LOGAN OPLINGER on wed 15 may 02
Recently I had the bright idea of using a hard glaze fired elecrical
porcelain insulator as a burnishing tool for clay in place of polished river
stones. Looked through several local hardware/ electrical supply stores but
did find what I wanted.
However, I did find hard glazed porcelain drawer pulls. They are not
exactly cheap, but the smooth round or oval shaped ones work very well. The
flare at the base makes them easy to hold. The threaded nut in the bottom
allows for a handle to be attached to make holding easier. The shape of the
pulls allows for burnishing broad flat or outward curving areas as well as
inward curving areas such as around the lip of a vase.
I hope this may be of use to someone.
Logan Oplinger
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June Perry on wed 15 may 02
Good clay burnishing tools can be purchased in lapidary stores or at
lapidary
shows. If you dig through tumbled agates and other tumbled stones, on a good
day you can find a nice sized stone with a good amount of flat surface and
you'll pay somewhere between 25 cents to a dollar for it. Agates are
supposed
to have healing qualities as well, so you get a "twofer"! :-)
Regards,
June Perry
Michele Williams on thu 16 may 02
And let's not forget the artsy-part of these stones. They are so pretty to
look at you will worry about damaging the surface of the prettiest ones.
Get a few to look at and some to Tool Around with. Or just get the
prettiest one you can find, and know that you're working with a gem!
Michele Williams
Rock collector from WAAAAAAAAY Back!
----- Original Message -----
From: "June Perry"
To:
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2002 7:45 AM
Subject: Clay burnishing tool
> Good clay burnishing tools can be purchased in lapidary stores or at
lapidary
> shows. If you dig through tumbled agates and other tumbled stones, on a
good
> day you can find a nice sized stone with a good amount of flat surface and
> you'll pay somewhere between 25 cents to a dollar for it. Agates are
supposed
> to have healing qualities as well, so you get a "twofer"! :-)
>
> Regards,
> June Perry
>
>
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Bruce Girrell on thu 16 may 02
As others have noted, a tumble polished rock does very well for this
purpose. I have two things to add. First, the most highly polished rock is
not necessarily the one that you want. The smooth surface of the rock can
stick to the clay surface and lift little bits of the burnished surface off,
leaving tiny pits that are a real pain to repair. You can minimize this
effect by never allowing the rock to come to a full stop. In other words,
don't stroke back and forth because the stone can stick to the clay at the
end of the stroke. Instead, use an elliptical motion if possible.
Second, other materials sometimes work better. We just returned from a
workshop in Mata Ortiz with Juan Quezada. He uses a polished deer bone for
burnishing. His wife Guillermina, who actually does most of the burnishing,
uses a bean from a tree from the highlands. The bean is very hard and lasts
her for more than a year of regular use.
We were somewhat doubtful regarding the bean, especially considering its
small size. But the rocks that we had brought with us were dragging on the
clay a little causing scuff marks. We switched to the bean and it glided
smoothly over the same areas where we were having problems with the rock.
The bean provided a beautiful burnish and was not all that hard to hold once
I figured out that you don't really have to grip it tightly.
Bruce "definitely not Juan" Girrell
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