mel jacobson on sun 14 nov 99
this is an old thread, has been sorta beaten to death, but important.
many have told us to be very careful with fiber, it messes with us.
so, having said that many times, i continue to support the use of
itc spray 100 on fiber...if for no other reason, it makes it hard and stable.
as most of you know already, i have written about it for cm, used it
about 100 times, and together with nils` advice, have experimented with it
a great deal.
the best use of itc that i have found is spraying it on fiber...it not only
protects the fiber, but, it keeps the small bits of material from floating
all around your kiln and into your lungs.
again, as i have hacked on many times, don't be cheap with your health
or the life of your kilns, each is very expensive to fix.
the hundred bucks here and there that i have spent on itc has paid me
back many times. the delkic`s have been very generous to this group, and
i think sometimes that alice gives away more itc than she sells....(example:
mehgan keiffer in tennessee had never seen itc....she built that little
flat top
kiln and was going to use light soda..i said,`how about a spray of
itc?`...she said,
`i do not have 7 bucks to my name`, so, i called alice told her we needed a
gallon
and i would pay for it...and of course feriz called back in an hour, had
put a box
in ups, overnight, one gallon of itc 100, sprayer, gloves, mask, hat, pens,
screw
drivers, extra attachments for the spray system....no charge, a gift to the
craft center, and a fine young women potter. )
that made me smile.
i did a demo spray, worked fine.
again i say, it is not a magical thing, it is just a high quality ceramic
coating.
and, it works. best of all, it does not spall off, at least i have never seen
one piece of evidence that it comes off at all.
i have seen several kilns that have been sprayed, over old salt, dirt, broken
brick, used crappy brick, and the itc did not hold....it was not meant to
go on old salty kilns, or old fiber that is weak and pulling away.
feriz says, `stamp on the fiber first, run over it with your car, use a rolling
pin, whatever, but flatten it, then spray`.
and there are a great many very cheap fibers out there, and sometimes
people think it is all the same, sorry, not true. cheap, bargain fiber does
not hold up, the fibers are short and do not hold together. when you spray
a coat of itc on it, the weight of the itc pulls the fiber away from the kiln.
good fiber does not pull away.
well, enough. you get the point.
and hey, i thought we were looking for john rogers, so i was out
watching for him. just stand in the road for several hours each day
to see if he would drive by.
and no, was not drinking jack daniels, do not even like that stuff.
and not too keen on his music either....oh, that's charley daniels.
mel.mn
it was 70 f. in minneapolis yesterday....but, we think winter is just
around the corner.
was trying on longies yesterday, felt shoes, gloves....sorta looking
at myself in the mirror...a fashion statement. youbetcha
winter things, an afro d z ack.
http://www.pclink.com/melpots
from minnetonka, minnesota, u.s.a.
Thonas C. Curran on tue 16 nov 99
Changing the subject slightly, last night I couldn't sleep and used the
time for thinking. I don't recommend sleeplessness, but it's rare to
have free time in which to ponder life, esthetics, etc. One thought was
the use of fiberglass insulation - like the commercial pink stuff - for
an armature of sorts for clay work. Are there any additives in the
stuff which would make this a no no? I was thinking that a sculpture or
handbuilt form could be formed around fiberglass in some way and might
allow a permanent armature which would "give" when the clay went through
the shrinking process. Then during firing the fiberglass would melt and
form a pool at the bottom of the piece. Or am I completely off base
here with my 2AM brilliant thoughts?
Actually, would appreciate any ideas on armatures and supports which
could remain in a piece. I know I once even made armatures out of
pretzel sticks --worked in theory, but salted pretzels not good in
practice. Then I baked breadsticks out of unsalted French bread recipe
and used those as armatures. That worked -- sort of -- but not too well
on complicated form. Hey, I'll try anything once if it isn't too
expensive or dangerous or health threatening.
Carolyn Curran
Burt Cohen on tue 16 nov 99
Hi Mel; I am reading another glowing testament to the wonders of ITC. Now
don't get me wrong you have had a lot of experience with ITC, I haven't.
However my question isn't whether or not it is useful as a top spray coating
on fiber. If it binds it, wonderful. As you say it keeps it the hell out of
your lungs. My question is why not thin saireset, bondset or another sodium
silicate based refractory mortar and and spray that. Hell of a lot cheaper
then ITC. My reasoning is that I think any of these materials will probably
do as good a job, and I know what is in them. I don't know what is in ITC.
How do I know it isn't as deleterious as Fiberfax particles?
Up here in the mild Canadian north.
