Hundredakerwood Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Has anyone got the secret to make terracotta clay usable on a gas hob with direct flame touching the pot. I have heard of European terracotta pottery being sold widely where they insist it is safe to use on a naked flame with no diffuser. All my attempts have resulted in my terracotta items all cracking on the gas hob. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Has anyone got the secret to make terracotta clay usable on a gas hob with direct flame touching the pot. I have heard of European terracotta pottery being sold widely where they insist it is safe to use on a naked flame with no diffuser. All my attempts have resulted in my terracotta items all cracking on the gas hob. Many cultures use earthenware crockery on fire BUT they either have clay that has mica or another type of temper in it. Potters in Pereruela and Moveros Spain have a natural micaceous clay found in their clay pits. North African pottery may also have some type of temper in it since pots from Morrocco and elsewhere are used for cooking directly on fire.. Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seasoned Warrior Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Has anyone got the secret to make terracotta clay usable on a gas hob with direct flame touching the pot. I have heard of European terracotta pottery being sold widely where they insist it is safe to use on a naked flame with no diffuser. All my attempts have resulted in my terracotta items all cracking on the gas hob. Many cultures use earthenware crockery on fire BUT they either have clay that has mica or another type of temper in it. Potters in Pereruela and Moveros Spain have a natural micaceous clay found in their clay pits. North African pottery may also have some type of temper in it since pots from Morrocco and elsewhere are used for cooking directly on fire.. Marcia Interesting comment Marcia. I own some ollas and cazuelas I have picked up rambling about in Mexico and I use them to cook with on a gas stove. I was in an open air market in a little town one day and I was poking around through a large selection of nice looking ollas and this very little and very old lady stopped me and then went through the pots flicking them with her index finger and making them ring. She finally settled on one that she liked the ring of and told me to buy it because that was the best one. The potter was an "indigeno" and spoke neither English or Spanish and so I was completely unable to communicate with him beyond making the transaction which tends to be pretty universal. The little old lady was not able to explain anything about the pots other than that is how her grandmother taught her to select them. I have no idea of the clay composition but that particular pot I use in my kitchen regularly and it is still going strong ten years later. I suspect that in pit firing the level of vitrification may vary considerably and so by making the pots ring one was able to tell which ones reached a higer level of vitrification. There was actually quite a bit of variation in the tone. Regards, Charles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Herb Norris Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Here is an article on flameware from Ceramic arts Daily; I knew I had seen this somewhere, I finally remembered where! : http://ceramicartsda...-healthy-world/ I'm afraid it doesn't discuss terracotta directly, but does give some design/use considerations which might help you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Herb, I think flameware is much higher tech than terra cotta cookware made by more rustic type potters. Tagines in Morrocco are a good example.http://www.google.com/images?q=tagines&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=ivns&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=sNNYTcqsI4L98Aa4s9CmBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CFgQsAQwAjgK&biw=1023&bih=607 Here is an example from Italy although it seems rather commercial than rustic. http://www.surlatabl...r:referralID=NA Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Herb Norris Posted February 12, 2011 Report Share Posted February 12, 2011 Herb, I think flameware is much higher tech than terra cotta cookware made by more rustic type potters. Tagines in Morrocco are a good example. Here is an example from Italy although it seems rather commercial than rustic. http://www.surlatabl...r:referralID=NA Marcia Oh, sure, but in the article, there are some size, shape, thickness and testing factors which are discussed, and may be of use whatever type of clay is used. I don't know, that's up to the maker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcia Selsor Posted February 14, 2011 Report Share Posted February 14, 2011 Herb, here are some images of tanginess. Hope the link works. Lots of photos. http://www.google.com/images?q=tagines&hl=en&client=safari&rls=en&prmd=ivns&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=univ&ei=sNNYTcqsI4L98Aa4s9CmBw&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CFgQsAQwAjgK&biw=1023&bih=607 Marcia Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hundredakerwood Posted February 17, 2011 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2011 Many cultures use earthenware crockery on fire BUT they either have clay that has mica or another type of temper in it. Potters in Pereruela and Moveros Spain have a natural micaceous clay found in their clay pits. North African pottery may also have some type of temper in it since pots from Morrocco and elsewhere are used for cooking directly on fire.. Marcia Many thanks Marcia for your help with this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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