Newb With A Few Easy (Hopefully) Questions!

[cstar]

I am new to ceramic arts but used to do sculpture in a variety of other mediums, as well as all kinds of drawing

 

I would love to make some glasses and bowls (i.e., that are water-proof, food safe, etc. really just plan on water drinking glasses), but I do not have the resources to buy any kind of oven/kiln.

 

Can you: 

 

Recommend (if they exist) some clays that I could bake in a kitchen oven,

 

Reccomend paints/stains that would be safe to use for glasses/bowls that I plan to use,

 

Point me in the direction of some good threads with starter tips, etc.?

 

Thank you all so much in advance- Chris

 

 

 

[Chris Campbell]

You will not be able to make food safe, non leaking pottery in a kitchen oven ... Not enough heat.

I recommend you find an art center in your town where they offer pottery classes as this will give you access to the proper materials and training.

If you just want a set of custom decorated dishes, then go to a paint it yourself pottery place where you can choose the type of dishes you want, decorate them the way you want and leave the firing to the owner.

If you really want to create your own wares start to finish ... There are no short cuts or easy ways ... You will have to find a place that has teachers and the proper firing equipment to learn the craft.

[Stephen]

I don't think any of those clays would be good for functional dinnerware. Those clays may work fine for some art pottery however and you could experiment with more traditional alternative firing options such as pit or Raku (u can build a metal trash can kiln for a couple hundred bucks or do a pit firing for cheap if you have a place to fire these.

 

You could also look into finding a studio that will fire your work. Many of them are very picky about clay because if the wrong clay goes into their kiln it causes problems. For example low fire clay fired to cone 10 will melt so you may need to buy your clay from them.

 

you could also look into a community pottery program and use their studio and kiln to make your dishes.

 

Hope some of that helps. Good luck.

[Callie Beller Diesel]

Pit firing and raku do not result in waterproof, foodsafe wares. Not enoug heat in these methods, either.

[rayaldridge]

Not to be argumentative, but people cooked in lowfire unglazed, pit-fired wares for thousands of years, and still do in some places.

 

Likely there's a possibility of bacterial contamination in the pores of such wares, however.

 

That said, you can still find unglazed earthenware chicken bakers in upscale kitchen shops.  I've often wondered how they can be adequately cleaned.

[Chris Campbell]

Not to be argumentative, but people cooked in lowfire unglazed, pit-fired wares for thousands of years, and still do in some places.

 

Likely there's a possibility of bacterial contamination in the pores of such wares, however.

 

That said, you can still find unglazed earthenware chicken bakers in upscale kitchen shops.  I've often wondered how they can be adequately cleaned.

I understand your point, but it would not be right for us to tell a newbie that they could fire food safe, functional wares in her oven. As to whether she has access to a pit firing area ... Who knows?

Yes, people still eat off low fired wares and are healthy etc. ... But if someone is publicly asking for solid info I would not tell them to use dishes fired in an oven or a raku method.

Also, I have used an unglazed clay baker for 30 or more years with no ill effects ... I don't even use soap to scrub it out after use ... They say you can totally clean it by re-firing it but I don't think that would end well.

[oldlady]

chris, it won't end well.  it will end in the shard pile.

[jolieo]

Hi I think many people are very attracted to ceramics.i have been flirting with them since kindergarten :-)

Part of the problem is micheals and hobby lobby- the have new and trendy "hobbies" that use materials that mimick the real thing - until usage that is. So I could delve right in and google the process and take books out of the library , and( what happened to me) be utterly confused for a few years, then figure it out, and then( like me ) tiptoe around taking the emotional financial and time commitment plunge. Because ceramics is one hell of a commitment !

But explaining how it all works and how it isn't an add water and stir hobby to clarify, might seem relentlessly repetitive to those of you who have gotten these questions once a day for years. It is you who drew them here with your beautiful , impossibly complicated , magical works!

So Cstar, there is no way to make ceramics in an oven. If you want to take a mini plunge, find a workshop or ceramic store that will fire your work. There are lots of ways to make clay items: hand building, coiling, slab construction, throwing on a wheel. All of it takes practice. Constructing the item is only half the work: glazing or surface decoration is the other half.

Essentially clay is a chemistry class: everything in there reacts with everything else. The pieces that have the wild , interesting surfaces are actually chemical reactions that happen at high heat. Some can come premade, but they will cost between $12-20 a jar and will still take messing about to a get a perfect reaction. Making the glaze that reacts is a learning experience . If you just want simple linear art on the ceramics you can use underglazes w a top coat of glaze. These can be bought fairly cheaply commercially.

If you go to a studio or college and take classes rent studio time, you will get enough info there to see if you want to continue w more of an investment. The place where you paint their wares have usually the least interesting surface treatments: there are not for education, they are for one stop entertainment. If you see China doll ceramics, that is a whole other animal: that is done at very low temp ( for ceramics anyway) that is really about making doll heads that are beautiful and difficult to make well- a whole other art. That being said - a woman would fire my stuff in her doll kiln when doing a bisque load.

If you really are interested- please find out more especially what is available locally, I think it is worth it!

[Bob Coyle]

Forget the oven baked clay cstar... won't work .. as most everyone already said. You might think of seeing is your local clay supplier knows where you might be able to get kiln space for a firing of real clay. It will probably cost some money but lots of people do this when they have no kiln. There are also lots of potters who might just do a one-off firing free for a newbe  if asked.

 

Also, as Stephen mentioned, the other recourse is to take a ceramics class at a local college. They are fun... tha's how a lot of us got hooked

[High Bridge Pottery]

What is the lowest cone you can feasibly get a functional pot to use for a drinking vessel? By functional I mean the glaze will be vitrified so as to not leak water and a good fit with the body.

 

Cone 06? Cone 010? Somewhere between 800degC and 900 degC ? (1470degF - 1650degF for the Americans)

[bciskepottery]

Vitrification is characteristic of the clay body, not the glaze. A clay body fired to proper vitrification does not need any glaze to be water tight/not leak.

 

Raw earthenware used for baking needs seasoning, just like that old iron skillet. In another thread, we shared the video of the Tibetan potter who seasoned wares with milk/yogurt concoction. Once seasoned, you don't wash them with soap and water; if something burns, you can boil off the burned remains and then reseason the pot/skillet before using it again.

[High Bridge Pottery]

I was using vitrification to mean a mature glaze. To me vitrification is something turning into a glass.

 

I guess it is mostly used to define clay body characteristics.

 

Another way to put it could be what is the lowest temp you can get any glaze/glass that would fit the clay body creating a usable cup.

[Bob Coyle]

Vitrification is a physical and chemical change in the structure of the clay body that renders it more or less water proof. Low fire clay may be partially vitrified and if it is glazed, the glaze presents a vitrified surface that is relatively water proof. Adding organic binders to clay that is not waterproof has been done for centuries. The native people in America and elsewhere commonly added pitch or tar to clay... and even to finely woven baskets, to make them waterproof.

 

I have used very porous micacious clay for cooking vessels.  It is kind of traditional here in NM. I would not try to use the same thing for drinking vessels. The oils and protein in the cooked food tend to seal the clay, this won't happen with cold liquids. I would guess the result would be cross contamination from one drink to another and taste yucky.

 

Drinking vessels should be fired to vitrification.