Burt Cohen
-----Original Message-----
From: mel jacobson
To: CLAYART@LSV.UKY.EDU
Date: Sunday, November 14, 1999 5:42 PM
Subject: fiber in kilns
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
this is an old thread, has been sorta beaten to death, but important.
many have told us to be very careful with fiber, it messes with us.
so, having said that many times, i continue to support the use of
itc spray 100 on fiber...if for no other reason, it makes it hard and
stable.
as most of you know already, i have written about it for cm, used it
about 100 times, and together with nils` advice, have experimented with it
a great deal.
the best use of itc that i have found is spraying it on fiber...it not only
protects the fiber, but, it keeps the small bits of material from floating
all around your kiln and into your lungs.
again, as i have hacked on many times, don't be cheap with your health
or the life of your kilns, each is very expensive to fix.
the hundred bucks here and there that i have spent on itc has paid me
back many times. the delkic`s have been very generous to this group, and
i think sometimes that alice gives away more itc than she sells....(example:
mehgan keiffer in tennessee had never seen itc....she built that little
flat top
kiln and was going to use light soda..i said,`how about a spray of
itc?`...she said,
`i do not have 7 bucks to my name`, so, i called alice told her we needed a
gallon
and i would pay for it...and of course feriz called back in an hour, had
put a box
in ups, overnight, one gallon of itc 100, sprayer, gloves, mask, hat, pens,
screw
drivers, extra attachments for the spray system....no charge, a gift to the
craft center, and a fine young women potter. )
that made me smile.
i did a demo spray, worked fine.
again i say, it is not a magical thing, it is just a high quality ceramic
coating.
and, it works. best of all, it does not spall off, at least i have never
seen
one piece of evidence that it comes off at all.
i have seen several kilns that have been sprayed, over old salt, dirt,
broken
brick, used crappy brick, and the itc did not hold....it was not meant to
go on old salty kilns, or old fiber that is weak and pulling away.
feriz says, `stamp on the fiber first, run over it with your car, use a
rolling
pin, whatever, but flatten it, then spray`.
and there are a great many very cheap fibers out there, and sometimes
people think it is all the same, sorry, not true. cheap, bargain fiber
does
not hold up, the fibers are short and do not hold together. when you spray
a coat of itc on it, the weight of the itc pulls the fiber away from the
kiln.
good fiber does not pull away.
well, enough. you get the point.
and hey, i thought we were looking for john rogers, so i was out
watching for him. just stand in the road for several hours each day
to see if he would drive by.
and no, was not drinking jack daniels, do not even like that stuff.
and not too keen on his music either....oh, that's charley daniels.
mel.mn
it was 70 f. in minneapolis yesterday....but, we think winter is just
around the corner.
was trying on longies yesterday, felt shoes, gloves....sorta looking
at myself in the mirror...a fashion statement. youbetcha
winter things, an afro d z ack.
http://www.pclink.com/melpots
from minnetonka, minnesota, u.s.a.
Vince Pitelka on wed 17 nov 99
>Hi Mel; I am reading another glowing testament to the wonders of ITC. Now
>don't get me wrong you have had a lot of experience with ITC, I haven't.
>However my question isn't whether or not it is useful as a top spray coating
>on fiber. If it binds it, wonderful. As you say it keeps it the hell out of
>your lungs. My question is why not thin saireset, bondset or another sodium
>silicate based refractory mortar and and spray that. Hell of a lot cheaper
>then ITC. My reasoning is that I think any of these materials will probably
>do as good a job, and I know what is in them. I don't know what is in ITC.
>How do I know it isn't as deleterious as Fiberfax particles?
>Up here in the mild Canadian north.
Burt -
Those other coatings you mention will not begin to do what ITC coatings do.
There is no comparison at all. And the MSDS (material safety data sheets) I
have on ITC 100 clearly state that the materials are non-toxic. The coating
is a very hard, impervious coating. In other words, it does exactly what
Mel says it does - it seals in the fibers, giving a tight coating with no
material release. I can understand that you are just being the devil's
advocate here, but if you are concerned about such things, all you have to
do is ask the manufacturer. They obviously cannot give you the formula for
their products, because they would go out of business quick if they did, but
they are required by law to give you a MSDS for every product. And if a
manufacturer or supplier ever were to mislead you on a MSDS, they would be
out of business quick.
Best wishes -
- Vince
Vince Pitelka
Home - vpitelka@DeKalb.net
615/597-5376
Work - wpitelka@tntech.edu
615/597-6801 ext. 111, fax 615/597-6803
Appalachian Center for Crafts
Tennessee Technological University
1560 Craft Center Drive, Smithville TN 37166
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