Help -- newbie...

Cone 6 should do fine for a garden lantern (though in harsh climates you
might want to store it where it will stay dry). Cone 6 electric (oxidation)
can give you just as interesting a look as cone 10 reduction and it saves a
lot on energy consumption.

Go to
http://www.frogpondpottery.com/
http://www.masteringglazes.com/
which will give you a good idea of what you can achieve with oxidation cone
6.

www.digitalfire.com is an excellant site for learning and I like
http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Information/FAQ.htm for odds and ends for
beginners.

http://www.potters.org/categories.htm is a good place to do searches for
information or discussions but it is a buyer beware area since a lot of
misinformation is easily posted (I have been guilty of it so I know).

"Fred" wrote in message
...
I'm making garden lanterns -- both electric and candle. Curently, I'm
experimenting with different clays but leaning toward stoneware that
matures at cone 6. I'd like to go for higher-fired clays but the only
kiln I currently have access to is a cone 8 max electric, so it's all
oxidation only for now. I expect to glaze more on the primitive side,
probably not glazing the entire piece. Maybe tops only or a partial dip
for the bottoms.

I'm really new at this. Learning a lot!

Thanks,

Fred

wrote in message
.. .
We fire our bisque to 04 then glaze. Everything depends on the clay body
that you are using. Some have a heavier tooth than others. Porcelain is
fragile, stoneware with good frit will hold up to one firing. A friend,
graduated UW Whitewater 1974 has only ever done a single firing on any of
his work. On the outset, serious bloating, especially on platters. At
present, he fires to stoneware and spraypaints his work. All
non-functional of course. What is your objective with your clay work?
"Fred" wrote in message
...
I'm just getting into clay and am beginning to realize how ignorant I
am! I recently bought several different kinds of clay -- all cone 6. I
have access to a Skutt automatic kiln. I'm making some test tiles to
eventually use for testing glazes. Somewhere I read that bisque firing
is around cone 05-06 rather than cone 6. Should I fire to 06 first,
glaze, then fire to cone 6 (or whatever the glaze needs), or fire to
cone 6 before glazing? Also, is it possible to glaze the greenware and
only fire once at cone 6?

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. I know this is very
elementary for most of you...

Fred

Thanks for the great references! There's plenty here to keep me occupied
for awhile.

Quick question: I'm leaning toward jumping right into mixing my own glazes,
and recently read much on the subject. Is this a mistake? Should I stay
with commercial glazes at first? I'd really rather mix my own. Thanks for
your thoughts.

Fred

"DKat" wrote in message
...
Cone 6 should do fine for a garden lantern (though in harsh climates you
might want to store it where it will stay dry). Cone 6 electric
(oxidation) can give you just as interesting a look as cone 10 reduction
and it saves a lot on energy consumption.

Go to
http://www.frogpondpottery.com/
http://www.masteringglazes.com/
which will give you a good idea of what you can achieve with oxidation
cone 6.

www.digitalfire.com is an excellant site for learning and I like
http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Information/FAQ.htm for odds and ends for
beginners.

http://www.potters.org/categories.htm is a good place to do searches for
information or discussions but it is a buyer beware area since a lot of
misinformation is easily posted (I have been guilty of it so I know).

"Fred" wrote in message
...
I'm making garden lanterns -- both electric and candle. Curently, I'm
experimenting with different clays but leaning toward stoneware that
matures at cone 6. I'd like to go for higher-fired clays but the only
kiln I currently have access to is a cone 8 max electric, so it's all
oxidation only for now. I expect to glaze more on the primitive side,
probably not glazing the entire piece. Maybe tops only or a partial dip
for the bottoms.

I'm really new at this. Learning a lot!

Thanks,

Fred

wrote in message
.. .
We fire our bisque to 04 then glaze. Everything depends on the clay
body that you are using. Some have a heavier tooth than others.
Porcelain is fragile, stoneware with good frit will hold up to one
firing. A friend, graduated UW Whitewater 1974 has only ever done a
single firing on any of his work. On the outset, serious bloating,
especially on platters. At present, he fires to stoneware and
spraypaints his work. All non-functional of course. What is your
objective with your clay work?
"Fred" wrote in message
...
I'm just getting into clay and am beginning to realize how ignorant I
am! I recently bought several different kinds of clay -- all cone 6. I
have access to a Skutt automatic kiln. I'm making some test tiles to
eventually use for testing glazes. Somewhere I read that bisque firing
is around cone 05-06 rather than cone 6. Should I fire to 06 first,
glaze, then fire to cone 6 (or whatever the glaze needs), or fire to
cone 6 before glazing? Also, is it possible to glaze the greenware and
only fire once at cone 6?

