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Fun with Texture



 
 
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  #11  
Old January 30th 04, 09:47 PM
Uncle John
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(Lcdumas) wrote in
:

Something that makes a nice surface is to embed hamster litter into
the clay and then let it burn out in the kiln.

Linda D


Embed the hamster. Should get good reduction.

Cheers
AJ
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  #12  
Old January 31st 04, 08:48 AM
Marmaj40
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If you are slab building, using stamps that you have made, or rolling leaves
onto your clay. Fern leaves work very nicely, pine branches, etc. Look around
your back yard and you will find all sorts of things to roll onto the slab. If
you are near the ocean, drift wood has some interesting textures. Sea shells
too. It is all fun. Making the item plus collecting things to texture the
clay.
  #13  
Old January 31st 04, 09:28 AM
Monika Schleidt
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Lcdumas wrote:

Something that makes a nice surface is to embed hamster litter into the clay
and then let it burn out in the kiln.

Linda D


But isn't it bad for your electric kiln to create all this smoke in it? It's ok
if you fire with gas or oil, but i was told, not to do it in an electric kiln.

Monika

--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik


  #14  
Old January 31st 04, 12:13 PM
Steve Mills
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Every time a kiln is fired a microscopically thin layer of oxide is
added to the surface of the element, and a similar amount of the element
core is diminished. This eventually leads to there being more oxide than
element core and firings begin to take longer and longer! Curiously this
layer of oxide also acts as a protection from the highly corrosive
atmosphere in a firing Kiln.
With a partial or positive reduction firing the layer of oxide can be
stripped from the element, probably shortening its life.
There are 2 ways of dealing with this potential hazard, one is to fire
the pieces in a fireclay box or Saggar, sealing the lid with clay/sand
mix or bits of ceramic fibre, the other is to follow a very smokey or
reduction firing with a short firing to red heat (say 700oC) of the
empty kiln to re-establish the oxide layer. As a matter of interest it
is also a good idea to fire the kiln empty each time new elements are
fitted to give them the same protection.

Steve
Bath
UK


In article , Monika Schleidt
writes


Lcdumas wrote:

Something that makes a nice surface is to embed hamster litter into the clay
and then let it burn out in the kiln.

Linda D


But isn't it bad for your electric kiln to create all this smoke in it? It's ok
if you fire with gas or oil, but i was told, not to do it in an electric kiln.

Monika

--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik



--
Steve Mills
Bath
UK
  #15  
Old January 31st 04, 01:44 PM
wayneinkeywest
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"Monika Schleidt" wrote in message
...


Lcdumas wrote:

Something that makes a nice surface is to embed hamster litter into the

clay
and then let it burn out in the kiln.

Linda D


But isn't it bad for your electric kiln to create all this smoke in it?

It's ok
if you fire with gas or oil, but i was told, not to do it in an electric

kiln.

Monika

--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik


Monika:
Technically, I suppose, it is more harmful to the kiln electric
heating elements to fire with combustibles as oposed to a
gas or wood kiln. However, many people here (US) regularly
do so. With that, a qualifying statement:

I did NOT say it was ok to load the kiln with pots, wood, paper
or anything else, and turn the elements on high to simulate
pit firing :) Yes, it's been tried. Burned down someone's garage
in the process.

A bit of combustible material in or on a pot is not going to
do much except create some smoke (and a reduction atmosphere).
Since most electric kilns are located _indoors_, that
could pose a serious health problem, or, as I found out,
a problem with the neighbors calling the
fire department thinking my house was on fire.

When I fire with combustibles (usually grasses or leaves
impressed into clay during the bisque) I always make sure to vacuum the kiln
completely afterward, so that it's clean again. Wait until it's
completely cool of course, no sense in having the vacuum
burst into flames (...oh the stories I could tell you g)

You might also check to see that no contamination of the
brick occurs, as it can with some more "exotic" elements
(like synthetic fabrics, plastic sequins etc.)

Some people pick up a "well-used" kiln, and use that one
exclusively for combustible experiments, leaving the "good"
kiln for pure electric firing.

Once in a while won't hurt the elements... much.

Wayne Seidl


  #16  
Old January 31st 04, 01:59 PM
A&V
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I approach textures in a different way, and I thought that most potters
do(?), and that is: when I want to convey something, I search for the
texture and shape to do it. For example I am often inspired by corals and
ocean life, and I have mixed rice and sand in slip for rough texture, used
linocutters, or different brushes to apply slip... any odd number of things,
but the question usually is: how to convey a particular thought or idea, not
how to utilize pretty texture.
I' don't know, it works for me. You can see my work he
http://home.iprimus.com.au/vandvin
Andrea

used"Lindsay MacArthur" wrote in message
...
What about embedding---both things that burn off as well as things
that stay in the piece? What items have people experimented with?

On Wed, 28 Jan 2004 15:01:10 -0500, Lindsay MacArthur
wrote:

I mainly make functional stoneware pieces fired to ^6 in an electric
kiln. I want to experiment with some fun textering and embedding and
was looking for ideas. For example, I know a potter who occasionally
fires some pieces wrapped in gauze and has even done a couple of
pieces where she wrapped slip dipped gauze around a balloon, popped
the balloon when slip was dry and fired the piece like that.

