ELDON KOTHMANN on sat 4 dec 04
In a Raku newsletter recently someone posted that Raku ware could be =
made functional by coating with wood varnish. Does this mean food safe =
or just water proof? Or is this totally incorrect information?
Carol K.
Vince Pitelka on sat 4 dec 04
Carol wrote:
"In a Raku newsletter recently someone posted that Raku ware could be made
functional by coating with wood varnish. Does this mean food safe or just
water proof? Or is this totally incorrect information?"
Carol -
This might dash your hopes, but you would never want to use varnish on any
raku pots with the objective of making them food safe. Inevitably, some
yahoo would put them in the oven, introducing who-knows-what-kind of toxic
byproducts. And then there would be the normal wear-and-tear of the
varnish, eventually rendering it ineffective.
Most people have the understanding that utilitarian pots (tableware,
cookware, serving pieces, storage containers, etc.) contain only materials
that have survived the firing process. That is a reasonable assumption.
Obvious exceptions are mixed media handles, etc. But varnish is another
thing. That is a completely non-traditional finish (except for certain
African tribal cultures), and while you can do anything you want with
sculpture, it would be inappropriate to use varnish on a utilitarian piece.
I hope that no one out there is pretending that this is okay.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Appalachian Center for Craft, Tennessee Technological University
Smithville TN 37166, 615/597-6801 x111
vpitelka@dtccom.net, wpitelka@tntech.edu
http://iweb.tntech.edu/wpitelka/
http://www.tntech.edu/craftcenter/
Ama Menec on sat 4 dec 04
Hi Carol,
Doesn't sound food safe to me, maybe water proof (for a while), although
painting it with brick sealant would probably work better, (for
waterproofing), as it sinks into the ceramic and not sit on top of the glaze
and likely chip off over time.... I'd be interested in knowing about the
Raku newsletter you mentioned...is it a paper or online one? International
or a national one? Cheers,
Ama, Totnes, Devon, UK.
----- Original Message -----
From: "ELDON KOTHMANN"
To:
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2004 6:00 PM
Subject: Raku and varnish??
In a Raku newsletter recently someone posted that Raku ware could be made
functional by coating with wood varnish. Does this mean food safe or just
water proof? Or is this totally incorrect information?
Carol K.
____________________________________________________________________________
__
Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
melpots@pclink.com.
Snail Scott on sun 5 dec 04
At 10:00 AM 12/4/2004 -0800, you wrote:
>In a Raku newsletter recently someone posted that Raku ware could be made
functional by coating with wood varnish. Does this mean food safe or just
water proof?
Food safe is a rather relative term. I expect that
wood varnish would seal porous clay adequately to
hold moisture for an extended period of time, though
not continuously. It is probably not too toxic,
either (but I'm only guessing about that). It will
probably bond better to bare clay than to glaze. It
is surely not dishwasher-resistant. So yes, you could
perhaps call the result 'food safe' just as a wooden
salad or hors-d'oeuvre plate is food-safe. (I know of
traditional pottery in Ecuador that is varnished.)
But that doesn't make it the equivalent of a stable,
uncrazed glaze on clay fired to maturity. You know
that and I know that, but does the buyer? Will a
buyer expect to treat it like stoneware - keep salsa
in it for a week in the fridge, soak it in the sink
overnight, throw it in the dishwasher in the morning?
People expect to treat wood differently from pottery,
but raku looks like pottery, not a wooden salad bowl.
I would hesitate to represent varnished raku as
food-safe, for fear a buyer would interpret that
as meaning "just like other pottery". Also, I'd hate
to give the impression that raku in general is food
safe. Yes, I know that you wouldn't be making claims
for any work but your own, but it's enough of a
problem anyway, with honest but truly ignorant potters
selling raku at every weekend craft fair in shapes
that sure look like food dishes (and are often sold as
such). If you want to use it in your own household for
food, go ahead, and feel free to put varnish on your
decorative raku work if you like, but I wouldn't use
varnish as a selling point for food-safety.
-Snail Scott
John Jensen on sun 5 dec 04
It seems worth mentioning that varnished wood on a sailing yacht can endure
tropical sun, salt water and fresh water as well as a cycle of wetting and
drying which goes on endlessly. It holds up marvelously as long at the
coating is thick enough to prevent UV radiation from degrading the
underlying wood.
