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sagger fire

updated fri 11 may 12

 

Malcolm E. Kucharski on mon 8 apr 96



Looking for clues in all the right places. I am planning a sagger
fire using bisque pots as a sagger. What does this fine crowd of
people recommend for combustables inside the saggers?
Thanks.

Malcolm E. Kucharski
mkuchars@pittstate.edu
Skunk Work's Pottery

Frank A. Pishkur on tue 9 apr 96

For Saggar Combustables my favorite was always a mix of sawdust, peatmoss
and straw, with whatever dried vegetable or fruit peels I had around. I
do NOT recommend Hedge apples (also called osage oranges, I think) They
never seemed to completly combust and did nasty things.

Frank Pishkur, in North IN, where the sun came out again, yea!

Jack Phillips on tue 9 apr 96

Malcom,

Tell us what temperature range you plan to fire to. There's a
lot of materials that you can use, but sawdust works great.

Jack in Portland
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>
> Looking for clues in all the right places. I am planning a sagger
> fire using bisque pots as a sagger. What does this fine crowd of
> people recommend for combustables inside the saggers?
> Thanks.
>
> Malcolm E. Kucharski
> mkuchars@pittstate.edu
> Skunk Work's Pottery
>
>

RandHeazlt@aol.com on tue 9 apr 96

Charcoal is one of the best things. However you will want to try spraying the
pots with different sulfates like copper, cobalt and nickle. These produce
some very nice colors. My main concern is that you said you were going to use
bisque saggers, they may absorbe too much carbon and be good for only one
firing. I know that if you use high fired saggers that you can use them over
and over again, occasionally firing them w/o anything in them to burn out the
carbon build up. Also use Kingsford charcoal it seems to work better than any
other kind. I have heard that chunks of hardwood are nice too.

Rand Heazlitt
New Albany, In.

No matter where you go , Elvis is there.

Claudia O Driscoll on tue 9 apr 96

Malcolm,
I have used green tea (the balls of the wet stuff left over from the
morning pot), fir cones, and any of the salad you did not eat yesterday.
My best firings happen when I do not put too much 'stuff' in the
saggar...just give it some air, I guess.
Have fun!
claudia (claudiao@clackamas.cc.or.us)

dannon@ns1.koyote.com on tue 9 apr 96

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>
>
> Looking for clues in all the right places. I am planning a sagger
> fire using bisque pots as a sagger. What does this fine crowd of
> people recommend for combustables inside the saggers?
> Thanks.
>
> Malcolm E. Kucharski
> mkuchars@pittstate.edu
> Skunk Work's Pottery
>
>
Most interesting colorants seem to come from the use of a variety of
manures: cattle manure (dried, of course) seems to promote some really nice
lavenders. Horse manure sometimes turns the whole firing black, if there is
a great deal of it.
Students have participated with more eclectic contributions (chickens,
goats) but I find no observable differences, and as there is an auction barn
nearby for cattle and horses, I just use what's convenient. Seaweed is
great, it has all those trace minerals in it, and leaves lovely lines,
sometimes. Pine needles, long ones at least, will do the same, or long
grasses of any kind. And sometimes, when the kiln gods are out of sorts,
absolutely nothing happens. You can add some extremely fine steel wool,
wrapped round the pot(s) XXXX, for really rich browns. Don't use kitchen
soap pads, unless you want light blue glaze, from the borax I think. If I'm
doing a small firing I make individual paper saggars, they work really well
and confine all those fuming substances near the clay. I generally let the
temperature climb to about 1600 or so, but have fired to much lower ones
with decent results.

Dannon

LOWELL BAKER on wed 10 apr 96

Has anyone tried spraying or powdering graphite on the surface of
pots for saggar or high temp firing? This thought just hit me. I
have inherited two 55 gal drums of graphite shavings. Life is
exciting.

