k.m.whipple@ATT.NET on wed 15 may 02
This is an incredibly timely subject for me! I opened my
bisque kiln the other day to find that a large stoneware
figural piece had a blowout (dang, i REALLY thought i'd
gone slow enough...). I've worked on this piece for over
a year, it's for a friend, it's a really good piece. I
DO NOT consider trying to repair it a waste of my time,
so don't start!:)
The blowout is on her thigh and hip (woo-woo) and i've
actually found almost all of the surface bits and pieced
them together. I've looked at the archival posts about
paper clay repairs, but this Aztec Mender sounds even
more promising. The area to be repaired is about 3" by
7", and perhaps 1/2 inch thick; and like i said, i found
most of the bits, so they could be sort of mortered
together to make the repair. I was planning to fire her,
unglazed, to cone 6, and i'll stick with that plan if i
can make the repair sufficiently invisible ;).
I'd profoundly appreciate any input on which method
people think might work best, and/or more details on how
the Aztec hi fire mender would work.
Thanks,
Kathy Whipple
Moth wings Pottery
william schran on thu 16 may 02
Kathy - I believe you'll find any repair as large as you note will be
visible without some covering glaze or lots of work grinding up some
bisque, mixing with repair binder, filling in and blending over
cracks, perhaps sanding and still no promises that the patch won't
show. If it doesn't work, then consider a non-traditional decoration
- paints, etc.
Bill
Snail Scott on thu 16 may 02
At 09:23 PM 5/15/02 +0000, you wrote:
>The blowout is on her thigh and hip...
>The area to be repaired is about 3" by
>7", and perhaps 1/2 inch thick; and like i said, i found
>most of the bits...I was planning to fire her,
>unglazed, to cone 6...
>I'd profoundly appreciate any input on which method
>people think might work best, and/or more details on how
>the Aztec hi fire mender would work.
Aztec Mender will probably work, since it doesn't
sound like a structural problem; I've often found
the Aztec Mender repairs to be a bit weak.
Since Aztec Mender uses your own clay as an
ingredient, it doesn't work well with groggy
clays. The grog prevents the broken pieces from
seating back together effectively.So, you need to
seive some of your clay, to get only the finer
particles to add to the Aztec Mender. It works
best to calcine the result before adding it to the
mender, if the gaps are large.
Also, the surface will not look just like an
unbroken surface. After firing once to bisque
temperature with the mender, inspect the repair,
and sand the surface if needed to get as close to
the original contour as possible. Try applying some
of the calcined clay as a thin slip to even out the
surface appearance if needed. You may have to
consider making up an engobe to cover the whole
piece, to make it look undamaged. Bare clay may
no longer be an option, but it doesn't have to mean
glaze, either.
-Snail
Snail Scott on thu 16 may 02
At 09:23 PM 5/15/02 +0000, you wrote:
>The blowout is on her thigh and hip...
I ve noticed that over at the local college here,
they have a near-plague of blown-up butts on female
figures. (The clay ones, not the students'.) ;)
On the offhand chance it happens elsewhere, I'll
toss in my observations on the subject.
When people make figures in clay, they often start
out by forming a fairly tubular set of shapes to
rough out the body, then start adding clay to make
the contours more naturalistic. For female figures,
this often means a substantial addition of clay at
the hips. The makers often lose track of just how
much clay they've actually added, or if they are
aware of it, they don't know what to do about it.
(We're talking about hollow forms, here, by the way.)
Obviously, the ideal solution is to scoop out the
excess clay from the inside, but, hips being located
where they are, this can be difficult. (This also
contributes to unawareness of the growing thickness
of the clay wall). So, here's the Secret Sneaky Snail
Sure Cure for Explosive Student Asses! (tm), (patent
pending):
In any area where you suspect you have gotten way
too thick, but can't reach the inside, pierce the
clay all the way through with a pointy object. A
needle tool can work for minor cases, but I prefer
a length of thin welding rod, in case the thickness
exceeds the length of the needle. (You definitely do
NOT want to make a hole only partway through!) Pierce
the suspect area all over, 1/2" apart or closer, ALL
THE WAY to the central cavity of the work. Then,
smooth over all those tiny holes on the outside and
restore the intended texture.
This works because no part of the clay is now more
than 1/2" away from open air access. It doesn't
think it's 4" thick anymore, and it won't act like
it. Any trapped steam will be able to escape to open
air instead of blowing off huge chunks of your art.
The clay doesn't care whether it's been vented to
the outside of the form or the inside, as long as
the inside cavity itself is vented to the outside,
somewhere.
-Snail
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