Lili Krakowski on mon 13 sep 04
Gotta tell you! Amazed at your energy, Rhonda! Why is a cat named =
"Stinkypants" ? Have the Animal Rights people invaded your part of the =
world and insisted cats wear trousers for tushy protection when they sit =
on the dirty floor?
Anyway. =20
Ann is right. What do you plan to do?
You plan to do "glaze research" and find a glaze that does the =
incredible. Fine. In that case you will need SMALL quantities of ALL =
known glaze ingredients. =20
You plan to make glazes for which you have the recipes and which have =
worked well for you. Make a list of all the ingredients you will be =
using. See if you can eliminate some. (For years, ever since reading =
Emmanuel Cooper on the subject, I have used Wollastonite instead of =
whiting whenever humanly possible. (That should be chemically possible, =
I guess.) =20
Figure out how much you will need per annum. NB: We "all" go around =
buying stuff in huge quantities when we use maybe ten pounds a year. I =
have a shed full of bags of material I bought in younger days. Some I =
no longer use at all. Some will last me at least ten more years. If as =
we have been told a 5 gallon bucket "takes" 3 k of glaze in dry form, =
then that is 6.6 lbs. (Grabbing one of her glaze notebooks and flipping =
it open at random, she found this glaze: ) Per volume: equal amounts =
of Frit 3195, Dolomite, Clay, Silica. Assume (which is pretty =
accurate) that the weight also would be 1/4 of each. That means a 5 =
gallon bucket would require about 1.7 lbs of each material. Yes? No? =20
How much glaze do you think you will use? In my estimation 10lbs of =
each material THAT YOU KNOW YOU WILL USE is enough. Which makes gallon =
containers, or those big new style coffee cans useful. Ten lbs only for =
price break. 5 lbs will do you for a year.
As Ann said make a list of all your glazes. Figure out how much of each =
ingredient you will need. For me Frit 3124, kaolin, XXsagger clay, and =
flint are the ingredients I use most. Here I --meaning me--would go to =
25 lbs. That should go in one of your kitty litter pails.
PLEASE REMEMBER AND DON'T EVER FORGET (who coined that? So great a =
phrase!) Everything you have in the studio is something else that =
whines: "Mommy, Mommy, wash me!" Oh the non-joy of dragging 50lbs bags =
or cans of stuff out so one can clean behind them! I am fortunate in =
that I can store stuff outdoors, in metal garbage cans. Rain does the =
washing. But if you do not have that....remember: Everything in the =
studio must be easy as possible to move for cleaning/clean.
Colorants: depends. I buy stains in small quantities as I use them in =
small quantities. This again depends on how what howmuch.
PLEASE do not buy everything at once. Equipment included. Even if you =
win the lottery. Go easy so that you can figure out your priorities. =
Extruder? Slab roller? Test kiln? Work your way into your new studio =
gradually, see what you actually will be doing. =20
To borrow from your singing career: (From someone who cannot carry a =
tune!) Maybe in school you sang lieder and operas and like that. Now, =
you say you sing in a more limited area. Fine. But at this point, =
assuming you had a music studio in your house, would it make sense to =
buy all of the scores of Handel, Bach, Rameau etc--when you will be =
singing mainly hymns?
Be happy! Enjoy yourself1
Lili
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