The ss rods are long enough, 3-1/2", to extend beyond each side of the rack.
After glazing the beads, they are loaded onto the rods with a spacer bead
in between the glazed beads as was just recommended by Ann Brink. Also, a
spacer bead is placed at the end of the rod and glued into place w/ a dab
of Elmers, & allowed to dry about 1/2 hr. This keeps the beads in place &
the rods from sliding off the rack. The loaded rods are then placed onto
the rack. The glue burns off in the firing.
|<-----3"------>|
--eBoBoBoBoBoBoBooe--
"--" is the rod, "B" = glazed bead, "o" = spacer bead, "e" = end spacer
bead with glue.
Note the extra spacer beads at the right end. By keeping the rod full,
these help keep the loaded rods from sliding off the rack .
Using this method, several rods can be loaded onto the holder w/ enough
spacing to prevent beads from sticking together, and the handle makes it
easy to hook the rack with tongs and place it into a reducing container.
The beads I fired are barrel shaped in graduated sizes from about 3/4" to
5/16" w/ a hole slightly larger than 1/8". The rack & rods held up well &
I should get several more firings out of them.
I hope this helps.
Logan Oplinger
Another Pacific Island
BobWicks@AOL.COM on thu 13 nov 03
In a message dated 11/12/2003 8:55:00 PM Eastern Standard Time,
Zoesam@AOL.COM writes:
Simona
Do a fire just below Raku Temperature the regular way. Then after they are
cool you can set them up on what ever you want preferably a ceramic shelf with
a soft fire brick wall around them and some bricks over the top to prevent all
the heat from escaping. Then finish the fire with a propane torch and when
they are melted to your satisfaction just pour your saw dust right on top of
them and leave them to cool and then place them in cold water. I have done this
and it works like magic.
Bob
May Davies on thu 13 nov 03
Years ago I saw a thingy called a "bead tree". Ooh- I just found an archive-
"....the bead tree I purchased was from Bailey Ceramics in New
York.
It consists of 2 somewhat triangular ceramic pieces (like kiln post material)
=
with indentation for 6 nichrome wires. I have used the wires multiple times
at Cone 6 and 04 firings without any problems. I just have to be carefull about
=
drippy glazes. I've only had one bead stick to the wire and it was no problem
to get it off. I've seen bead trees like this design and some similar designs
in
other catalogs like Axner and some of my local suppliers. If you need more
info. on where these suppliers are, e-mail me and I will be happy to send
addresses.
Debra
BTW, the message below was not one of mine, I just mentioned that bead trees
were available. I don't know of the design in the Nov. 1989 CM mag. "
You could tweek the design and modify it for rakuing purposes.
May the Road Rise to Meet You!
May Davies
Rising Road Studio
240 Glenda Dr., Suite D
Loveland, CO
970.663.2502
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