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southern ice and silicone rubber sealent

updated thu 30 may 02

 

george koller on mon 27 may 02


Joyce,

sometime ago there was a thread (or two?) about porcelain and 100%
silicone rubber sealant working together to give some "paper clay" like
properties. i thought i remembered that the porcelain & silicone were
used to do amazing things AND could be rolled "paper thin" - this is
what caught my attention. there is a reference in the snippets i cut in
below to a Susan Peterson book:

==========begin snippets======================

I've been looking through that same book the last couple
of weeks (library book) and on page 44, she shows porcelain
being mixed with liquid silicone. The porcelain was then extruded
into threads and woven into a net.

Valerie

-----Original Message-----
From: Ceramic Arts Discussion List [
mailto:CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG]On
Behalf Of Lajos Kamocsay
Sent: Monday, October 15, 2001 3:51 AM
To: CLAYART@LSV.CERAMICS.ORG
Subject: How to do this?


Hello,

I've found this photo in Susan Peterson's book, The Craft
and Art of Clay.
It's a porcelain, one of a kind jar by Kataro
Shirayamadani from ~1900.

http://www.rcartoons.com/images/china.jpg

I'm trying to figure out how to create the structure of
such a jar. I extruded thin coils of clay, and built half of the jar on
a plaster form. However as the porcelain dried and shrunk, the coils all
broke. I could not lift the piece off of the form before the coils broke,
because it could not support itself. Any ideas on how to build this jar?
The next thing I'll try is to build it inside a bowl, to avoid the problem
of shrinkage. However this way the coils
might get flattened...

Thanks,
Lajos


===========end of snippets======================


perhaps somebody on this list has pursued this avenue in the
meantime? any additional information or suggestions will be
most appreciated!



here are some notes on what we are doing:

the infamous alfred clone of our michigan machine is up and
running. a few more software glitches and gotchas to overcome
in matching everything up, but expect to have it scratch'n and
spritz'n very soon. (spritz=spray)

first priority is to get the kurt wild process down on stoneware
but making thin and translucent tiles from porcelain is also a
part of the project i am working on here (for back lighting).
we have just hired in a art student on the project and he is
working away with access to rather unbelievable resources.
i'll be discussing this with him at first opportunity, unbelievable
timing)

we are going to at least try mixing some in to see what kind of
a gooey mess we can make of it. i'll let you know what we learn
but will sure appreciate any additional information.


hope this gets joyce off on a good gooey tangent,


george koller




ps spend yesterday and this morning getting to know the alfred, ny
area better. visited olean, cuba, and belfast up and west of here
(bet you didn't know that) then spent couple of hours in the vital
and attractive little village of wellsville only about 12 miles west
of here, which i particularly liked.

Anne Wellings on tue 28 may 02


Where does one get silicone rubber sealant? I am interested in it not so
much for mixing with clay, but to use in various ways as a sealant or
protective finish for clay items.

I currently put silicone from a tube on the bottoms of travel mugs, which
works fine. But I would be interested in something thinner and in larger
quantities for other projects. Does the stuff you are referring to come in
a thick or thin consistency, can it be thinned, and if so, how would you
thin it?

I am currently using a thin RTV rubber masonry sealer called Lifeguard to
seal certain items and find it to work very well. The only drawback is the
fumes, from the product itself and the mineral spirits needed for clean-up.

The company that makes Lifeguard tells me it is not specifically a
silicone, but actually "one step further" in the process. I am not clear on
what the differences would be. I was originally looking for a liquid
silicone, but couldn't figure out how to find one. I might be interested in
a thicker, but still fluid, substance for some items such as trivets or
coasters. Thanks for any help or clarifications.

Anne

george koller on tue 28 may 02


Anne,

about any hardware store will have it. homedepot and stores such
as that will have a variety. otherwise i am only fleetingly familiar
with the substance, we used it to hold down tiles on wood.

i think there was an informative thread on sealants. i have no
direct experience at that either.

best of luck!

george koller

Anne Wellings wrote:

> Where does one get silicone rubber sealant? I am interested in it not so
> much for mixing with clay, but to use in various ways as a sealant or
> protective finish for clay items.
>
> I currently put silicone from a tube on the bottoms of travel mugs, which
> works fine. But I would be interested in something thinner and in larger
> quantities for other projects. Does the stuff you are referring to come in
> a thick or thin consistency, can it be thinned, and if so, how would you
> thin it?
>
> I am currently using a thin RTV rubber masonry sealer called Lifeguard to
> seal certain items and find it to work very well. The only drawback is the
> fumes, from the product itself and the mineral spirits needed for
clean-up.
>
> The company that makes Lifeguard tells me it is not specifically a
> silicone, but actually "one step further" in the process. I am not clear
on
> what the differences would be. I was originally looking for a liquid
> silicone, but couldn't figure out how to find one. I might be interested
in
> a thicker, but still fluid, substance for some items such as trivets or
> coasters. Thanks for any help or clarifications.
>
> Anne
>
>
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Anne Wellings on wed 29 may 02


George,

I'm familiar with the silicone that comes in tubes and is available at
hardware stores. Apparently that is what people are adding to clay, and I
can see how it would make a nice gooey mess.

I was wondering if a silicone sealant would come in any other form, such as
a thinner one that would come in a can and could be painted on surfaces, as
for sealing concrete, masonry or brick (and by extension, clay). Or could
the thick stuff that comes in tubes be thinned?

The GE website lists such a sealant, but it is designed for treating wood.
I suppose it wouldn't hurt to try it on clay.

I use an RTV rubber sealant called Lifeguard that works very well, but the
fumes are pretty bad, and it cleans up with mineral spirits (stinky paint
thinner). But I don't know that this is the same as silicone; the company
says it isn't. I know the fumes can be bad with silicone, too, but I
wondered what products might be available, if the clean-up would be
different, etc.

Ideally, I should not have to seal pottery, but for now, need to on certain
items. I also like to coat the bottoms of selected items, such as travel
mugs, with a thicker substance, and the silicone from tubes works well for
this.

Anne