|
Lareine posted:Someone made a ceramics thread... loving FINALLY. Dang I'm feeling the last one. How did you approach carving the pattern? Not layout that's easy enough Does anyone else here pitfire stuff ever?
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2022 16:58
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 21:54 |
|
|
cheese eats mouse posted:Oh hey I’ve seen your work in the earth nation discord! It's a small world, smaller when there aren't very many ceramic discords out there! Harry Potter on Ice posted:Dang I'm feeling the last one. How did you approach carving the pattern? Not layout that's easy enough I found someone making tools that make that texture and copied them and made a tool out of an old gift card. Probably not as nice as a metal tool but hey, it works and is free!  In regards to your pitfire question, I do aluminum foil saggar sometimes which gives roughly the same effect without needing a giant hole in the ground. I put ferric chloride on either a burnished piece or a piece with terra sigillata, wrap it in aluminum foil with a bunch of chemicals and combustibles, put it in a big flower pot, stick that in a raku kiln and take it up to 1100. Take it out when it's cool, unwrap it, rinse it off and then put wax on it to seal it and make it shiny. Pieces turn out loving gorgeous. Haven't done it for awhile but I've got some pics of some old pieces.  
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2022 01:23
|
|
|
^^^some cool poo poo going on hereKaiser Schnitzel posted:I made some bad glaze choices and hosed up some pots, but some of them came out nice. This might as well be the thread title. Your next class, roll out a thin slab and cut it into 1inch triangles. When they're dried, glaze and label them on the backside. They'll take up no room in the kiln and you can play around with a lot of different combos. It's great to see all the new contributions to the thread, now it doesn't feel like my sa pottery diary. Speaking of which.... It's been a long few weeks. Really tough to juggle maintaining a steady production while doing major building renovations. We tore up the adjacent floor. Everything pre 1900 was just rotted. No wonder it felt like we were walking on trampolines   Built a wooden frame  And somehow found time to carve an 8in plaster pumpkin and make molds of it  9 yards of concrete later...   Now I have to make some dies. I made a few 3d masters awhile back, the most important of which is the dinner plate. It was a pretty straightforward process. Made one of our typical slipcast molds and planed it flush. Used a slab roller to make a chunk of modeling clay an ideal thickness  Casted and sanded smooth  From there I drilled holes and soap/greased and Casted with a gypsum cement to get a model to work with     Also been trying to find a way to expedite the assembly of the air release tubing for the dies, so I made a crude peg board    Then bashed out a pair of die casings that came with the press. I've been told there is a better way to do this, but 20 minutes with a hammer works fine  And lastly, a test glaze pattern for my new teapot and demitasse  It's been a long rear end week and a half but hopefully my next post will involve me hauling that hulk indoors and stamping out some plates
|
|
#
?
Mar 3, 2022 04:39
|
|
|
Another long week, another laborious task down. What is the easiest way to move 2400lbs when you don't have a fork lift? Of course its chain, come alongs, and a sea of plywood. After two hours of cranking and prying we got the drat machine situated in front of the door. Luckily it was nice out today  We were going to call it quits here because we knew we could get it inside but no clue on how to lift it up right. By happenstance, a few weeks ago we had a bunch of massive trees taken down. The tree guys showed up today to remove the largest trunk portions with a wonderful front loader. An extra $400 is probably the best investment we'll make this year   Now just need to rent some machine movers and move it to the back corner near the compressor. Unfortunately I have not been able to make any dies. The man we purchased from didn't make his own so we received no master die rings initially. The press manufacturer has them all but will take at least two weeks to send them along Got a whole army of pumpkin molds going. For some reason people love these jack-o-lanterns  
|
|
#
?
Mar 12, 2022 04:04
|
|
|
Been quite busy these past few weeks. More and more of my quarantine bisque backlog is getting fired though I'm mostly focusing on the ones made with Sandia Red instead of the bloaty clay. I've also been working on photographing my stuff and trying out my light box. It's alright but it's a bitch to put together and it's quite narrow. It's sometimes a challenge to get a picture without getting the sides in the shot.   I've brought out my collection of discontinued low fire 4 oz. glazes and started glazing the things I made with fiber clay a year back. I've got a crab and a cat crab made. I've got the crab all glazed though I'm waiting on a few more discontinued Duncan glazes to come in the mail before I can finish my cat crab. I'm planning on doing a firing on Monday so I'll have pics of that soon.
|
|
#
?