Lowell
The University of Alabama

Claudia O Driscoll on wed 10 apr 96

Lowell, Life IS exciting! Imagine what you could do with that graphite. I
hope your answers are posted online.....If not, will you tell the rest of
us?
claudia (claudiao@clackamas.cc.or)

peter pinnell on wed 10 apr 96

I was at Ft.Hays State University last week to do a workshop, and one of the
students told me a story of some people who were reducing their cone 6
electric firings by slipping pencils into the peepholes. We both
wondered how much of the reduction was caused by the wood, and how much
by the graphite. Now that I think of it, maybe the erasers were the
magic ingredient.

I would guess that graphite would easily oxidise to CO. Why
don't you give it a try?

Pete Pinnell

On Wed, 10 Apr 1996, LOWELL BAKER wrote:

> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> Has anyone tried spraying or powdering graphite on the surface of
> pots for saggar or high temp firing? This thought just hit me. I
> have inherited two 55 gal drums of graphite shavings. Life is
> exciting.
>
> Lowell
> The University of Alabama
>

dannon@ns1.koyote.com on wed 10 apr 96

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Has anyone tried spraying or powdering graphite on the surface of
>pots for saggar or high temp firing? This thought just hit me. I
>have inherited two 55 gal drums of graphite shavings. Life is
>exciting.
>
>Lowell
>The University of Alabama
>
>

Try it and tell us what happens. And guard those shavings from people like
me who would scoop them out by the gallon to use on drawings.........and
where did they come from, anyway?

Dannon Rhudy
dannon@koyote.com

Charles Gaudi on wed 10 apr 96

I don't want to put a damper on this idea but, talk to a chemist or
industrial hygenist before you do this. The burning graphite can emit some
nasty toxic chemicals. Some new military air craft use graphite components
and at a burning crash site about 8 years ago, two fire fighters sucumbed to
the fumes. Charlie

>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Has anyone tried spraying or powdering graphite on the surface of
>pots for saggar or high temp firing? This thought just hit me. I
>have inherited two 55 gal drums of graphite shavings. Life is
>exciting.
>
>Lowell
>The University of Alabama
>
>

slpbm@cc.usu.edu on thu 11 apr 96


About this business of graphite fumes as it relates to firing and to this
plane crash.... I must ask, is it the graphite that is fuming or is it
the composite materials that are made with the graphite...ie carbon fiber
in the wings etc? I ask because I am unsure what would give off a gas as
graphite burns... any chemists want to play with this one??

Alex Solla
in Utah where my tulips are very happy with all of this heat and sun.
slpbm@cc.usu.edu

Russel Fouts on thu 11 apr 96


Dannon,

>> If I'm doing a small firing I make individual paper saggars, they work
really well and confine all those fuming substances near the clay.<<

Can you describe these?

>> I generally let the temperature climb to about 1600 or so <<

Farenheit or Celsius!

Russel


=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
* Russel Fouts, CI$: 100021,23,
Bruxelles, Belgium
Internet: 100021.23@CompuServe.Com
"I wonder why, I wonder why.
I wonder why I wonder.
I wonder why I wonder why;
I wonder why I wonder?"
- Richard Feynmann
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

!^NavFont01F0007NGHHGDE7F48

Chance_Bob/furman@furman.edu on thu 11 apr 96

I remember seeing an old film about Gertrude and Otto Natzler where Otto
would reduce his electric kiln by inserting paper tubes stuffed with
straw and grass into the kiln chamber through the peepholes. It has
been a very long time since I saw it but his glazes have always been
wonderful

Bob Chance
http://ns9000.furman.edu/~chance/chance.html

Valice Raffi on thu 11 apr 96

Re: graphite:

I've seen some pots (and sculpture) with graphite as a finish, which were
beautiful! Unfortunately, the artist(s) weren't around to ask about
process.
I think you're lucky to have made such a score!

