Stella on fri 12 may 06
I'm interested in firing clay bodies that are a mix of commercial clay and
local clay found in my area. I would like to experiment w/ ways to arrive
at a more matted, old stone ware type of ceramic, where no glaze is used. I
thought about doing saw dust pit firing and using carbon trapping/salt
oxides to bring out natural properties of the clay body. I'm wondering if I
were to try this, would it still be necessary to bisque fire my pieces
prior to pit firing? What is the purpose of bisque firing (particularly if
one were not interested in using glazes)? I really appreciate any advice
and information!!
Taylor Hendrix on fri 12 may 06
I will tell you what I have learned.
Bisquing will afford a sturdier piece for loading as well as attaching
combustibles prior to loading. For example: you can hot glue copper
wire to bisque ware and be vairly certain that it will stay put.
Bisquing takes the piece to sintering thus driving out water of
crystalization. As long as you don't soak your bisque in water (hmm,
I may have to try that!) you reduce blow outs from steam and some
other stress cracking.
The way I load, bisque pots take the loads from fuel being placed
around and on them better than greenware.
This is not the most traditional way to pit fire, As such it is not
necessary to bisque, but it is a 'safer' way.
Experts will chime in here.
Taylor, in Rockport TX
On 5/12/06, Stella wrote:
> I'm interested in firing clay bodies that are a mix of commercial clay an=
d
> local clay found in my area. I would like to experiment w/ ways to arrive
> at a more matted, old stone ware type of ceramic, where no glaze is used.=
I
> thought about doing saw dust pit firing and using carbon trapping/salt
> oxides to bring out natural properties of the clay body. I'm wondering if=
I
> were to try this, would it still be necessary to bisque fire my pieces
> prior to pit firing? What is the purpose of bisque firing (particularly i=
f
> one were not interested in using glazes)? I really appreciate any advice
> and information!!
Stella on sat 13 may 06
Thanks for your advice regarding bisque firing. I live in the Bay area and
have difficulty finding studios that would allow me to experiment bisque
firing w/ mixed local clay bodies (as opposed to pure commercial grade
clays) in their kilns. This makes sense due to the possibility of the clay
exploding and messing up the kilns, etc. I'm curious to know for those of
you who experiment bisque firing w/ various mixed local clay bodies in your
area, do you end up doing this in your own kiln or a friend's kiln?
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