Venicemud Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 A friend just contacted me with the sad news of the passing of a dear friend of hers. She has been charged with the responsibility of making an urn for his ashes and would love to use horse hair decoration. I assume she must mean horse hair raku and I have no familiarity with the technique. Do any of you have any suggestions that would be helpful, firing temperature, type of clay, how much horse hair, etc? Thank you for being a deep pond of knowledge, Joan Klotz. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flora Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 A friend just contacted me with the sad news of the passing of a dear friend of hers. She has been charged with the responsibility of making an urn for his ashes and would love to use horse hair decoration. I assume she must mean horse hair raku and I have no familiarity with the technique. Do any of you have any suggestions that would be helpful, firing temperature, type of clay, how much horse hair, etc? Thank you for being a deep pond of knowledge, Joan Klotz. www.pyromaniapottery.ca is a wonderful studio gallery on Vancouver Island Canada... one of their potters makes incredible horsehair pots, and I'm sure that she would be more than happy to assist you. Flora Walton Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Horse hair decorating is done at a much lower temperature (1100-1200 F or so) than raku 1850 F.The piece is removed and long horse tail hairs are contacted with the hot surface which carbonizes into the surface. One or two hairs at a time quickly before the piece cools.The surface is usually burnished with terra sig prior the bisque firing (^09)For a burial urn, I would think you would want a vitrified clay body. The horse hair is porous and soft by the nature of the process.Marcia http://ceramicartsdaily.org/potters-council/alternative-firing-surfaces/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cherry Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 A good, and free, source for horse tail hair is music stores that re-string bows for string instruments. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Use a fine grained clay body, and burnish it before firing. Heat to 1200F, pull it from the kiln, add the horse hair QUICKLY, then cover it with a bucket to slow the cooling. Wash it down after it cools, let it dry for a couple of days, then wax and buff the surface with any car wax. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christine Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Use a fine grained clay body, and burnish it before firing. Heat to 1200F, pull it from the kiln, add the horse hair QUICKLY, then cover it with a bucket to slow the cooling. Wash it down after it cools, let it dry for a couple of days, then wax and buff the surface with any car wax. Thanks very much for this concise and helpful reply, Neil, I too was under the impression that raku firing was required Christine Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted February 23, 2013 Report Share Posted February 23, 2013 Use a fine grained clay body, and burnish it before firing. Heat to 1200F, pull it from the kiln, add the horse hair QUICKLY, then cover it with a bucket to slow the cooling. Wash it down after it cools, let it dry for a couple of days, then wax and buff the surface with any car wax. Thanks very much for this concise and helpful reply, Neil, I too was under the impression that raku firing was required Christine It is like raku firing in that you're pulling the piece from the kiln while still hot, but you're not doing the post-firing reduction. One word of warning- if you get too much hair trapped under the cooling bucket, it can cause some reduction and grey out the surface. Before you cover it make sure there's very little unburned hair in there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venicemud Posted February 24, 2013 Author Report Share Posted February 24, 2013 Thank you all for the helpful, knowledgeable answers to my questions. I emailed my friend instructing her how to access these posts and she found them very helpful and sends her thanks too. Joan Klotz Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kathi Posted July 4, 2013 Report Share Posted July 4, 2013 Use a fine grained clay body, and burnish it before firing. Heat to 1200F, pull it from the kiln, add the horse hair QUICKLY, then cover it with a bucket to slow the cooling. Wash it down after it cools, let it dry for a couple of days, then wax and buff the surface with any car wax. What kind of clay are you using when you do this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted July 8, 2013 Report Share Posted July 8, 2013 I use porcelain or smooth earthenware with white or red terra sig respectively. Marcia http://ceramicartsdaily.org/potters-council/alternative-firing-surfaces/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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