Mar 13, 2022 06:59
|
|
|
I’m excited for cat crab. Also love that green vase! We are working on drop in lid jars in class. I’m a little obsessed with making knobs and doing miniature throwing.  Pushed it a bit more tonight with trying to making some pulls on the knob. I was fighting with a wheel that definitely has a short in the pedal so I’d get a surprise speed up or down. Pulling is really starting to click for me and I’m centering very quickly these days. 
cheese eats mouse fucked around with this message at 06:31 on Mar 15, 2022 |
|
#
?
Mar 15, 2022 06:27
|
|
|
Man, that was an eventful firing. I got everything set up before hand. Ware loaded into the kiln, kiln plugged in, lid propped, bar set, weight up. Basically all I needed to do is go out and push the plunger and turn it on low. I woke up at 5:45 so I can get it started at 6, turned up to medium at 9, lid closed and turned up to high at 12. It would run about 2 hours, be shut off early since I was trying to go for 06 with only 04 bars, have a couple hours to cool and then the kiln would be opened. I've got a schedule here. I go out at the scheduled time and push the button. Guess what happens. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. No light, no sound, no zip, no zazz. It's loving dead. I wanted to cry. I go downstairs, get a screwdriver and a multimeter and try to diagnose the problem. I have to sit down on the cold pavement, it's around 37 degrees outside and I use my phone as a flashlight to poke around inside and find something loose. Nothing was loose, poo poo was tight as gently caress. Only problem I saw were spiders. Lots of webs and spider exoskeletons. I close it up and try it again. It works! I go to set up the weight and then it goes dead again. But then it gets better. And then it dies again. This happens a few times but I FINALLY get the weight up and have the kiln be on. I get everything running around 8. Against better judgment, I decide to proceed with the firing. I wrap my cold rear end up in an electric blanket, sit on the bed and stare out at the kiln through the glass door. I'm afraid a stiff breeze will make it stop working so I spend most of the time on my phone watching the light, making sure it doesn't go out. 3 hours. 11 comes around, I turn it up. Another 3 hours. I take about a 30 minute nap. 1 PM, turn it up again and close the lid. Everything is going fine. I've decided that I was going to fire until the claw holding the weight moved the slightest bit and then turn it off when it did. I set up my tripod and took a picture of the claw every 15 minutes. It takes around 2 hours like I expected. A minute after I turn the kiln off, I hear lots of cracking noises from inside. Can't do nothing but worry for the next couple hours before the lid handle gets cool enough to sneak a peek. By this time, it gets too dark to take a kiln opening picture. I take a look and the crab seems to be intact. I take the crab out when it's able to be touched and this is what we got.   Glazes used were Mayco Mystic Mauve, Duncan La Fiesta and Mayco Elements Jade Moss for the eyes. All discontinued. It didn't overfire at all. No drips. The only thing that ran was the glaze on the eyes which was expected given that Mayco emphasized the "movement" of the glaze. I would say the only "bad" thing is that the Mystic Mauve crazed a shitload and really, it's a low fire decorative piece, who really cares? Even though it fired well, I'm a bit unhappy with the glaze choice. I don't think La Fiesta goes that well with Mystic Mauve. At the center portion of the legs, I did one coat La Fiesta and two coats Mystic Mauve but it really kind of looks like I only did a thin coat of La Fiesta, the other glaze doesn't show up much at all. I also put a few Duncan White Hot Color Burst Crystals on the claws but I think that maybe I should've done a few crystals of Blue Surge as well. That was Monday. Today I called up Skutt and asked a few questions. One was a long burning question I had about the age of my kiln, given that I got this kiln second hand and didn't know the year of manufacture. It's from May of 2000. Second question was how to get to the Switch Box and clean the contacts. They gave instructions, I opened up the kiln once again, didn't see any obvious problems with the contacts but blew out the box with some canned air and ran a qtip along the grooves. Closed it back up again and now it works. 10 out of 10 times it worked where as before it was more like 3 or 4 out of 10. TL;DR I tried to fire the kiln but it didn't work initially but I got it working and now I have a crab. Fixed the problem with the kiln, now everything is hunky dory.
|
|
#
?