Valice

Michael Henderson on thu 11 apr 96

At 06:38 PM 4/10/96 EDT, Pete Pinnell wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>I was at Ft.Hays State University last week to do a workshop, and one of the
>students told me a story of some people who were reducing their cone 6
>electric firings by slipping pencils into the peepholes. We both
>wondered how much of the reduction was caused by the wood, and how much
>by the graphite. Now that I think of it, maybe the erasers were the
>magic ingredient.
>
>I would guess that graphite would easily oxidise to CO. Why
>don't you give it a try?
>
>Pete Pinnell
>

ON RESPONSE TO:

>
>> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>> Has anyone tried spraying or powdering graphite on the surface of
>> pots for saggar or high temp firing? This thought just hit me. I
>> have inherited two 55 gal drums of graphite shavings. Life is
>> exciting.
>>
>> Lowell
>> The University of Alabama
>>
>
>___________________________________________

I am just nutty enough to try this thing with the pencils. Can you get us
some details Pete? I do a lot of pitfiring and have never used a sagger in
my elctric kiln. Didn't know I could or ever really thought about it, but
the winters here are very long and the weather very wet making pitfiring the
pits if you know what I mean? Were they good old #2 s with the little metal
bands still on? Did they break them up first and take off the erasers?
Hey, I'll try anything once. Emily in Astoria OR where it is STILL raining.

Karl David Knudson on thu 11 apr 96

On Wed, 10 Apr 1996, Charles Gaudi wrote:
> ----------------------------Original message----------------------------
> I don't want to put a damper on this idea but, talk to a chemist or
> industrial hygenist before you do this. The burning graphite can emit some
> nasty toxic chemicals. Some new military air craft use graphite components
> and at a burning crash site about 8 years ago, two fire fighters sucumbed to
> the fumes. Charlie

Are you sure that the fumes are from graphite? military aircraft are
full of wonderfully toxic materials when they burn them. I may have
ingested too much lead lately so my brain isn't functioning but I seem
to recall USAF cannons using bullets made from depleated uranium? not to
mention all of the plastics, rubbers and coatings inside the plane.

Back to Graphite...

Isn't graphite just carbon in a different lattice structure? I'd think
that it woule behave similar to carbon in that respect, although you'll
never know until you try it. I've been trying to find a good melt for
industrial diamonds (also carbon) and have not yet really found
something 'neat'.

Karl
Wet and cold in Eugene, OR

K. Lorensen on fri 12 apr 96

Dannon,

I enjoyed your input on saggar firings as I have been a part of much experimenti
on this method in a class I take. We have had some very disappointing results a
only just now appear to be making real progress on getting some good colors.
Please explain what you mean by "individual paper saggar". I am not sure what y
mean.

Thank you for your input,

Carie in Seattle

Peter and Samantha Tomich on mon 15 apr 96

Bob Chance said on 4-11-96 that some folks would reduce the electric
kiln by inserting paper tubes stuffed with straw and grass into the kiln
chamber through the peepholes. I thought I read that reducing in an
electric kiln would wear out the elements really fast, & that you'd get
incredibly less firings from them. Will this shorten the life of the
elements?

Thanks,

Samantha

Chance_Bob/furman@furman.edu on tue 16 apr 96

Samantha

Yes--I said that I saw Otto Natzler do this in a film on he and
Gertrudes work. NO -- I do not recommend doing this in an electric kiln
as it will shorten the life of the elements.

Bob Chance

Manny and Catharina Meyer on sun 12 jan 97

We have a shop on Vancouver Island. I have lots of seaweed and would like to
try Sagger Firing some white earthenware pots.
Anyone with tips and info on Sagger Firing for us?

We also have a website at http://mars.ark.com/~catman

Thanks Catharina and Manny catman@mars.ark.com

Bill Merrill on thu 10 may 12


Sagger firing can be done at cone 10 or at lower temperatures. The =3D
sagger at low temp can be quite beautiful and rich, while the cone 10 =3D
sagger ware is usually more tonal with colors from dark to rich oranges =3D
and with great textures.=3D20
There are several pictures of cone 10 sagger ware on my Flickr site. The =
=3D
bottles are 15" in height.


http://www.flickr.com/photos/25594880@N04/ =3D
=3D
com/photos/25594880@N04/> =3D20

I can take a picture of several low fire sagger pieces if anyone is =3D
interested. Perhaps Mel could put it on the Claryart site for a few =3D
days. I give him a call to see if he would do that.
=3D20
I can let anyone who is interested in the way I have fired saggers at =3D
both temperature ranges....
=3D20
Bill Merrill