John Jensen, Mudbug Pottery
John Jensen@mudbugpottery.com
http://www.toadhouse.com www://www.mudbugpottery.com
-----Original Message-----
On Behalf Of Snail Scott
Subject: Re: Raku and varnish??
Food safe is a rather relative term. I expect that
wood varnish would seal porous clay adequately to
hold moisture for an extended period of time, though
not continuously. It is probably not too toxic,
either (but I'm only guessing about that). It will
probably bond better to bare clay than to glaze. It
is surely not dishwasher-resistant. So yes, you could
perhaps call the result 'food safe' just as a wooden
salad or hors-d'oeuvre plate is food-safe. (I know of
traditional pottery in Ecuador that is varnished.)
But that doesn't make it the equivalent of a stable,
uncrazed glaze on clay fired to maturity. You know
that and I know that, but does the buyer? Will a
buyer expect to treat it like stoneware - keep salsa
in it for a week in the fridge, soak it in the sink
overnight, throw it in the dishwasher in the morning?
People expect to treat wood differently from pottery,
but raku looks like pottery, not a wooden salad bowl.
-Snail Scott
ELDON KOTHMANN on sun 5 dec 04
Vince and Scott, thank you so much for the explanations as to why not to =
attempt to use varnish. I will stick to 'for decorative use only'.
Best wishes,
Carol
ELDON KOTHMANN on sun 5 dec 04
Ama, thank you so much for the information. I will look into the brick =
sealant idea.=20
The newsletter to which I referred can be found at =
http://www.garyrferguson.com/justraku25.htm
Thanks again,
Carol
Janet Kaiser on mon 6 dec 04
This happens to be one of my pet peeves, so there is a great deal
in the archives on just this subject! It is the subject of many a
rant!! The worst one was an oil lamp... How suppliers can
actually sell "paint-on liners" is beyond me! Anyway... Raku...
So someone makes a "decorative" pot using low fire clay and the
Raku method. Fine. But then they want to start making it into a
"functional" item by fair means or foul... Well... It is quite
simply not on. A complete no-no. Out of order. Not playing the
game. Name your preferred idiom, but it is something any
reasonable potter will not do. Never ever. PERIOD!!!
If anything other than that is printed anywhere, then please send
the editor a stiff letter of admonition and demand a withdrawal
in print!! (I originally wrote "shoot the editor", but that would
upset someone somewhere and who knows... One day somebody will
actually do as I say! LOL!)
UNLESS the author categorically states that by "functional" they
simply mean that it can then be dusted and will not discolour
through exposure to cigarette smoke or general airborne particles
such as grease. Adding varnish will even allow occasional washing
to remove grime and could possibly even prevent discolouration,
bleaching or re-oxidation... In other words, varnish would fulfil
the same role on a pot as on an oil painting or a paper collage.
Please understand it will do nothing more than that. And whereas
varnished paintings have their admirers, I can think of nobody
who likes varnished clay... It is aesthetically unappealing
EXCEPT in some cases ...for example if it is part of a the
surface treatment on a sculpture or to satisfy the needs of a
kindergarten class where work is only ever biscuit fired and then
decorated with poster paints...
But "functional" in the proposed varnish on clay scenario DOES
NOT go as far as to mean it can be used to serve, hold or contain
liquids or foodstuffs.
Put it another way... Would you walk a mile in a heavy
monsoon-type deluge wearing only a shirt and trousers, expecting
to stay dry? NO, of course not. The same applies to varnish on
clay... Especially extremely porous clay such as Raku.
At the end of the day, there is a bottom line... pots and the
techniques used to make pots vary across a very wide range. It's
taken thousands of years to reach our current understanding and
we have known for at least the last 3000, that different pots
have different degrees of functionality. That needs to be
respected, especially in an age when we can no longer rely on the
common sense of occasional users.
Sincerely
Janet Kaiser
>----- Original Message -----
>In a Raku newsletter recently someone posted that Raku ware
could be made
>functional by coating with wood varnish. Does this mean food
safe or just
>water proof? Or is this totally incorrect information?
***********************************************************
The Chapel of Art : Capel Celfyddyd
8 Marine Crescent : Criccieth : Wales : UK
Home of The International Potters' Path
Tel: ++44 (01766) 523570 http://www.the-coa.org.uk
************* Virus Protection by AVG *****************
************************************************************
| |
|