Mar 16, 2022 04:11
|
|
|
Finally got the press moved into place. Used four little skates bought of ebay... took a little of effort but it got there in once piece.  Even though they're pretty damaged, I still have some of the other potter's dies, so this week I hope to get it hooked up and at least test press something with my clay to make certain everything is in working order. Still waiting on the parts to come in for making my own masters. After handing out a few of my little teapots, the critique I got back was the opening was too small and the lid did not have a good enough of a knob to grab. So I routed out the opening of the master and made a new lid. Now it will take a standard tea ball infuser. Also taking this opportunity to play with glazes as well.   Made a matte white glaze. Application was a layer of white, sponged cobalt carb, and a layer or white:  Next wave of them done and to be passed off for real world testing  I don't know how many goons have the capabilities to make their own glazes, but I have this old rear end book (probably 70s?) of interesting recipes. It's missing a few pages but I can post more of them if anyone has interest. It covers a lot of different glaze and clay body recipes.     
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 02:19
|
|
|
Wopzilla posted:I don't know how many goons have the capabilities to make their own glazes, but I have this old rear end book (probably 70s?) of interesting recipes. It's missing a few pages but I can post more of them if anyone has interest. It covers a lot of different glaze and clay body recipes. We've got a chemical room at school and I dabble in them. I've even "formulated" a raku glaze before, formulated in quotes because really all I did was make up a batch of 50/50 clear and divide it into test batches where I would throw a random assortment of colorants in. Picked out the ones that turned out nice. Woo, we've got a glaze. I've gotten a little more sophisticated since then but I'm still self-taught and I don't know how to interpret a oxide formula. But yeah, I'll look at some recipes.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 03:17
|
|
|
Lareine posted:a raku glaze  And since I find that a bunch of this poo poo is no longer available/hard to find, here is a frit substitute chart https://claypeople.net/frit-substitution-chart/
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 03:45
|
|
|
Wopzilla posted:
I'll just grab some Uranium Oxide next time I go to the clay store. Shouldn't be too hard! And I was going to say, what the gently caress are some of these frits. The only frits I've seen are all Ferro. Got any midfire in that book?
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 03:52
|
|
|
The book is all over the place but here are some that contain some cone 4 if that's what you're looking for. The oxides can be subbed out or added in most recipes. Swap titanium dioxide for cobalt oxide to make white turn blue, etc..    Give me your cone range/color and I'll see what I can dig up in this book
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 04:14
|
|
|
Wopzilla posted:The book is all over the place but here are some that contain some cone 4 if that's what you're looking for. The oxides can be subbed out or added in most recipes. Swap titanium dioxide for cobalt oxide to make white turn blue, etc.. I typically work in cone 4-6. It's kind of funny though how now nobody works in things at cone 1. You're either a low fire glaze person 06-04, mid fire 4-6 or a high fire 10. Maybe commercial glaze manufacturers set things up like that but you don't have demand for anything else either. The Bristol glazes look interesting and I even found an example on Ceramics Art Network but the stuff about calcining the zinc sounds like a real pain in the rear end. I think we might have calcined kaolin already but zinc? Maybe later. Some of the interesting cone 4 glazes contain barium which 1. I'm not sure we even have and 2. I won't work with. It's just another thing to worry about and it's not considered food safe anyway.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 08:16
|
|
|
If the zinc you have access to is made "french process" then it is already done. I'd be hesitant of any glaze that is a matte in this book and any recipe that you get off the internet. Even when making experimental glazes, I'll make most tests throwaway pieces. Anything sold, we get tested for food safety Let's take that Bristol glaze vii, I don't like that it has so much zinc in it. They're using it as a lead substitute. We has all sorts of frits for that now. So I'll drop the zinc down and make up the difference with ferro. I don't care about making white, so I switched titanium out with different oxides Zinc. 4 3195 18 Whiting. 4.6 Lithium carb 10 Kaolin 17.7 Flint 400 mesh 38.3 Cobalt carb 4 Black copper 2 Add a little water, mix, and pour a little bowl   I realize that most people don't have access to the store room I have, but it's mostly about experimenting. It can be a pricey hobby and i can try out some in the cone 4-6 range if i have the ingredients/time.. I'll get it fired this week sometime and will post photos of the results.
