Ian Currie on tue 16 jan 07
Greetings
If you like using natural materials that you collect yourself in your
glazes then a ball mill will save you lots of hassles. A lot has
been written on this thread so I'll just add a couple of things I've
not seen yet:
If you have basalt rock in your area, your river and creek beds
should be full of glaze... a high iron glaze like a tenmoku or tea-
dust or tessha. All you do is scoop up some of the sand and gravel
and ball mill it. It needs to be less than about pea-size for the
ball mill to smash it. There are quite a few other rocks that will
also give a glaze. To test the material quickly just smash some with
a hammer, and then mortar and pestle, until it is like face powder,
and scoop a teaspoonful onto a test piece and fire it. Fire it
high. How high? Try it. If it doesn't melt by itself, you can add
other things. Woodash is a good balance for basalt and granite too,
to bring down the melting point.
If you like using wood-ash in your glazes, a ball mill is very useful
in a number of ways. Wood ash can be difficult to process unless
you have a ball mill. You can mill it dry by itself, or wet along
with all the other ingredients for a particular glaze. It then goes
through the sieve like a dream. Unwashed ash contains lots of
soluble fluxes, like potash, and can therefore cause some problems...
but is often very interesting and worth the bother. Use rubber
gloves with unwashed ash, and glazes containing it, or in extreme
cases you might find your skin dissolving from the caustic content.
Cheers
Ian
http://ian.currie.to
My glaze books are available at my website
sacredclay on wed 17 jan 07
-I must be an idiot to even be doing this despite all of the dire
warnings that unwashed wood ash is caustic, but I've bben washing
woodashes all week now and am now doing it without gloves. Why?
Becasue it's not doing a damn thing to my hands.also, running my
hands in the shy waters, I find the waters to be silky. Comments,
please? Also, where's a good source of information to find what
materials is local? I like the basalt rock ideas alot! Kathryn in NC
> but is often very interesting and worth the bother. Use rubber
> gloves with unwashed ash, and glazes containing it, or in extreme
> cases you might find your skin dissolving from the caustic content.
>
> Cheers
>
> Ian
> http://ian.currie.to
> My glaze books are available at my website
>
>
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Paul Herman on wed 17 jan 07
Hi Kathryn,
Some people are more sensitive than others when it comes to soluble
materials on their skin.
By the way, I use unwashed ash in glazes, in order to keep the
soluble alkalis.
I had always just stuck my hands in the glaze any old time, for about
the first 30 years of potting. As I got middle aged, they started to
get drier, and my thumbnails did funny things. Now I use latex gloves
for glazing, and my hands are softer and generally in better shape. I
think the wet/dry cycle of glazing was doing more harm than soluble
materials.
To find out about the local materials, try you local college geology
dept., or state bureau of mines. They have a LOT of information.
Good potting,
Paul Herman
Great Basin Pottery
Doyle, California US
http://greatbasinpottery.com
On Jan 16, 2007, at 9:24 PM, sacredclay wrote:
> -I must be an idiot to even be doing this despite all of the dire
> warnings that unwashed wood ash is caustic, but I've bben washing
> woodashes all week now and am now doing it without gloves. Why?
> Becasue it's not doing a damn thing to my hands.also, running my
> hands in the shy waters, I find the waters to be silky. Comments,
> please? Also, where's a good source of information to find what
> materials is local? I like the basalt rock ideas alot! Kathryn in NC
>
Lee Love on thu 18 jan 07
On 1/17/07, sacredclay wrote:
> -I must be an idiot to even be doing this despite all of the dire
> warnings that unwashed wood ash is caustic, but I've bben washing
> woodashes all week now and am now doing it without gloves.
I don't have much trouble with wood ash. But, after the
first washing, most of the solubles that will effect you are washed
out.
There is no need to put your hands too often in the slurry
when washing. I just mix with a drill mixer. Let it settle, then
I siphon the water off the top. So, the only time my hand is in the
water is to start the siphon.
Main reason for washing in the method I use is that if
you remove the solubles, it is easier to judge the thickness of the
glaze application. Also, if you add water as I do as the work
become thicker and remove excess water when you begin glazing again,
the makeup of the glaze is more consistent.
--
Lee in Mashiko, Japan
Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
http://potters.blogspot.com/
"Let the beauty we love be what we do." - Rumi
"When we all do better. We ALL do better." -Paul Wellstone
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