David Martin Hershey on wed 16 aug 06
Hi All,
Re: microscopes for glazes
One time a few years ago, I was discussing a problem
I was having with one of my glazes with Juan Aguilera,
who is in charge of the glaze lab at Laguna Clay CA.
He looked at the piece, and then promptly whipped out
his lighted pocket microscope to examine the problem
closely.
He quickly identified the contaminant as tramp iron,
hitchhiking in my white glaze. He handed me the scope,
and sure enough at under just 30 power, you could clearly
see the iron- it looked just like a rusty nail.
I was immediately convinced of the value of having
one of these scopes in my studio.
I bought this 30 power one on eBay for under $15 USD,
from MACNAN SCIENCE SUPPLIES
http://tinyurl.com/lhf4a
It is a great inexpensive little scope, which is also handy
for looking at crystalline structures, and spotting crazing.
They also offer a 100 power model for under $20 USD,
but I think that would be too powerful for me.
Macnan also sells weigh boats, which I use for weighing
glaze materials on my digital scale, for test batches up
to about 1,200 grams.
http://tinyurl.com/go6lx
The 3.5" x 3.5" boat is good for up to about 100 grams
of most materials, and the 5.5" x 5.5" is good for up to
about 300 grams. (not epk ;-)
Right now, looks like Avogadro's Lab Supply has better
prices, but these things change from month to month,
and it takes a long time to use up a pack of boats.
http://tinyurl.com/zzcjx
Best, DMH
Beautiful Hermosa Beach CA USA
where in this crazy weather year
the ocean has turned cool
and there's even a little
touch of Fall
in the air
Lee Love on thu 17 aug 06
On 8/16/06, David Martin Hershey wrote:
> Hi All,
>
> Re: microscopes for glazes
>
> One time a few years ago, I was discussing a problem
> I was having with one of my glazes with Juan Aguilera,
> who is in charge of the glaze lab at Laguna Clay CA.
>
> He looked at the piece, and then promptly whipped out
> his lighted pocket microscope to examine the problem
> closely.
>
> He quickly identified the contaminant as tramp iron,
> hitchhiking in my white glaze. He handed me the scope,
> and sure enough at under just 30 power, you could clearly
> see the iron- it looked just like a rusty nail.
>
> I was immediately convinced of the value of having
> one of these scopes in my studio.
>
> I bought this 30 power one on eBay for under $15 USD,
> from MACNAN SCIENCE SUPPLIES
> http://tinyurl.com/lhf4a
Mine looks exactly like this one, but I think it came from Radio
Shack. It was one of the only things I inhereted from my food
chemist father-in-law (this, and one of his sausage knives.)
I rescued an old microscope from the catholic girls school where
she teaches. About 3 dozen of them, in their wooden cabinet boxes,
were put out for trash. I rescued 2, one for me and another for my
friend Euan. Can't figure why they were tossed. Maybe the bought
new ones that are connected to a computer system.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
| |
|
