It's been almost three weeks since my hands touched clay, so I thought I'd warm up today with some pinch pots. First I turned on the electric space heater in my studio and did a bit of organizing, storing supplies, and generally psyching myself up to get back into the clay groove. Normally my studio stays warm due to passive solar, but the sun never showed it's face today. It was misty, overcast and darn cold; in the lower 40's all day long. I know that may seem warm to some folks, but for here it's cold.
I thought I would make a few pots for a barrel firing I plan on having soon. But, as sometimes happens, this pot took it's own course. I used Laguna B-Mix Cone 10 clay. The pot is 3 inches tall, 5 inches wide at the top, and 1.25 inches at the base. What do you think, can a thin-walled porcelain pot make it through the rigors of a barrel firing? Does anyone know the best shaped pot to make for barrel firings?
Tomorrow I'll smooth out the surfaces on this pot and warm up a bit more. I also plan on gathering more supplies for my upcoming barrel firings, more about those plans later this week.
Linda, we've had some thin-walled pinch pots make it through quite well. But its always a gamble. What cone is your bisque? Love the shape.
ReplyDeleteHi Becky, I haven't bisqued them yet - as I have had conflicting reports on what bisque temp to take them to. Some say less and some say 06 - I'll probably take the middle road - 04, 05? what do you think?
ReplyDeleteI'm making some sculpture to go in too - but one (furled tree bark) is too thin - I think and I'll use the regular kiln for it.
Linda, I've had nice results with both. If I'm using terra sig I generally bisque to 010. But not always. I find the white clay bodies pick up nice colour even bisqued at 06. If you have the time you and your fellow firers might want to try a variety of pieces bisqued at different temps.
ReplyDeleteHi Becky, I am using porcelain and wasn't planning on using any terra sig. Unless I feel ambitious and make some up - not sure how hard it would be to do that. We'll probably have several bisque loads, so I will experiment with a couple of different cones. O10 seems so fragile to me but I have read that it's recommended. We shall see. thanks so much.
ReplyDeleteCone 010 is fragile, but you won't be needing to pick them up with tongs and dip them into glaze so I don't imagine you will have a problem. In cultures where they pit and barrel fire all the time I don't think they bisque at all, but I think they might have more breakage than they would like. I would just keep the softer bisque in mind when you are stacking the barrel and try to distribute the weight around so the pots aren't supporting eachother too much. Good luck.
ReplyDeleteHi Deborah, hope things are going ok for you. You are so right. I remember seeing a video a few years back of Maria's firing process; she piled all the pots up gingerly and stacked scrap metal and then wood and cow dung around, lit it on fire and look what she produced - of course most of it was in her skill in the making.
ReplyDeleteI am trying to make a few things for the barrel firing each day - hopefully I'll be ready to give this a try soon. thanks for your support.
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ReplyDeleteI think with a thin wall the trick is to keep the temp. as consistant as possible thru the body of clay. Don't leave part of it where it would cool or heat more rapidly from top to bottom.
ReplyDeleteHi Max, thanks, you are so right, I found that out with my cone 10 platters, ending up putting porcelain sand under them to get them to fire without warping.
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