Bright Colors - Especially Orange

[Benhim]

I once poisoned myself with Manganese. I was mixing glaze early in my academic career and was not taught the proper precautions for handling the material. It was marked with a skull and cross bones, but I figured all I needed to do was not eat it or breath it. I got it on my hands because the flimsy spoon I was using snapped and popped manganese on my hands. I figure I'll just wash it off after I'm done mixing. To my surprise when I went to wash my hands 10 minutes later the manganese was all but gone. My hands had been coated in black powder, I couldn't figure out what had just happened. I spent the next two years in moderate pain as my liver and kidneys tried to process a substantial dose of the heavy metal out of my system. It sort of felt like I'd swallowed a couple of softballs and washed them down with a pitcher of cement. It's very easy to poison yourself.

[Pres]

Yup Pres,... the radioactive thorium contaminant in the red and oange fiestaware is a well known "blip" in ceramic history. There are tons of older wares that are NOT all that great like that....... before people really were aware of this stuff.

 

Even today I am sure that ther is some stuff "slipping through the cracks" on the pubklished standards.

 

I know a number of potters who are using encapsulated stains with cadmium... and AFAIK are simply assuming that the stuff works as they are told by the supplier. But the law says the end user putting it in the wares has the onus of responsibility for a testing program.

 

best,

 

...............john

 

 

This is one of the reasons why I have elected to stay away from the beauty of barium glazes. I make functional ware most of the time, and to chance a barium glaze does not make sense to me. At the same time as I used to tell the kids-sometimes even under the most perfect of situations accidents do happen. Barium in a studio is a hazard that needs extra special care-I'd rather not.