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latex rubber (resists)

updated sun 26 sep 04

 

mel jacobson on tue 21 sep 04


as you can suspect, the japanese have a wonderful
latex rubber resist that works like a dream.
i have never been able to find anything like it here
in the U.S.A.

the japanese latex is smooth, thin, and goes
on with ease. washes with water.
when dry, the potter just takes a needle and
pulls it off. what is left is like a rubber band.
the glaze does not crack on the edges.
it was great to draw with. but, alas our mold
rubber is terrible. i thought i could use it...but
not.

and, don't burn it off. it is like burning tires.
black smoke in your firing. and, the smell
is rotten....not to mention the toxic affects.

so,
i use wax, in an electric fry pan.
375 degrees.
i add turpentine, or veggie oil. (to taste, don't ask me for a
recipe.)
for years i had bees, so bees wax is nice. (the bees were kept
as guard bees. we had a path to the woods, kids would
come into our yard...make trouble. put up a bee hive....not
a soul ever comes to my yard. better than dobermans. just empty
bee boxes now...a blight killed my 27 year old hive. but, we had
lots of honey....and great plant fertilization. i love bees.)

thinning with turp is great. just remember ( i know, idiot watch)
it does burn. so, vent, and never leave the fry pan.
the auto/heat feature of the electric fry pan is great.

you can find them in garage sales. i have two backups
right now. 5 bucks each. presto brand.

so many things can be used as a resist to decorate pots.
wax crayons.
shellac.
commercial friskit.
varnish.
old paint.
acrylic paints, and they may leave a color behind.
cray-pas. and they leave oxide color too...soft.
and the list goes on.
anything that resists water, burns off in the kiln
is worth trying.
those art materials that contain oxides will leave colored
residue, esp. in raku, or earthenware.

so, try things. soft pencil marks will show as gray on pit fired pots.
detailed drawings will survive.
life is about invention, don't always look for a pre/planned recipe.
mel
From:
Minnetonka, Minnesota, U.S.A.
web site: my.pclink.com/~melpots
or try: http://www.pclink.com/melpots
new/ http://www.rid-a-tick.com

Laurie Kneppel on tue 21 sep 04


On Sep 21, 2004, at 7:28 AM, mel jacobson wrote:

> as you can suspect, the japanese have a wonderful
> latex rubber resist that works like a dream.
> i have never been able to find anything like it here
> in the U.S.A.

Mel, perhaps someone can find out what it is and perhaps if enough
people wanted to use it to make it worthwhile a ceramic supplier in
this country could be persuaded to carry it? "The Ultimate Latex
Resist".

> so, try things......
> life is about invention, don't always look for a pre/planned recipe.

I participated in a pit firing over the summer and one of the things I
tried on a pot was using metallic colored oil pastels. My drawing ran a
bit, but it was still recognizable as kokopelli. The copper pastel
seemed to work the best.

Laurie
Sacramento, CA
http://rockyraku.com
Potters Council, charter member
Sacramento Potters Group, member

Hank Murrow on tue 21 sep 04


On Sep 21, 2004, at 7:28 AM, mel jacobson wrote:

> as you can suspect, the japanese have a wonderful latex rubber resist
> that works like a dream. the japanese latex is smooth, thin, and goes
> on with ease. washes with water. when dry, the potter just takes a
> needle and pulls it off. what is left is like a rubber band. the
> glaze does not crack on the edges. it was great to draw with.
> i have never been able to find anything like it here
> in the U.S.A.

Sounds like there would be a market for this product if some
entrepreneur (Lee Love? Mike Martino?) over there were to get it to us.
Clayart is a market waiting for this!

Cheers, Hank in Eugene
www.murrow.biz/hank

Cynthia Bracker on tue 21 sep 04


The real question is how much would this Latex be worth to a consumer?
A pint of the latex we carry is $10.30 ($69.00 for a Gallon) We get it
from Spartan Adhesives. They call it Chicago Latex #623. (I don't know
if this means there are 622 other varieties of it or what.) The
customers I have that use it say it is very good, but I don't know how
it compares to the Japanese variety that Mel referenced. Any way, my
best guess is that by the time a supplier bought it in Japan, paid the
shipping to the US, paid to clear it through customs and added in costs
of inventory etc. A consumer could expect to pay AT LEAST 3 times what
a "domestic" latex costs, maybe more. Would anyone pay that much for Latex?
Cindy