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 19:09
|
|
|
I love lurking this thread so much its so cool thanks for the huge informative posts and pics
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 19:23
|
|
|
Wopzilla posted:If the zinc you have access to is made "french process" then it is already done. I'd be hesitant of any glaze that is a matte in this book and any recipe that you get off the internet. Even when making experimental glazes, I'll make most tests throwaway pieces. Anything sold, we get tested for food safety When you do food safety testing, do you mean you do the lemon test or do you get that stuff sent to an actual lab?
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 22:09
|
|
|
Harry Potter on Ice posted:I love lurking this thread so much its so cool thanks for the huge informative posts and pics 
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 23:45
|
|
|
Lareine posted:When you do food safety testing, do you mean you do the lemon test or do you get that stuff sent to an actual lab? Tomorrow I should be able to test run this thing. Need to mount the upper section and adjust the stops in the morning https://i.imgur.com/jwwZV2a.mp4 
|
|
#
?
Mar 22, 2022 23:50
|
|
|
Thinking about it, I should PROBABLY test some of the glazes I have kicking around for realsies before they go into rotation. In general, I have a LOT to learn about glaze chemistry and I've been kind of slacking off.
|
|
#
?
Mar 23, 2022 07:12
|
|
|
 gently caress YEAH! CAT CRAB!
|
|
#
?
Mar 24, 2022 20:10
|
|
|
Lareine posted:Thinking about it, I should PROBABLY test some of the glazes I have kicking around for realsies before they go into rotation. Got that glaze test for you. Fired it pretty standard, no bisque. Final temp was 2105 in about 12 hours. Probably was held in the 1900+ range for about four hours The glaze has a nice smooth melt, didn't really drip on the outside either. In person you can see a lot more purple than the blue in the photos   I put some cone 5/6 next to it so this glaze will most likely be stable between 4 and 6  Realistically, you can probably swap out the oxides for different ones and get some neat colors out of it. I like 3195 as a frit but a lot of people seem to use 3134 or 3124, i find those waxy in appearance after firing. A good starting point for you And since I'm stuck at the shop today, here is a little video of the kiln opening https://i.imgur.com/Tfi1YWw.mp4
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2022 17:02
|
|
|
So my studio fires exclusively high fire, between cone 10 and 12. I know at lower cone firings you have a lot more color options, but at high fire the ceramic itself is safe to eat instead of just the glaze, and it's bit harder. It also takes a lot more power / gas to high fire. They've said this is unusual and actually a good thing despite the reduced glaze options, but can anyone expand on why this is a major positive? Is it just due to the clay changes at higher Temps?
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2022 19:34
|
|
|
Spikes32 posted:So my studio fires exclusively high fire, between cone 10 and 12. I know at lower cone firings you have a lot more color options, but at high fire the ceramic itself is safe to eat instead of just the glaze, and it's bit harder. It also takes a lot more power / gas to high fire. They've said this is unusual and actually a good thing despite the reduced glaze options, but can anyone expand on why this is a major positive? Is it just due to the clay changes at higher Temps? I dont know how well this text will read as a photo but I don't have access to a scanner. This book goes into the chemistry a bit   This book also has some recipes and has a notation on a previous page that all these bases glazes are suitable for various coloring oxides and stains  Hopefully this helps a little
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2022 21:59
|
|
|
That was really interesting thank you! I'll have to do more digging into the chemistry side of firings to learn more.
|
|
#
?
