Here are the last of the green tomatoes I'll be picking this season. I finally pulled up the struggling tomato plants before the frosts come. We've been lucky this year with still no hard frost up here on our hill. Those in the valley below us had a pretty good clip and they are just a few hundred feet from us but elevation makes all the difference. That cold air sinks. The basil and pineapple sage are still blooming and providing some food for butterflies and bees and we've even seen more honey bees.
In other news my
oval woven bowl developed a hairline crack right in the middle bottom of the bowl. I have patched it several times with some slip but the crack keeps reappearing. This last time I used vinegar slip which seems to have helped better than the other applications of slip. Boy you can really see how I slathered on the slip in this close up taken with my new camera. Ha.
Any thoughts on how to save this bowl. One of the feet is directly under this section. After the glaze fire the glaze may seal the crack but I don't want it to open even further so would love to correct this crack before the bisque. What do you think?
In other news my blog isn't updating for more than eight hours after I post. By updating I mean it isn't picked up by the search engines nor does it show up on my blog roll or other's blogger's blog rolls? Any ideas about that? We'll see what happens with this post this morning. Thanks for reading and for all your comments.
Those tomatoes look good. Don't know much about clay, but hope others can help you.
ReplyDeleteHi Gigi, thanks, hope the tomatoes ripen up. we shall , too small to make fried green tomatoes I think. ha.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that if you hang the tomato plants upside down in the garage (or somewhere out of the weather) they will continue to ripen? Something for next year.
ReplyDeleteI hope you do find a solution for that crack.
Blogger is a rule unto itself.
Hi Elephant's Child, thanks, no I didn't know that next year, but every so thankful I got so many tomatoes right up till now from my plants so far. yes I am on a forum looking into solutions as we speak.
ReplyDeleteI’d make some paper clay and try to patch it with that. If it’s still cracked before it goes into bisque you can try recycling the clay and making another. Overtime I’ve had a student try to fix a crack with glaze the crack gets worse due to the glaze expanding in the kiln. It’s usually ugly, sometimes drips onto the shelf, and is always a broken pot. Sorry, that’s not very good news. Try the paper clay.
ReplyDeleteYou might find some helpful hints below, Linda. I hope you solve the problem because I believe the woven bowl will look fabulous after firing.
ReplyDeletehttp://community.ceramicartsdaily.org/topic/5796-what-to-do-with-hairline-cracks-while-clay-is-drying/
http://www.potters.org/subject61282.htm
Hi Lee, thanks, will check it out, can't wait for this one, I love the big bowls to set on a table, dining or coffee tables.
DeleteHere's another one. I guess you've probably already seen these...but just in case. :)
ReplyDeletehttps://kathyoconnellsart.wordpress.com/tag/cracks/
Hi Lee, thanks, haven't seen this one, will check it out.
DeleteHi Lee, thanks, oh that's for after bisque, knew that, I just took my really big pots out of the kiln and each is a different size and shape and each one has a different ring to it. Ha.
DeleteHi Lori, thanks, the crack is too thin for anything like paper clay to absorb into it. I have had success in the past with a glaze sealing a small hairline crack like this. I am not going to put so much glaze that it spills onto the kiln shelf, plus this crack is on top and the foot is under it so not much chance of the glaze running onto the kiln shelf. If I hadn't of spent more than four hours on making this piece I might be inclined to nix it but I think trying to save it will be worth the effort if I am successful. We shall see and of course if it's ugly it won't be sales worthy anyway but can be used by me or as an example for my students.
ReplyDeleteI've even had a crack appear next to a handle, but not such that the handle was weak, at the bisque stage where slip had pulled away from the body. Mixed some powdered clay into some of the glaze, and stuffed it into the crack, rubbed it smooth, then glazed the whole piece. No more crack. The powder might have been bisqued clay, I don't remember any more. There are always new experiments for us to try, though probably someone already did them once or twice.!
ReplyDelete