Environmental Ceramics

[dawn523]

I have the opportunity to expose fired ceramics to the processes of underwater enviroment for 6 months to a year.   What do I have to consider for temperture, glazes and clay type?  I would like to fire with a cone 6 clay and glazes.

[Guest JBaymore]

Fresh water or salt water?

 

best,

 

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

[Pres]

What are you looking for, knowledge of the effects of the environment?  Special effects from the action of the water on the ceramic? These questions might lead to further thinking about the possibility of resists, layers of fired and refired glazes at different temps, and other interesting ways of manipulating the ceramic to enhance the effects of the water.

[dawn523]

Salt water environment.

[jrgpots]

What a cool opportunity to experiment with long term exposure of ceramics to saline under pressure. Are you looking to experiment with clay bodies in these conditions or find clay bodies and glazes to withstand the environment? If it is only the latter, you may want expand your scope to investigate the effects of pressure and long term exposure of clay bodies to a saline invironment.

[Kohaku]

There have been functional amphoras pulled up by divers that date back practically to the Trojan war.

 

[Chris Campbell]

Also the dishes from the Titanic found mostly intact on the ocean floor. I know there are some in the Maritime Museum in England, but don't know if anyone has commented on their condition glaze wise, etc.

[Benzine]

There have been functional amphoras pulled up by divers that date back practically to the Trojan war.

 

It would be funny to think, that some of the submerged pottery/ sculptures modern society has discovered, are actually discarded works that those artists didn't want getting out. "I knew I should have smashed them!!!", they say in retrospect.

 

  

Also the dishes from the Titanic found mostly intact on the ocean floor. I know there are some in the Maritime Museum in England, but don't know if anyone has commented on their condition glaze wise, etc.

Even more impressive considering, that not only have they survived the conditions, but they also had to survive the sinking.

[Bob Coyle]

I think that most "dishwasher safe" commercial available cone 6 ceramic glazes would have no trouble with this enviroment. Are you going to formulate your own glaze?

[Marcia Selsor]

Hi, I am back!.

The amphorae are porrous terra cotta which would provide an anchor for barnacles to grow. Mature glazed pieces like the porcelain from the Ming Dynasty found in shipwrecks is not covered with barnacles. The glaze is clean.

[PeterH]

I had a faint memory of Peter Hayes soaking things in seawater, and here it is:

 

http://www.peterhayes-ceramics.uk.com/home.asp?id=3

... esp. look at the Overview, Inspiration & Techniques sections.

 

To quote: Similarly, leaving pieces in the sea at Cornwall or riverbed next to the studio, PS Don't soak anything with tin in it, not good for the aquatic environment.

is a crucial part of the making process. The salts in the sea water oxidises the copper

and the verdigris transports into the white clay body to give a greeny/blue 'blush' and a

natural random element to the work.

... although I cannot say I actually noticed  the effect.

 

Being one of the least environmentally resistant forms of pottery raku does seem a good

candidate for changing by environmental means. Peter Hayes technique of breaking his

pieces into chunks then gluing the fired pieces back together also seems a good way to

emphasise minor changes in the surface appearance of the chunks due to variations in

firing or weathering.

 

Regards, Peter

 

PS on a completely different tack, I've seen mention of people growing artificial reefs on

metal structures. Using small applied voltages (via sacrificial electrodes?) to encourage

the growth. [Long-term acidification of the seas is making it harder for molluscs to extract

calcium from the sea, a little voltage in the right direction helps.]