Frank Gaydos on sun 21 jan 07
----- Original Message ----=0AFrom: Diane Palmquist dlpots@ADELPHIA.NET=0A=
=0AAbout 15 years ago a company named Harrison Bell from England I believe,=
decided to bag it here in the States. Rather than schlep their 'Duncan Gla=
ze' like inventory back to England, donated it all to local schools. We rec=
eived ten pallets of the stuff. We STILL have lots of it left over. This pa=
st holiday break I spent an hour each day reprocessing the dried out, rock =
hard glazes in the little plastic jars.=0AThe method I found that worked be=
st was to hit each plastic jar with a small sledge hammer on each side whic=
h pulverized the contents. I then loaded the glaze and warm water into our =
ball mill and ground them for a day. Works great!. Plus, as a bonus, it rea=
lly improved my forehand racquetball serve. :>)=0A =0AAll the best,=0AFrank=
Gaydos=0A=0ASubject: Crystals in low fire glaze=0A=0A=0AHi All,=0A I bo=
ught some low fire pints of glaze to experiment with. When I received them =
the were rock hard on the bottom. I called the distributor and he was surpr=
ised but sent me more. Well they weren't much better! So the busy season ca=
me and went(didn't use them of course) and now these pints of glaze have HU=
GE,Hard crystals in them. What do I do with them? Can I save these glazes? =
=0A________________________________________________________________________=
______
Diane Palmquist on sun 21 jan 07
Hi All,
I bought some low fire pints of glaze to experiment with. When I =
received them the were rock hard on the bottom. I called the distributor =
and he was surprised but sent me more. Well they weren't much better! So =
the busy season came and went(didn't use them of course) and now these =
pints of glaze have HUGE,Hard crystals in them. What do I do with them? =
Can I save these glazes? I did look in the archives and only saw one =
solution and that was to try to heat up the glaze which I will try. All =
other info seemed to be for adding things in the mixing process and not =
applicable for this. Any suggestions besides throwing them out?
Thanks!
Diane
Sue Roessel Dura on sun 21 jan 07
On Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:45:08 -0500, you wrote:
> Hi All,
> I bought some low fire pints of glaze to experiment with. When I =
received them the were rock hard on the bottom. I called the distributor =
and he was surprised but sent me more. Well they weren't much better! So =
the busy season came and went(didn't use them of course) and now these =
pints of glaze have HUGE,Hard crystals in them. What do I do with them? =
Can I save these glazes? I did look in the archives and only saw one =
solution and that was to try to heat up the glaze which I will try. All =
other info seemed to be for adding things in the mixing process and not =
applicable for this. Any suggestions besides throwing them out?
I had crystals form in some ^6 glazes so I sieved them out and heated =
them in a
little water. They finally did dissolve and I poured the solution back =
into the
glaze. Hope that works for you. Best, Sue
Don Goodrich on sun 21 jan 07
Hi Diane,
Your pints can almost certainly be saved.
I'm assuming that you can't effectively just add water
and remix them, because the solid portion on the bottom
of the jar isn't accessible. I'd get radical with the
things, and cut off the bottoms of the bottles (they're
in plastic bottles, aren't they?) with a nice sharp Xacto knife.
Cut from the side, as it's thinner there. Dump the whole
contents into a bowl and try to chop up the hardened part.
A mortar and pestle might be helpful for this.
When you've reduced the hard part to small bits, add distilled
water, a little at a time and stirring as you go. You should see some
improvement. If you have a dedicated studio blender, you might
use that. I can usually get away with just using a small wire whisk.
As for those crystals, yes, heating may help them re-dissolve.
Glazes with lithium and boron are famous for their tendency to
form crystals when stored at cool temperatures. Add a bit of
water, microwave the mixtures that have crystals for just long
enough to get them warm (I'd start with 30 seconds on low), and
stir some more. You should see the crystals get smaller and eventually
disappear.
If you succeed in reconstituting those glazes, you'll need some
pint Mason jars, since you've destroyed the original ones. If you
do them one at a time, and label them immediately when you rebottle
them, you won't lose track of which is which.
Good luck, and happy glazing.
Don Goodrich
Lynn Goodman Porcelain Pottery on sun 21 jan 07
On Jan 21, 2007, at 10:45 AM, Diane Palmquist wrote:
> Hi All,
> I bought some low fire pints of glaze to experiment with. When
> I received them the were rock hard on the bottom. I called the
> distributor and he was surprised but sent me more. Well they
> weren't much better! So the busy season came and went(didn't use
> them of course) and now these pints of glaze have HUGE,Hard
> crystals in them. What do I do with them? Can I save these glazes?
> I did look in the archives and only saw one solution and that was
> to try to heat up the glaze which I will try. All other info seemed
> to be for adding things in the mixing process and not applicable
> for this. Any suggestions besides throwing them out?
> Thanks!
> Diane
Hi Diane,
Try heating the bottles of glaze--Immerse them in hot water, leave
for a while, open and stir. You may have to do do it more than once.
Once the crystals have re-incorporated, sieve.
Lynn
Lynn Goodman
Fine Porcelain Pottery
Cell 347-526-9805
www.lynngoodmanporcelain.com
Diane Palmquist on mon 22 jan 07
Hi Don,
Thanks so much for the help. I am guessing you have had this happen to
you too! I definitely have to cut the bottoms off to get the hardest part
out. Some of the crystals are the size of quarters so I am sure it will take
some time to get them dissolved. I never had anything like this happen
before. I didn't even get to use any of them so I hope all the extra work is
worth it!
thanks again for your help,
Best,
Diane
----- Original Message -----
From: "Don Goodrich"
To:
Sent: Sunday, January 21, 2007 1:05 PM
Subject: Re: Crystals in low fire glaze
> Hi Diane,
> Your pints can almost certainly be saved.
> I'm assuming that you can't effectively just add water
> and remix them, because the solid portion on the bottom
> of the jar isn't accessible. I'd get radical with the
> things, and cut off the bottoms of the bottles (they're
> in plastic bottles, aren't they?) with a nice sharp Xacto knife.
> Cut from the side, as it's thinner there. Dump the whole
> contents into a bowl and try to chop up the hardened part.
> A mortar and pestle might be helpful for this.
>
> When you've reduced the hard part to small bits, add distilled
> water, a little at a time and stirring as you go. You should see some
> improvement. If you have a dedicated studio blender, you might
> use that. I can usually get away with just using a small wire whisk.
>
> As for those crystals, yes, heating may help them re-dissolve.
> Glazes with lithium and boron are famous for their tendency to
> form crystals when stored at cool temperatures. Add a bit of
> water, microwave the mixtures that have crystals for just long
> enough to get them warm (I'd start with 30 seconds on low), and
> stir some more. You should see the crystals get smaller and eventually
> disappear.
>
> If you succeed in reconstituting those glazes, you'll need some
> pint Mason jars, since you've destroyed the original ones. If you
> do them one at a time, and label them immediately when you rebottle
> them, you won't lose track of which is which.
>
> Good luck, and happy glazing.
>
> Don Goodrich
>
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