Jeremy McLeod on mon 24 nov 03
Handbuilding yesterday and coping, sorta, with the fact that clay out of the
bag is softer than I'd like and humidity higher than I'm used to. Then the
mental dots connected from a clayart thread a long while back about
microwave techology for kilns and, well, I decided to give the handbuilt
pieces little 10-second bursts of hi-power microwaving.
One piece revealed the air bubbles I'd left in them pretty quickly! :-)
The other three cooperated very nicely, becoming leather hard and still just
pilable enough to make them do what I was wanting.
And, I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this aid-to-the-impatient-potter.
I'm wondering if others are using this short-cut successfully and what
cautions/caveats folks might have to offer. I'm wondering specifically if
pieces that have been accelerated in this way might show up some problems
later down the line in bisque and glaze firing?
Peace!
Jeremy McLeod
kruzewski on tue 25 nov 03
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jeremy McLeod"
To:
Sent: Monday, November 24, 2003 6:44 PM
> And, I'm sure I'm not the first to think of this
aid-to-the-impatient-potter.
>
> I'm wondering if others are using this short-cut successfully and what
> cautions/caveats folks might have to offer. I'm wondering specifically if
> pieces that have been accelerated in this way might show up some problems
> later down the line in bisque and glaze firing?
Jeremy, this may not be exactly the answer you were asking for but..... I
played with the microwave route to drying but found it really needs
watching. A few seconds too long can, in my experience, be disasterous.
My way is to place newly made pots on the lids of my Aga. An Aga is a huge
cast iron cooking range which is meant to be on and heated 24 hours a day.
Mine is solid fuel but they come with all fuels these days. I place my board
of newly thrown pots on the cooler simmering lid first, then the boiling lid
and then, if I'm in a big hurry, inside the simmering oven. I can throw some
mugs in the morning and be firing them by 7pm.
When I didn't have the Aga I used my electric oven - placed the pots in
there at under 50 degrees and kept turning the heat up. Created a lot of
water in the oven though.
I worked in a pottery where they had rules - a pot had to be left so many
days after it was thrown before sprigging and handling, then wrapped and
left so many days before it could be sponged and let dry naturally. It was
meant to stop distortion and the handles coming off - and yet we got a lot
of that, plus it took ages to get pots through the process. It may be
tempting fate to say it, but I don't get that at all.
The only real way you can answer your question is to make some test pieces,
microwave them and take them through the whole process and see what you get
in the end compared to the traditional method.
I hope it's really successful for you.
Jacqui
North Wales
Cat Yassin on tue 25 nov 03
In a message dated 11/24/2003 8:44:32 PM Central Standard Time,
revmcleod@COMCAST.NET writes:
> I'm wondering if others are using this short-cut successfully and what
> cautions/caveats folks might have to offer. I'm wondering specifically if
> pieces that have been accelerated in this way might show up some problems
> later down the line in bisque and glaze firing?
Hi Jeremy! I don't use the microwave to speed dry but I do use a food warmer
that you can plug in and the surface heats up. I'm not sure what type of
pieces you want dried, or just hard so you can handbuild, but this warmer works
great for me with handles and other things that I attach to my pottery. I didn't
want to invest in a new food warmer so I checked out the local Goodwill store
and found one for a couple of bucks. The surface is about 18 " long and about
9 " wide. I have not found any problems in firing in accelerating the drying
in this way. I just have to keep my eye on them so they don't get too dried
out.
-Cat Yassin
San Antonio
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