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blow up: throwing with tapioca in porcelain

updated tue 22 feb 05

 

May Luk on sat 19 feb 05


Hello all;

I have a spectacular blow up in my bisque firing today. I was playing with
throwing with tapioca in the clay. 4 of my bowls [all on one shelf, well,
doesn't matter now, it's allover the kiln anyhow] shattered into many many
pieces. I threw these bowls 3 weeks ago. The studio has no central heating
so it's always cold and damp. I'm not sure if there's still moisture in the
tapioca and when the kiln started heating up, the tapioca expanded and blew
everything up, or what. I can only hear the sound of hoover at this moment.
:-)

Anyway, if anybody had tried throwing with tapioca and worked for you? Maybe
I should move on to something else, or maybe I should have dried it a bit
more thorougly - just thinking out loud. I'm quite set on tapioca. I like
it being round and the size would be right to keep enough high alkaline
glaze inside. I was thinking some jewel tone dots in porcelain in tie dye
colours.

Thanks
May
London, UK

Ann Brink on sat 19 feb 05


My first thought is- isn't this kind of like throwing with popcorn kernels?
No NO, I have'nt tried it. Sorry you have such a mess.

Ann Brink in rainy Lompoc CA


Fredrick Paget on sat 19 feb 05


>Hello all;
>
>I have a spectacular blow up in my bisque firing today. I was playing with
>throwing with tapioca in the clay....................
>May
>London, UK

I checked the date--Nope it's not April first.
I guess if you are serious about this you will have to institute a
good drying regime before firing. Maybe it is the smoke from the
burning of the tapioca and not moisture causing the blowup. Perhaps a
small addition of paper pulp to the porcelain would open up the body
enough at bisque temperatures so that the gasses can escape. Then if
you fire on up to vitrification the pores would heal up.

This reminds me of my use of wet noodles to create the secret
passageways in making puzzle jugs. I never had any trouble with
blowups but of course there are always several openings so the smoke
and moisture can escape.
Fred

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--
From Fred Paget, Marin County, California, USA
fredrick@well.com
Charter Member Potters Council

SusieHUs@AOL.COM on sun 20 feb 05


In a message dated 2/20/2005 12:14:15 AM Eastern Standard Time,
LISTSERV@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG writes:

> This reminds me of my use of wet noodles to create the secret
> passageways in making puzzle jugs. I never had any trouble with
> blowups but of course there are always several openings so the smoke
> and moisture can escape.
> Fred

Hi Fred,

I'm intrigued by this! Do you have these pots online where we could see
them? How did you work the wet noodles into the clay without tearing them into
little bits?

Susie

I like long walks, especially when they are taken by people who annoy me.

Jocelyn McAuley on sun 20 feb 05


You didn't mention whether you threw with the tapioca already soaked in
water and soft, or whether you used dry tapioca in your throwing. I
could see dry tapioca absorbing water and expanding... but you would be
seeing cracks while your ware was green.

Perhaps your bisque fire rate was simply to fast to accomodate your ware
not being dry. The tapioca would hold on to moisture and keep wet spots
in your work.

Next time, fire your work as though its pretty solid and not dry- a long
slow approach to and through your water points and quartz inversion.

sounds like a fun experiment!
good luck- and bisque slower next time!

Jocelyn


--
food: http://worlddomination.net/browniepoints
art: http://www.LucentArts.com

John Rodgers on sun 20 feb 05


The only blow-ups I have ever had were due to entrapped moisture. I
suspect that the tapioca is holding the water a lot longer than the
clay. So as a consequence when you fired - though the clay seemed dry,
the tapioca made little wet spots through-out. Hence - "it's allover the
kiln anyhow] shattered into many many pieces."

Develop a drying regimen to ensure complete dryness.

Good luck.

Regards,

John Rodgers
Chelsea, AL



May Luk wrote:

>Hello all;
>
>I have a spectacular blow up in my bisque firing today. I was playing with
>throwing with tapioca in the clay. 4 of my bowls [all on one shelf, well,
>doesn't matter now, it's allover the kiln anyhow] shattered into many many
>pieces. I threw these bowls 3 weeks ago. The studio has no central heating
>so it's always cold and damp. I'm not sure if there's still moisture in the
>tapioca and when the kiln started heating up, the tapioca expanded and blew
>everything up, or what. I can only hear the sound of hoover at this moment.
>:-)
>
>Anyway, if anybody had tried throwing with tapioca and worked for you? Maybe
>I should move on to something else, or maybe I should have dried it a bit
>more thorougly - just thinking out loud. I'm quite set on tapioca. I like
>it being round and the size would be right to keep enough high alkaline
>glaze inside. I was thinking some jewel tone dots in porcelain in tie dye
>colours.
>
>Thanks
>May
>London, UK
>
>______________________________________________________________________________
>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.
>
>
>
>

Mike Gordon on sun 20 feb 05


May,
Aren't you supposed to EAT tapioca?? I remember my mother trying to get
me to eat that stuff. YUK! Right up there with bread pudding. But it
sounds like either the clay or the tapioca was still too wet. Did you
do a long warm up to drive out the moisture? I've seen what looks to be
rice grains in porcelain, transparent. Mike Gordon
On Feb 19, 2005, at 1:03 PM, May Luk wrote:

> Hello all;
>
> I have a spectacular blow up in my bisque firing today. I was playing
> with
> throwing with tapioca in the clay.
> _______________________________________________________________________
> _______
> 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.
>

May Luk on mon 21 feb 05


Thank you all for your opinions and ideas. I have not cooked the tapioca
because I wedged it into the clay. If they were cooked, they would be too
soft. My clay wall was a bit thick because the tapioca was a bit rough on
the hand, plus the clay was soft, so I threw fast. I wasn't thinking about
the wet tapioca inside the wall. :-) My first ramp was 50C/hr to 200 C.
Still too fast, I reckon.

I got the idea of throwing with grains in clay on the internet somewhere. I
wanted to play with this ideas because I didn't want to reclaim so much. I
was trying to use up collapsed pot and do something weird. The tapioca soaks
up water from the clay and they became pimple like.

When I recover from the kiln disaster, I might try it again with less tapi,
and add them on the wall while throwing or something.

Also, I think tapioca is sold cooked, it's just dehydrated in a package. I
used to think tapioca grow on trees in big dots or small dots. I think I was
told it's a root. Anyway, it's one of those things that's not top priority
to google.

Many thanks

May
London, UK