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hot soda ash??? or boiled ash

updated sun 22 apr 01

 

Karen Sullivan on fri 20 apr 01


I worked for awhile with boiled soda ash..
Coffee can, water, hot plate...heat the water
and add soda ash until the density is concentrated...
then brush to solution on work...
When the container cools the mixture becomes a crystal solid...with heat it
turns back into a liquid.
I figure it is a means of increasing the saturation
or/concentration of the soda ash.

When I brushed the solution on to porcelain, and
fired to cone 11, there was a problem with the
porcelain form splitting and separating.
Something to do with causing an interference with
quartz inversion I think...I may be wrong about that.
But the two were not a happy combination... often...but
amazing colors also from olive green to bright orange.

Seems I did something with spodumene brushed onto
porcelain, but can't remember what I did...
Bright orange on porcelain...I figure that the
spodumene in shino is cheating...easy orange.

who knows....
bamboo karen

Dannon Rhudy on sat 21 apr 01


>When I brushed the solution on to porcelain, and
>fired to cone 11, there was a problem with the
>porcelain form splitting and separating.
>Something to do with causing an interference with
>quartz inversion I think...

Karen, I've been brushing soda ash onto unglazed
porcelain for 3-4 years, and have not had the
problem that you describe. Do you make your own
porcelain, or buy it somewhere?

The purpose of heating the water before adding the
soda ash is, as you speculate, merely a means of
incorporating more soda ash into the water. I always
make a saturated solution, and in that way I know
approximately what to expect in terms of surface
appearance, when I brush it on. If it is made/stored
in a microwave-able container, it can be re-melted
in a few seconds in a microwave oven.

regards

Dannon Rhudy