Mar 27, 2022 23:41
|
|
|
That is a nice blue. I'll put it on the try list. Meanwhile, I've been watching lectures on glaze chemistry. I've been focused on this one potential glaze for rotation. It's a nice transparent cone 5 copper green. Here it is on WH8, the standard stoneware clay from NM Clay.  Here it is on Sandia Red in the sun. If you look close here you can see there's a bit of a problem. Crazing. I need to run more tests but it hasn't crazed on the WH8 yet. Simple solution would be to not use it on Sandia Red but I really love what it did with it and that's one of the standard clays I use at home. So my main glaze project is now to fix the glaze so it doesn't craze. It uses some frit 3134 and I found an article from Tony Hansen about subbing out some of the 3134 for 3249. Using Insight, I tinkered with the recipe and I think I have good starting point. Problem is... we don't appear to have any 3249. I say appear because the glaze room is an absolute goddamned mess. It desperately needs to be reorganized and consolidated. Often times we'll have two half-full containers of the same chemical. Some things are just hanging out in crumbling paper bags. I found a container simply labeled ball clay with no specification so I don't know if I should throw it in the OM-4 bin or what. I found a mystery chemical that I THINK is a base glaze but it's labeled as a frit and I can't find exact information about it. I don't know how old it is and what is even in it so it might have to be tossed. It's just... a big mess and I only have 5 hours twice a week during class to work on it. I'm also working on getting that cat crab in a local art show and it's kind of obvious I'm the first one signing up because the online form isn't working and I can't pay the fee. A bunch of unfun bullshit that forces me to deal with people. I bet I'm not even going to get in.
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2022 01:28
|
|
|
Wopzilla posted:I dont know how well this text will read as a photo but I don't have access to a scanner. This book goes into the chemistry a bit What book is this from? It seems like it would be a helpful reference to have.
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2022 01:33
|
|
|
Kaiser Schnitzel posted:What book is this from? It seems like it would be a helpful reference to have. I believe I linked to its amazon page in one of my earlier posts, but it's this book:  He used one of our mugs as an example in earlier editions, so he'll send me a new version every now and then. It's full of all sorts of wacky things, but super helpful   Dude turned his cremated dog into a glaze Lareine posted:
And here are the pages on fixing general crazing issues   
|
|
#
?
Mar 28, 2022 03:40
|
|
|
Hey y'all I recently had a mishap with a very pretty little thing I picked up at the local thrift store; it's a ceramic Madonna (as in an image of Mary not the singer,) that's sorta in the shape of a picture frame. It fell and broke when I tried to hang it (I should've known better than to trust command strips on brick even if it was advertised specifically for it,) and was wondering what were my options as far as repairing it went, and the particular method of it? I know just like super or gorilla glue would work if i just hold it together, it's a pretty clean break; but I might like to get a little extra with it. The thing itself is mostly blue-green, more green than blue, and with yellow-gold painted details. I was wondering if I say wanted to like paint in the crack itself if there was a particular way to go about that or what. I'll get pics later I just needed to post this before I forget I could ask goons. Thank y'all!
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2022 07:41
|
|
|
Sugru can be pretty good as a kintsugi medium. I have some pot lids fixed like that and they've held up fine to actual use.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2022 09:05
|
|
|
ainda_ posted:Hey y'all I recently had a mishap with a very pretty little thing I picked up at the local thrift store; it's a ceramic Madonna (as in an image of Mary not the singer,) that's sorta in the shape of a picture frame. It fell and broke when I tried to hang it (I should've known better than to trust command strips on brick even if it was advertised specifically for it,) and was wondering what were my options as far as repairing it went, and the particular method of it? I know just like super or gorilla glue would work if i just hold it together, it's a pretty clean break; but I might like to get a little extra with it. The thing itself is mostly blue-green, more green than blue, and with yellow-gold painted details. I was wondering if I say wanted to like paint in the crack itself if there was a particular way to go about that or what. I'll get pics later I just needed to post this before I forget I could ask goons. Thank y'all! I've had decent luck repairing fine detailed stone or tile with thin ca glue. It wicks in tight cracks like crazy, hold it together for a minute and it sets but painting something sounds awesome to hide it. I've always wanted to do stuff like that
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2022 16:00
|
|
|
Appreciate it y'all ty, I got pics now (they're lovely.) https://imgur.com/a/SKLXEgH Srry for imgur I'm not up on my photo hosting. On closer inspection the whole thing is made out of the kinda gravely material that covers the surface; also on closer inspection this would be a good excuse to get some of the dust off tho with the material I feel like a swab would not work very well. The back is some kinda felt and i guess i might have to tear it to fix it? If anybody knows what this stuff is called there's also some that's come off around the top right above her head, seems like there's a metal plate at the center of it so I might like to try and touch that up too.
|
|
#
?