So, if you have any fun ideas please share :-)

LMac




  #17  
Old January 31st 04, 03:59 PM
Slgraber
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i've been doing textured pieces almost to a sickness for 18 years... i can't
walk thru a store without seeing various things that would make great texture
tools.

at the cylinder stage i run these tools up the side of a pot, and then expand
the pot from the inside. the texture grows & stretches into the final piece.

try pastry cutters, paint rollers, toy truck tires, gears, saw blades, cake
decorating tools, etc.

one great extra is textured pieces don't let runny glazes run as much and you
can get some fun reactions of piled on runny glazes.

see ya

steve



Subject: Fun with Texture
From: Lindsay MacArthur
Date: 1/28/2004 12:01 PM Pacific Standard Time
Message-id:

I mainly make functional stoneware pieces fired to ^6 in an electric
kiln. I want to experiment with some fun textering and embedding and
was looking for ideas. For example, I know a potter who occasionally
fires some pieces wrapped in gauze and has even done a couple of
pieces where she wrapped slip dipped gauze around a balloon, popped
the balloon when slip was dry and fired the piece like that.

So, if you have any fun ideas please share :-)

LMac








steve graber
  #19  
Old January 31st 04, 04:08 PM
Bob Masta
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On Sat, 31 Jan 2004 11:13:56 +0000, Steve Mills
wrote:

Every time a kiln is fired a microscopically thin layer of oxide is
added to the surface of the element, and a similar amount of the element
core is diminished. This eventually leads to there being more oxide than
element core and firings begin to take longer and longer! Curiously this
layer of oxide also acts as a protection from the highly corrosive
atmosphere in a firing Kiln.
With a partial or positive reduction firing the layer of oxide can be
stripped from the element, probably shortening its life.
There are 2 ways of dealing with this potential hazard, one is to fire
the pieces in a fireclay box or Saggar, sealing the lid with clay/sand
mix or bits of ceramic fibre, the other is to follow a very smokey or
reduction firing with a short firing to red heat (say 700oC) of the
empty kiln to re-establish the oxide layer. As a matter of interest it
is also a good idea to fire the kiln empty each time new elements are
fitted to give them the same protection.


Here's a follow-on question for Steve and Wayne: I've always
assumed that the burn-out items would be pretty much gone
well before the end of the bisque firing, and that any "reduction"
atmosphere was happening too early in the cycle to be useful
for anything. But I must admit I've never done any tests, like
opening the kiln mid-cycle and extracting the piece. (I'm not
into raku.) All I know is that after a C/04 cycle there is only
ash left.

If the reduction atmosphere persisted up into the glaze-melt
range, I imagine there would be some neat effects from
embedding the combustibles in the glaze layer. Anyone
every heard of this? Perhaps this could be done with a
well-sealed saggar, but I've always assumed not out in the
open in a conventional electric kiln (element damage or no).

Always looking for new things to try...






Bob Masta
dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom

D A Q A R T A
Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis
www.daqarta.com
  #20  
Old January 31st 04, 07:12 PM
Monika Schleidt
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Posts: n/a
Default



wayneinkeywest wrote:

Monika:
Technically, I suppose, it is more harmful to the kiln electric
heating elements to fire with combustibles as oposed to a
gas or wood kiln. However, many people here (US) regularly
do so. With that, a qualifying statement:

I did NOT say it was ok to load the kiln with pots, wood, paper
or anything else, and turn the elements on high to simulate
pit firing :) Yes, it's been tried. Burned down someone's garage
in the process.

A bit of combustible material in or on a pot is not going to
do much except create some smoke (and a reduction atmosphere).
Since most electric kilns are located _indoors_, that
could pose a serious health problem, or, as I found out,
a problem with the neighbors calling the
fire department thinking my house was on fire.

When I fire with combustibles (usually grasses or leaves
impressed into clay during the bisque) I always make sure to vacuum the kiln
completely afterward, so that it's clean again. Wait until it's
completely cool of course, no sense in having the vacuum
burst into flames (...oh the stories I could tell you g)

You might also check to see that no contamination of the
brick occurs, as it can with some more "exotic" elements
(like synthetic fabrics, plastic sequins etc.)

Some people pick up a "well-used" kiln, and use that one
exclusively for combustible experiments, leaving the "good"
kiln for pure electric firing.

Once in a while won't hurt the elements... much.


Thanks Wayne and Steve, this is good news. I was always tempted to put something
or other combustible into the clay, but was always afraid to do in the elements.
As long as i keep this away from my 22 potters kids, there won't be any harm
done. I think Steve Graber's idea with alphabet soup letters is also grand!
Another thing that comes to my mind in this connection: i have some rubber
alphabet stamps, about 1 cm tall, which look very good imprinted in the clay and
the kids love them. Unfortunately they are slowly deteriorating, (they are about
30 years old, still from the time when my own kids were little in the US) and i
have been looking everywhere to replace them. They are just not to be had in
Austria. Do any of you know of a source for rubber stamp letters about that
size?

Monika
--
Monika Schleidt

www.schleidt.org/mskeramik


 




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