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. I know this is very
elementary for most of you...

Fred

I'd buy a couple of glazes for a start; just to get the hang of glaze
firing. Once you begin to get a feel for it then you could experiment
with one or two home mixed ones to fire alongside the bought ones.

Make haste slowly and learn thoroughly!

Steve
Bath
UK


In article , Fred
writes
Thanks for the great references! There's plenty here to keep me occupied
for awhile.

Quick question: I'm leaning toward jumping right into mixing my own glazes,
and recently read much on the subject. Is this a mistake? Should I stay
with commercial glazes at first? I'd really rather mix my own. Thanks for
your thoughts.

Fred

"DKat" wrote in message
...
Cone 6 should do fine for a garden lantern (though in harsh climates you
might want to store it where it will stay dry). Cone 6 electric
(oxidation) can give you just as interesting a look as cone 10 reduction
and it saves a lot on energy consumption.

Go to
http://www.frogpondpottery.com/
http://www.masteringglazes.com/
which will give you a good idea of what you can achieve with oxidation
cone 6.

www.digitalfire.com is an excellant site for learning and I like
http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Information/FAQ.htm for odds and ends for
beginners.

http://www.potters.org/categories.htm is a good place to do searches for
information or discussions but it is a buyer beware area since a lot of
misinformation is easily posted (I have been guilty of it so I know).

"Fred" wrote in message
...
I'm making garden lanterns -- both electric and candle. Curently, I'm
experimenting with different clays but leaning toward stoneware that
matures at cone 6. I'd like to go for higher-fired clays but the only
kiln I currently have access to is a cone 8 max electric, so it's all
oxidation only for now. I expect to glaze more on the primitive side,
probably not glazing the entire piece. Maybe tops only or a partial dip
for the bottoms.

I'm really new at this. Learning a lot!

Thanks,

Fred

wrote in message
.. .
We fire our bisque to 04 then glaze. Everything depends on the clay
body that you are using. Some have a heavier tooth than others.
Porcelain is fragile, stoneware with good frit will hold up to one
firing. A friend, graduated UW Whitewater 1974 has only ever done a
single firing on any of his work. On the outset, serious bloating,
especially on platters. At present, he fires to stoneware and
spraypaints his work. All non-functional of course. What is your
objective with your clay work?
"Fred" wrote in message
...
I'm just getting into clay and am beginning to realize how ignorant I
am! I recently bought several different kinds of clay -- all cone 6. I
have access to a Skutt automatic kiln. I'm making some test tiles to
eventually use for testing glazes. Somewhere I read that bisque firing
is around cone 05-06 rather than cone 6. Should I fire to 06 first,
glaze, then fire to cone 6 (or whatever the glaze needs), or fire to
cone 6 before glazing? Also, is it possible to glaze the greenware and
only fire once at cone 6?

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. I know this is very
elementary for most of you...

Fred











--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK

a general guidline at work for having motivated employees is to find
out what they like to do, and give them a job doing it.

if you're motivated to dive into glazes, by all means do it!

start with a simple one or two & take it from there.

one quick easy glaze is get some cone 6 or 10 porcelain slip, add mason
stain. ~ not a glase per sey but fast color!

i mixed my 1st batch of ash glaze as a raw beginer. got cool results,
did it all differently years later but still had fun.

see ya

steve

One of the first things I learned was mixing glazes and I consider it a very
rewarding part of the process. I would recommend Mastering Cone 6 Glazes
(one of the links I gave). KISS (keep it simple ____) though. I would not
invest the money in the rutile and cobalt for glazes to begin with
(spearmint and bone both take a lot of rutile and it is costly - cobalt is
now $40/lb I think). I say this knowing that they are two of my favorite
ingredients. They are just expensive and not what you want to be learning
with. I would get enough to use for decorating (mix a small amount with the
glaze you find you like and use it like a paint over the glaze). Also get
some copper carbonate and some good iron oxide. Your glaze test batches
should be at least 200 milligrams (many people use 100 and I think that is
just too small - a very small error gets exaggerated).

Good luck!

"Fred" wrote in message
.. .
Thanks for the great references! There's plenty here to keep me occupied
for awhile.

Quick question: I'm leaning toward jumping right into mixing my own
glazes, and recently read much on the subject. Is this a mistake? Should
I stay with commercial glazes at first? I'd really rather mix my own.
Thanks for your thoughts.

Fred

"DKat" wrote in message
...
Cone 6 should do fine for a garden lantern (though in harsh climates you
might want to store it where it will stay dry). Cone 6 electric
(oxidation) can give you just as interesting a look as cone 10 reduction
and it saves a lot on energy consumption.

