bill edwards on sat 12 feb 05
Lee was correct in his accessment as usual. See the remarks in quotes.
"I use both glaze calculation and also the more traditional
method with natural/unrefined materials (that don't have accurate
analysis for calculations.) What is so great about our craft is
that
there are many ways to enter it. There are a variety of ways and
methods to explore."
This is hard earned learning and the use of good tools like calculation software is a great help. Matrix and countless other tools are available as most already are aware. These are cheaper than a couple library books in a sense of ownership and you will become excited enough to dig into the complete system and learn more and more as you move along.
Calculating some ingredients will take additional effort. Making sure that all your stock materials have their latest values entered is vital to having good output from your calculations. As I have always stated in the past, get the analysis of your compounds on purchase. The purity of some things are different based on companies and what they use their product in. The size of the materials, the mesh size may be the best term to use but some dry materials can be so large they are almost impossible to dissolve unless you have high speed grinding equipment or a ball mill. Wollastonite can be one of those items, again, based on who you get it from and what their original purpose for producing it is. Many pottery supply companies buy wherever they can get a good deal and sometimes those deals don't help the potter achieve the best results. There are many grades of iron as well as copper and cobalt. Once you get to the point of knowing how to select quality materials, a little calculating
and you are back on track to perfecting your trade.
I have missed my many friends over the months. Things are going ok. I built a small gallery/studio open to the public and have just put the pottery equipment back into working order. I will have to brush back up on some things again! But Clayart has been a great experience always!
Bill Edwards
Camp Hill, Al. 36850 (A speck on the map) But soon to be a dot.
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