Laurie Kneppel wrote:

> perhaps someone can find out what it is and perhaps if enough
> people wanted to use it to make it worthwhile a ceramic supplier in
> this country could be persuaded to carry it? "The Ultimate Latex
> Resist".
>

Laurie Kneppel on tue 21 sep 04


On Sep 21, 2004, at 11:55 AM, Cynthia Bracker wrote:
> A consumer could expect to pay AT LEAST 3 times what
> a "domestic" latex costs, maybe more. Would anyone pay that much for
> Latex?
> Cindy

Wow! It would have to start off being very cheap to make it worthwhile!
Or even competitive.
I think people just need to try several different "local" brands and
types and find one that works best for them.

But I like all the brush-saving suggestions people have been posting!
I'd heard the Murphy's Oil Soap one and I'd always heard to rinse the
latex brushes in warm water not cold for some reason. Seems the colder
the water the more the latex residue would solidify or something. One
thing we used to do was leave the brush in the jar of latex and never
rinse it. They still gummed up after awhile, though, so I don't think
we gained that much extra use from the brush.

Laurie
Sacramento, CA
http://rockyraku.com
Potters Council, charter member
Sacramento Potters Group, member

Marcia Selsor on wed 22 sep 04


This is weird. Did anyone notice in the CM article (MAY 1997) about my
raku glaze resist technique, that I use a latex resist, watered down
and peeled off. I use AMACO latex or some from Seattle Pottery. It
isn't Japanese. Its American. And it works.
Marcia Selsor
On Sep 22, 2004, at 3:54 PM, terryh wrote:

> now i see. once i saw photos of mr. matazo kayama using latex
> resist to draw on a large plate, glazing, and peeling the thin
> latex lines off from the plate. a fascinating plate. years ago.
> i tried various latex and never found anything like that i can
> draw smoothly. i tried thinners but couldn't find any good one
> either. so, japanese latex resist is indeed different from what
> i get here.

terryh on wed 22 sep 04


now i see. once i saw photos of mr. matazo kayama using latex
resist to draw on a large plate, glazing, and peeling the thin
latex lines off from the plate. a fascinating plate. years ago.
i tried various latex and never found anything like that i can
draw smoothly. i tried thinners but couldn't find any good one
either. so, japanese latex resist is indeed different from what
i get here.

for raku pieces, i use water-proof sign pen. it burns off
without trace.
terry

mel jacobson wrote:
>as you can suspect, the japanese have a wonderful
>latex rubber resist that works like a dream.
>i have never been able to find anything like it here
>in the U.S.A.
>
>the japanese latex is smooth, thin, and goes
>on with ease. washes with water.
>when dry, the potter just takes a needle and
>pulls it off. what is left is like a rubber band.
>the glaze does not crack on the edges.
>it was great to draw with. but, alas our mold
>rubber is terrible. i thought i could use it...but
>not.
>

terry hagiwara
terryh@pdq.net
http://www.geocities.com/terry.hagiwara

J Lutz on fri 24 sep 04


Terry,
What is a "water-proof sign pen"?

Jean Lutz


At 02:54 PM 9/22/2004, you wrote:

>for raku pieces, i use water-proof sign pen. it burns off
>without trace.
>terry

terryh on sat 25 sep 04


Jean Lutz wrote:
>What is a "water-proof sign pen"?

jean,
sorry for my poor abbreviation.
i meant a sign pen with water-proof ink.
it's a regular sign pen, fibre-tipped permanent marker
with oil based ink. you find it at almost any art
supply shop and actually at any stationary store.
but, be aware that most sign pens are using water based ink.
you have to read fine-prints to see if water-proof or not.

one additional merit of using dark color ink is that it
helps to gauge raku kiln temperature, especially when
(i don't use cone, and) no glaze is used in raku firing.

peel-off china marker (red oil-base-cored pencil) can be
also used, but it's much smoother (and regular) with
sign pen. it's also easier to remove over-stepping glaze
from the marker resist line.

graphic charting tape (1/4-1/8-1/16" width) is also
useful, depending on the design. (though 1/16" is too thin
for me to control raku glaze.)
terry

terry hagiwara
terryh@pdq.net
http://www.geocities.com/terry.hagiwara