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Interior Teapot Is Still Wet, Spout Has Small Crack


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I have no experience with glazes, but I set myself the challenge of making a functional sculptured teapot, which means that the interior has to be glazed.  Last night I underglazed two teapots and then poured glossy white cone 5 glaze into them.  The first teapot, the "mountain", must have a pretty big crack since when I poured the glaze into it, the glaze pured out of the false bottom at the base!!  Clearly that one is a failure as a functional teapot.  Now, for the "boat" teapot: I poured the glaze in last night, rolled it all around and then poured it out through the spout.  No cracks in the bowl of the teapot, but an open crack in the underside of the bear's nose, the spout. Any suggestions on something that I can use to seal or fill the crack after all the firing is done?  An even bigger problem is that after 9 hours, the glaze in the boat/bowl is still very wet!!  It seems to be about .2 mm thick.  I tipped it up to try to pour out the wet glaze, but nothing came out. What do I do now? Do I preheat it in the kiln for a couple of hours to dry it or is the problem more serious than that? 

 

Boy, this hubris thing isn't working out so well for me....

Jayne

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They have been bisqued to 06.  I think your question just helped me see what I've done wrong....I fired them a second time with copper carbonate applied and rubbed off. That firing was to cone 6.  The raku clay (cone 6) is now vitrified, and so the interior glaze can't be absorbed, can it?  Arrrgh!  If that is indeed the case, any suggestions as to how to proceed so that this boat teapot can at least be nonfunctional?  Should I try to rinse the glaze out?  If I do so, I'll probably lose the underglazing on the outside, but I guess that can all be done over...  Oh man, I could have just gone nonfunctional, but nooooo, I had to try for function without knowing the rules of glazing.

Jayne

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I just remembered my thought process when I was thinking about glazing this already vitrified clay. I've read on the forum about people re-glazing a piece, which would mean glazing vitrified AND glazed clay, so I thought maybe it would be okay to glaze the teapot even though it had been fired to cone 6.  So, what's the deal with reglazing?  How does that second glaze coat adhere?

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re-glazing an item that's been fired close to maturation is sometimes tricky - especially with items that are thin without much clay mass.  people have many ways of glazing these pieces - some of them being:  heat up the work first, lots of gums in the glaze, corn syrup in the glaze, aquanet hair spray on the piece before glazing, spray the glaze on, heat gun/fan, etc etc.

 

my go-to answer for people who've "messed up" something on their work (although i would't consider this a mess up) is that they are lucky because now they have a chance to rebuild and make a better one because they know more about the process in making that item.  so with that said, i'd just fire the piece and appreciate it for what it is.  if you want a functional teapot, make another one and focus on that instead of fixing something else when you could be making more. good luck!

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YOu may have some success if you use Spooze to mend the crack.

Peggy Heen's

It's 1/3 dry clay you're using.

1/3 Vinegar and

1/3 Karo Syrup.

add a drop or two of

hydrogem peroxide from time to time to keep it from smelling.

Add some paper ie tissue to the mix and blend.

Pack into crack and smooth and fire.

said to work on raw and fired clay.

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Thank you both for the additional information.  I preheated the pieces for a good long time and they're now firing to cone 5.  If they make it through the firing as non-functionals, I'll be happy.  If they don't come through at all, well, it's only clay and time.  It's not life and death.  Next time I'll do better or I'll decide to be satisfied with non-functional teapots!  Thanks again, Jayne

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Loved seeing the finished bear boat. I love your stuff.

 

Well, Babs, it's not finished - yet!  Let's see...it's being fired right now for the fourth time.  If it comes out okay, I'll put a matte glaze on it and fire it once more.  I have to ship it Monday to make the Tuesday deadline (so much for filing the taxes on time this year!).  If it turns out to be functional (as if!), I'll post a photo of it pouring liquid from the bear's mouth!   

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I too am a fan of your work. Both look great already.

 

Also, I recently used the "Spooze" recipe Babs posted, and it works perfectly. On a couple occasions, I reattached pieces right before loading them into the kiln, and they fired great. You could also try some "Magic Mud" (Basically a slip made with magic water).

 

On a side note, I've recently been working on a figural sculpture piece with Raku clay. I like the strength it offers while sculpting, but the grog does get in the way a bit, when doing small details.

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