Christine on wed 25 may 05
Hello,
I am new to the list and looking for some advice. I have recently graduated
with my bachelor's in ceramics. I no longer have acess to the wonderful
world of high fire (for the time being). I would like to keep working, but
I am in the dark as far as low fire bodies and glazes. Does anyone have any
favorite bodies or glazes that they can suggest? (I don't have a clay
mixer, so I will be buying commercial). I am strictly a functional potter,
so I need food safe materials. Also, titles of any favorite books and/or
websites on low fire would be helpful.
Thanks so much!
Christine
Cindy on wed 25 may 05
Dear Christine,
That is a very big question. If you give your location, and the temperature
you would like to fire to (do you mean ^6 by "low fire", or are you talking
more like ^05?), people near you will undoubtedly suggest their favorite
clay bodies and commercial glazes available at your local outlets.
If you want to mix your own glazes, you'll find tons of recipes in the
archives. The archives are intuitive, easy to use, and there is a link at
the bottom of this and every clayart posting that will get you there. You
can also find the answers to most questions you can think of if you're lucky
enough to type the right key word. ;)
As for books, I recommend Vince Pitelka's book, "Clay: A Studio Handbook" to
anyone firing at any range. If you're interested in ^6, you should get Jon &
Ron's book, "Mastering Cone 6 Glazes". It will help you, even if you don't
want to make glazes yourself, with lots of firing tips and general
knowledge. I use these two books more than any of the others in my
collection.
Good luck and have fun,
Cindy in SD
Christine on thu 26 may 05
Thank you both Cindy and Robert for your advice! In response to your
questions of my location, I am in Missouri, right outside of St. Louis
actually.
I think I would like to try ^6, because it seems like it is closer to what I
was doing before (^10). I have read some, and I am worried about my pieces
not being waterproof, as I am functional. From what I understood, the lower
the temp. the more porous, is that right?
Also, is there a difference between ^5 and ^6?
I know that it is going to take a while to get the hang of all of this, but
I am excited, and I am so glad to have the archives (and helpful members) as
a resource!
Thanks again!
Christine
Cindy in SD on thu 26 may 05
Dear Christine,
Properly formulated and fired ^5-6 clay can be as vitreous as well-made
^10 ware. When you find a clay body you'd like to try, you can fire it
to your desired temperature, weigh it warm from the kiln, then boil it
for several hours, dry it with a cloth, and immediately weigh it again.
Ideally, your absorption will be less than 5%. It's a good idea to test
shrinkage as well when you're doing this experiment, as it is something
you'll want to know down the line. Just make your (identical) test bars
with a 10cm long mark down each one, then measure them after drying to
hard leather hard or bone dry, and again after high firing.
If you use a good clay body and well-balanced glazes, absorption won't
be a problem. My locally-made clay body has its problems, but it holds
oil in unglazed vessels indefinitely, which is, for me, the gold standard.
Good luck,
Cindy in SD
soundsofclay on thu 26 may 05
spectrum makes really nice glazes that react well in an electric
kiln... I fire to cone 6 in mine for making ceramic instruments.
--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, Christine wrote:
> Hello,
>
> I am new to the list and looking for some advice. I have recently
graduated
> with my bachelor's in ceramics. I no longer have acess to the
wonderful
> world of high fire (for the time being). I would like to keep
working, but
> I am in the dark as far as low fire bodies and glazes. Does
anyone have any
> favorite bodies or glazes that they can suggest? (I don't have a
clay
> mixer, so I will be buying commercial). I am strictly a
functional potter,
> so I need food safe materials. Also, titles of any favorite books
and/or
> websites on low fire would be helpful.
>
> Thanks so much!
> Christine
>
>
_____________________________________________________________________
_________
> Send postings to clayart@l...
>
> 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@p...
Gretchen Morton on fri 27 may 05
Hi Christine
Your post talks about buying prepared glaze. That is good if you are
only making small items and are brushing on glazes. Otherwise IMHO you
should try making your own. There is a book that is very interesting,
called The Potters Palette by Christine Constant & Steve Ogden the #
ISBN 0-8019-8753-9 If you don't want to buy it, you might want to
take a loan out from the library. It has both high fire and low fire. It will give you some ideas. John and Ron's book M^6G is another book for good ideas.
Good Luck
Gretchen in freeezing N.Y.
| |
|
