Chris Campbell Posted January 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2014 Can you tell geography is not my strong suit?? It is especially not a good thing when planning flights with stop overs. I have flown some weird routes .... and not to gain air miles. : - ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted January 26, 2014 Report Share Posted January 26, 2014 Can you tell geography is not my strong suit?? It is especially not a good thing when planning flights with stop overs. I have flown some weird routes .... and not to gain air miles. : - ) Now I know why you leave a trail of rocks around the planet!! You may just be able to find your way back home! Don't follow the floating ones. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Campbell Posted February 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Norm ... I wish you had done a control piece with no holes in it. I don't always remember to put holes in closed forms but am very patient with my drying ... nothing fired til bone dry and I don't have explosions. This is with stoneware bodies, not the porcelain. I would not recommend doing it but I sometimes forget. Of course the dominant fact is how much you care about the piece or if you need the whole kiln load of work for a show ... : - ) OK ... so I found the rocks (without holes) I wanted to fire so they could float in the lake ... four were bone dry and warm in the house and four were out in the unheated garage ... they felt damp. Sooooo ..... in my eternal quest to find answers with the least possible control or even deep thought I decided to bisque fire them all and see what happened. Now, I wish I had put a hole in one of the damp ones to see if it made any difference but like I said, not much thought here. I did however put up barriers to protect the rest of my full kiln load ... Can you guess which rocks were dry and which were damp?? This is posted with no attempt to convince anyone else to try it on something they really care about. As your Mom would say, just because Chris jumps in the lake doesn't mean you should! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted February 8, 2014 Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 Did you put 8 rocks in all up?? Looks like 4 survived .Did you know which ones came from the garage? SOrry shouldn't have asked that question. Hey don't be tough on yourself you were in the throes of grasping floc and defloc! Things should have be easy after that! Life is just not fair.. I'm with your Mum on this one. Remebemr to vacuum your element grooves Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Campbell Posted February 8, 2014 Author Report Share Posted February 8, 2014 The kiln is already vacuumed ... all wares unloaded ... nothing damaged but the damp rocks. I had a super heavy thick rock in the garage, but even I was not brave enough to fire it ... Would have taken out the kiln if it had blown ... : - ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Chris, Grog is pretty cheap to buy.... no real economic savings in making your own. best, ..................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Looking at your shards and survivors, I would make a few personal observations. Your quest for answers told you that cold ware that feels damp will have ice in the clay that will hide its amount of wetness, also causing extremes when fired. Secondly I would think you would want the walls of the "rocks" thinner in order to be flottable. The survivors look good, and it would be interesting to see the finished pieces. As I have stated before, I once ran a project with slab construction that used large river stones (5-8#) as forms the students would roll out 3/8" slabs and wrap completely, paddle to smooth, cut in half on a bevel when leather hard and rejoin. You might try the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Stuart Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Chris Campbell and I have a challenge to see which of us can fire the thickest greenware. I have various solid clay blocks drying currently, some up to 3 inches thick, with a new custom bisque schedule to fire them. Alexandre Bigot experimented with very slow-firing kilns for architectural sized ceramics before he switched over to using hydraulic presses to form pieces with grog and other material which did not off-gas. Regardless of how slow you fire, there is an absolute maximum thickness you can fire with each clay before developing cracks. Looking at your shards and survivors, I would make a few personal observations. Your quest for answers told you that cold ware that feels damp will have ice in the clay that will hide its amount of wetness, also causing extremes when fired. Secondly I would think you would want the walls of the "rocks" thinner in order to be flottable. The survivors look good, and it would be interesting to see the finished pieces. As I have stated before, I once ran a project with slab construction that used large river stones (5-8#) as forms the students would roll out 3/8" slabs and wrap completely, paddle to smooth, cut in half on a bevel when leather hard and rejoin. You might try the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pres Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Oh, I thought she was into creating floating rocks as are used in some Chinese water gardens? My mistake. However, if the clay in her shop is near freezing, it certainly put her at a disadvantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest JBaymore Posted February 10, 2014 Report Share Posted February 10, 2014 Look at Jun Kanako's works. best, .............................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norm Stuart Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 John -- Anything you wold change with my "thick pieces bisque" before I use it next week? F/Hr F Hold 1 RAMP 60 200 8 hours 2 RAMP 100 350 3 RAMP 350 950 4 RAMP 100 1,000 5 RAMP 50 1,150 6 RAMP 400 1,638 7 RAMP 108 1,888 30 Minutes 8 RAMP 400 1,100 9 RAMP 200 1,400 Look at Jun Kanako's works. best, .............................john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Babs Posted February 11, 2014 Report Share Posted February 11, 2014 Oh, I thought she was into creating floating rocks as are used in some Chinese water gardens? My mistake. However, if the clay in her shop is near freezing, it certainly put her at a disadvantage. I think she is BUT what I've read of Chris she is prob immersed in about 90 ceramic projects, cooking for 40, knitting for charity and washing the cat! All before Breakfast, and smiling! AND willing to fail better in every one of these ideas. Chris these are the Scottish potters stones from her Book Floating stones. Pres, you can see the thickness she uses and they are thinner than Chris's Artist's name is actually Lotte Glob , my misspelling Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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