mel jacobson on thu 29 jul 04
i know this will go against the grain of some
newer potters.
but, all the fussing, heating, repair, messin
about with a few pots to save them is probably
not worth it.
as many old time potters will tell you....
`it is a hell of a lot faster to re/make twenty
pots than it is to try and save them.`
none will be first class pots when fired with glaze.
if you are new to clay, the work of making twenty
more will be very beneficial to you. and the old
pots bisqued to cone 1 will make great driveway
fill. it is a better purpose for them.
i still bisque fire to cone 08. i fire for ten hours.
slow and easy.
my style of pottery needs some absorption of glaze.
if i bisque too hot, nothing gets on the pot...and i do
not want to have whipping cream thick glaze. it is just
a fact of life:
hot bisque, thick glazes. little absorption.
cold bisque, thin glazes. a great deal of absorption. careful
how long your pot is in the glaze.
that is why learning thickness of glaze and using a second
hand on your watch will be your best guide to glazing.
all the chinese glaze tests are counted by the second.
i made a specific gravity tester with a thick dowel rod with
a lump of solder on the end. mark the rod with a felt marker
when i get it right. it would be almost immoral to use modern
tools. it has to be as close as i can guess to a chinese pottery
in the year 1154.
i will give you my word....if i over bisque fired 60 teabowls
for this project. out they would go. smash.
start throwing them over 15 minutes later.
saving junk, cracked pots, over fired pots, bent pots, cracks
in handles....all the worst habit in ceramics.
never worth it.
now, on the other hand....if snail scott had a crack in one
of her sculptures..she has been working on for twenty six days.
repair it. in a heart beat. the best repair is itc 100 mixed
50/50 with claybody. packed in...sanded off. it will never be
seen. if dannon rhudy wants to seal off a tiny crack in a tea
set she has struggled with for three days...just fine.
she knows what she is doing...and cannot waste the commission
time....but, a young potter, making a mistake with a load of
bisque....re/do.
it is sorta like your mom saying `wally, you will thank me for
this advice when you grow up.`
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com
Merrie Boerner on thu 29 jul 04
Yes, Mel.....if the pot has a small flaw in bisque, it will be larger
in glaze....if the pot is not pleasing in bisque, it will be horrid in
glaze....slow firing greenware is the ticket for sculptural, handbuilt,
and gallery worthy wares. This is one subject we agree on 100% !
However, I have kept many pots with flaws....for years. I love them. I
am glad I didn't smash them, but I'm glad I didn't sell them.
Once a friend came to my house to buy some "things for her daughter's
new house".....I found out a few months later that she was wrapping them
and giving my seconds as wedding gifts. This was the worst business
mistake for my hometown sales that I have ever made.
Merrie in Mississippi
Joseph Coniglio on sat 7 aug 04
Have fun instead of salvaging. But keep them out of the driveway fill as Mel
suggests unless you want to puncture a tire.
1 Raku them next time you're invited to bring a pot or two
2 or drum fire them in wood and flash them with some salt or oxides. I've seen some
very lovely results this way.
3 mason stain will wipe right on all but the most smooth and stubborn high bisque
situations.
4 Garden relics, pallets.
5 melt glass in them
6 dust them with oxides
7 glaze will still pool nicely inside them
8 re do them
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