Lily Krakowski on thu 17 oct 02
1. I do not know whether someone already pointed out that the bald spots
someone was complaining about, which have been diagnosed as crawling, can be
caused by inadvertent polishing of the clay while trimming. A very fine
body trimmed when too dry can become polished by the trimming tool. What
happens then is that the pot becomes sort of impermeable to the glaze and
the glaze will not stick well and crawl. Test for this by deliberately
polishing part of a piece of your clay body, bisquing and then glazing the
whole thing. See what happens. If that is your problem, trim while the
clay is damper, and/or go over the trimmed part with a damp slighly rough
something--one of those green scrubby kitchen things for instance.
2.Those net bags that oranges and lemons and onions come in, are great
scrubbers. Wad then up, tie in middle, use to clean sinks, etc.
3. Someone spoke of building a kiln and crawling into it. Fine. Lovely.
Ruin your back, neck, and shoulders,see if the chiropractor cares! If a
kiln is very big like the one I used to stack in Westchester half a century
ago, so you can really sit and move, fine. But a small kiln is next to
impossible to stack in back if one has to crawl. When I was stacking my
little Obasanogama I could kneel in it (I'm 5'3" and no one has EVER called
me agile) and get unglazed pots stacked one atop the other in back. No
shelves. I could not in that position lift shelves into place. As she will
be used only for sculpture when I rebuild her, I will have little problem.
BY THE WAY. WHAT IS THE MATTER WITH THOSE PEOPLE? AS FAR AS I RECALL ALL
OF RHODES'S KILNS WERE HARDBRICK AT SPOTS WHERE ABRASION MIGHT OCCUR--DOOR
FRAMES, BOTTOMS ETC. AND SOFT BRICK THE REST....
Lili Krakowski
P.O. Box #1
Constableville, N.Y.
(315) 942-5916/ 397-2389
Be of good courage.
Jose A. Velez on fri 18 oct 02
Lili:
> 1. I do not know whether someone already pointed out that the bald spots
> someone was complaining about, which have been diagnosed as crawling, can
be
> caused by inadvertent polishing of the clay while trimming. A very fine
> body trimmed when too dry can become polished by the trimming tool. What
> happens then is that the pot becomes sort of impermeable to the glaze and
> the glaze will not stick well and crawl. Test for this by deliberately
> polishing part of a piece of your clay body, bisquing and then glazing the
> whole thing. See what happens. If that is your problem, trim while the
> clay is damper, and/or go over the trimmed part with a damp slighly rough
> something--one of those green scrubby kitchen things for instance.
>
I was the one complaining about the "bold spots" (did not know the term
crawling, comes to show how much I know) and you have hit something I
recognize. Although Ron, Jim and others have pointed out possible causes
that might be very valid, I have to say there is a high probability you
might be correct and I could kick myself for not recognizing it. These were
some bottles that I turned down completely and used a metal rib to smooth, I
was kind of proud they looked almost burnished. I thought some of the
smooth surface was lost on the bisque firing, but in fact the porcelain
surface looked very "tight" as compared to stoneware. So, yes the surface
might have been too smooth to offer a grip to the glaze.
Thank you for the insight.
Best regards,
Jose A. Velez
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