Apr 1, 2022 16:56
|
|
|
We've got a sneaking suspicion that the kiln at school is over firing and the thermocouple is getting pretty manky looking. I am assuming that once we change out the thermocouple, the problem will probably be solved, right?
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2022 21:59
|
|
|
Made some light boxes for wedding tables and had friends paint them. If I ever do big batches of these again I'm buying a small drill with a slow drill speed for sure. Manually making the holes took way too long, but very happy with how they came out. I only made 25 and by the end I was very tired of them.    Also been getting consistent pin holing with two of the green glazes. Debating between trying a pre-wet of the piece prior to dipping or just giving up. Very possible the glaze needs to be remade and no one is willing to do it, and I'm not allowed to. 
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2022 22:37
|
|
|
Those holes are pretty extreme for pinholing. It almost looks more like blistering to me. Are other people having the same problem?
|
|
#
?
Apr 11, 2022 23:38
|
|
|
 This is how the two lids I repaired with sugru turned out. It's actually held up very well, although I've never subjected them to the dishwasher. The one in yellow has actually cracked elsewhere so I need to repair it again once I have more of the stuff, but that crack was probably there, hidden, when I fixed it the first time. the rug amused me
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2022 00:13
|
|
|
Lareine posted:Those holes are pretty extreme for pinholing. It almost looks more like blistering to me. Are other people having the same problem? Yep every time I've seen this glaze on other pieces it has similar issues, though my example was one of the worst.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2022 05:34
|
|
|
Spikes32 posted:Yep every time I've seen this glaze on other pieces it has similar issues, though my example was one of the worst. Applying it thinly MIGHT help though at this point, the glaze might just be jacked up. Best avoid it. Not all glazes can be winners though it begs the question why it was put into rotation in the first place if these problems are intrinsic to the glaze.
|
|
#
?
Apr 12, 2022 06:13
|
|
|
 Don't know if you're doing a bisque firing, but that might help. Found some more pages of that old rear end glaze book while cleaning today. I'll stand by my offer test a glaze if there is interest in one (ingredients and cone 4/6 limitations)     One of my many projects lately has been trying to get this matte glaze to work for custom inscription. Unfortunately people want color and the first attempt was too over saturated    I kinda like it without color:   My pumpkin molds are in full production and hopefully will satisfy the bizarre demand this year 
|
|
#
?
Apr 13, 2022 03:13
|
|
|
You just mixed some cobalt carbonate with some flux for that blue, right? Also, some of those volcanic ash glazes look really interesting, especially that one where it's simply mixed with gerstley borate and some bentonite. Though cone 4 is a bit low for my purposes.
|
|
#
?
Apr 14, 2022 20:22
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 28, 2024 21:54 |
|
|
I added a little into a separate mixture of the glaze. I was hoping the heavy layer of underglaze would make a lighter tint where it wasn't carved out but the carbonate overpowered. We do a lot of sgraffito work but with the gloss glazes they tend to blur. So I'm trying to make a recipe that will have very little run, be smooth in appearance, and take coloring. Like the pictures in my precious post: Under glaze, carve, over glaze, fire. The images tend to be crisp, but when people want dates and names, it can be problematic  On the topic of the volcanic ash glaze, I don't have any volcanic ash. However, given the recipe reference with Cornwall Stone (which I have) being close, I looked up the chemical compositions on digital fire and with a few adjustments I can get within .67% That should be adequate for a test. If I get time tomorrow, I'll make a batch and hopefully fire this weekend
|
|
#
?
Apr 15, 2022 02:32
|
|