Go to
http://www.frogpondpottery.com/
http://www.masteringglazes.com/
which will give you a good idea of what you can achieve with oxidation
cone 6.

www.digitalfire.com is an excellant site for learning and I like
http://www.bigceramicstore.com/Information/FAQ.htm for odds and ends for
beginners.

http://www.potters.org/categories.htm is a good place to do searches for
information or discussions but it is a buyer beware area since a lot of
misinformation is easily posted (I have been guilty of it so I know).

"Fred" wrote in message
...
I'm making garden lanterns -- both electric and candle. Curently, I'm
experimenting with different clays but leaning toward stoneware that
matures at cone 6. I'd like to go for higher-fired clays but the only
kiln I currently have access to is a cone 8 max electric, so it's all
oxidation only for now. I expect to glaze more on the primitive side,
probably not glazing the entire piece. Maybe tops only or a partial dip
for the bottoms.

I'm really new at this. Learning a lot!

Thanks,

Fred

wrote in message
.. .
We fire our bisque to 04 then glaze. Everything depends on the clay
body that you are using. Some have a heavier tooth than others.
Porcelain is fragile, stoneware with good frit will hold up to one
firing. A friend, graduated UW Whitewater 1974 has only ever done a
single firing on any of his work. On the outset, serious bloating,
especially on platters. At present, he fires to stoneware and
spraypaints his work. All non-functional of course. What is your
objective with your clay work?
"Fred" wrote in message
...
I'm just getting into clay and am beginning to realize how ignorant I
am! I recently bought several different kinds of clay -- all cone 6.
I have access to a Skutt automatic kiln. I'm making some test tiles
to eventually use for testing glazes. Somewhere I read that bisque
firing is around cone 05-06 rather than cone 6. Should I fire to 06
first, glaze, then fire to cone 6 (or whatever the glaze needs), or
fire to cone 6 before glazing? Also, is it possible to glaze the
greenware and only fire once at cone 6?

Thanks for the help. I really appreciate it. I know this is very
elementary for most of you...

Fred

In message , Fred
writes
Thanks for the great references! There's plenty here to keep me occupied
for awhile.

Quick question: I'm leaning toward jumping right into mixing my own glazes,
and recently read much on the subject. Is this a mistake? Should I stay
with commercial glazes at first? I'd really rather mix my own. Thanks for
your thoughts.

Hi Fred,

I'm just a beginner too so my advice on pottery matters is far from
expert. But over in the quilting newsgroup we have a saying: "there are
no quilt police". In other words - you want to do it? Go for it. What's
the worst that can happen?

So, are there any pot police? Can you get arrested for mixing your own
glazes without a license?

Actually I know that's a smidge flippant - I love the look of salt
glazes and I was disappointed to learn that if I fling salt in my
regular kiln it will be permanently ruined for normal firing. And some
of the ingredients of glazes are very toxic, so I'd make sure I
understood thoroughly what precautions to take before I started messing
with compounds of arsenic or antimony for example. I'd recommend you
start out with plenty of reading and asking questions but if you feel
moved to mix your own glazes, then you should do it, for sure.
--
M Rimmer

i was bored with the idea of reading up on glazes before just doing it.
so when someone said "ash glazes, just add water". ~ i did just that,
but looked cool & i learned how to use it. they ran like crazy & this
other guy said "add 50% porcelain". that settled down the runs.
further talks someone said "throw a little mason stain in". BOOM! i
had a cool glaze!

so there - you read enough, go dive in!

~ now, i kept no notes, measured nothing, and can't repeat that really
nice green ash glaze i had until the bucket went empty!

see ya

steve

In article .com,
steve writes

~ now, i kept no notes, measured nothing, and can't repeat that really
nice green ash glaze i had until the bucket went empty!

see ya

steve

If I had a pound for every time I've heard that comment I'd be a very
wealthy man now!!!!!

Be warned

Steve

--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK

In message , Steve Mills
writes
In article .com,
steve writes

~ now, i kept no notes, measured nothing, and can't repeat that really
nice green ash glaze i had until the bucket went empty!
If I had a pound for every time I've heard that comment I'd be a very
wealthy man now!!!!!

But Steve, I keep notes, I measure everything, and yet my nice green
barium glaze turned out blue when I made up a second batch.

Another lurking variable.
--
Jake Loddington, POULTON-LE-FYLDE, Lancs, UK
Tel. 01253 883756 Mobile 07966 450011 Fax 0870 052 2532

bingo - hense steve mill's comment....

see ya

steve