Callie Beller Diesel
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Posts posted by Callie Beller Diesel
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Most glazes I’ve used benefit from slaking overnight before sieving. Given Tony says that Tile 6 “is relatively impermeable to water compared to other kaolins, it is thus the last choice for casting bodies,” I’m curious what the comparison is between the glazes a week later.
Side by side, there seems to be a few more impurities in EPK than Tile 6. While the flux comparisons have some variation that might need watching in a glaze formula, the silica and alumina balances are close enough that part might not matter.
Tile 6 is known for its plasticity in clay bodies, which I can confirm from personal use. The plasticity may have an effect on some high clay glazes where shrinkage could affect application, but that’s theory on my part, and if someone knows better, speak up.
As to why a material might be washed and another isn’t: we have to remember that potters are a secondary market for almost all of the materials we use. EPK I think gets used to make glossy magazine paper. If tile 6 is mined for something else, the washing may not be necessary.
Edited to add:
Links to Digitalfire materials pages for comparison.
- Rae Reich, Hulk, Jeff Longtin and 2 others
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I agree with most of what Rae said, except for one thing. As someone who has both been on Etsy, and takes on a bit of bespoke work, I wouldn’t go there to find your artist. There’s a lot of well meaning people on there who don’t have the skills yet to take on a project like that, but will say they’ll do it because you’re supposed to say yes to every opportunity. It’s also incredibly difficult to do bespoke without the ability to meet in person. You can do it, but it’ll take a LOT longer, and you run the risk of missing important info. Etsy lets you narrow search fields so that you stay within the country, but not fine tune it so you’re getting someone in your area.
I would suggest finding a local clay supplier or studio that teaches pottery classes, and seeing who could work with you there.
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Did this for years in Calgary and was fine. You want plastic bins that are meant for garage/cold storage rather than cheap paint mixing buckets from HD if you’re worried about cracking. But that’s usually only a concern if you’re doing it for years on end. For smaller bits like colourants I use mason jars.
Some materials can be hydroscopic and absorb some water from the atmosphere, but most of them can be dried out on a cookie sheet in your kiln to about 50 C if it’s an issue. It’s usually the less standard stuff like soda ash, or Cornish stone. I think wollastonite does too, but I don’t know if it’s enough to cause a measurable weight difference.
The only thing I’d keep for sure warm and dry is plaster.
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So $150 US is closer to $180 CAD, so i got a little more to work with (evil smile!)
The first thing that jumped to mind was more mason stains, or tracking down some rare earth minerals for colourants. I don’t own a digital scale, and that’s on my list of nice to have things. But like a lot of folks, I already have a bunch of stuff, and most of my go-to tools are really cheap ones.
The things that have been a worthwhile $150 bucks included proper shelving and a glaze screen that fits over a bucket nicely. And a good corded drill capable of mixing grout. The piece I was kind of surprised to use as much as I do was a good banding wheel. I inherited mine, but a new one is in that range, so worth a mention.
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A sweet friend will be in LA the week of August 22-30 this year, and is looking for anything clay related to do. Any suggestions or tips would be appreciated!
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Are the white marks something that’s been deposited or eaten away? Hard to tell from an image.
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Hi and welcome to the forum!
I’m going to shift this thread to another spot on the forum so it gets better views.
The bad new is, if a ceramic object of any kind breaks, the only way to repair it will be with some form of cold process. It’s not possible to re-glaze and fire broken pieces so they’re whole again, and doing so runs the risk of ruining it entirely.
Since it’s a decorative pice anyways, gluing it with plain old crazy glue (following all package instructions, including wetting one side and not using too much) will hold it in one piece indefinitely, if it’s not put under stress. If you want to hang it, mounting it to a board with mirror or construction adhesive/P6000, etc and framing it would be a good way of adding extra reinforcement.
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When I google PA clay manufacturers, Standard comes up as one of the first ones, and several forum members here use that brand. Hopefully one of them chimes in. They have a big ‘ol list of cone 6 clays here, with about 7 options that have 1.5% porosity or less* and are some shade of white. They also appear to sell some kinds by the dry bag, which would be very useful for making coloured clay with, if you want more than just a yogurt container full for decorating. On the Standard distributor page, there’s a place called R.I.CH Inc in Bernville and The Ceramic Shop in Norristown that seem to be the closest to Easton.
If accessing cone 10 firings is an issue, and it can be for some, there are options. If you have easy access to a gas kiln, never mind the above and carry on.
Amaco is great for bottled glazes and underglazes, but their clay selections seem to be geared towards teaching scenarios where final porosity isn’t a primary concern. It also seems to run a few dollars more than some of the ones from other suppliers.
*whichever clay body you go with, you should do a porosity test under your own firing conditions to verify claims made by any manufacturer. You may be doing something different than they did for their tests.
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I don’t know if they sell the same ones at the US Home Depot, but you can get warm and cool LED bulbs in Canada. We’ve been phasing out incandescent and compact flourescent bulbs for a few years now, and LED are definitely better than either of them. Look on the box for the Kelvin rating: 2500-3000K are the warm ones, 5000K are the cool/bright white ones. The 5000K ones are better for bright light tasks/overhead lighting, and the 2500K are nice evening lighting, or if you need a warmer cast to things.
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16 hours ago, bwerkheiser said:
I read that someone recommended applying a food-safe epoxy to the unglazed parts of the foot after firing to seal the piece.
While it’s possible, it isn’t common practice, nor is it economical. It’s less work to fire your clay to maturity if you’re using stoneware or porcelain of any kind, or to fully glaze all surfaces if you’re working with earthenware.
If you’re just trying to fix a mug you made for yourself that you’re proud of and that isn’t leaving your house, it’s probably fine. If you’re selling at any scale, even just a couple of mugs on Etsy, I wouldn’t. It’s not good workmanship.
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I would just add that if you elect to oven dry the piece, an oven has less sensitive controls than a computer controlled kiln. Note the increments that Cavener Stitcher uses. She takes 36+ hours to get to 225 F over 4 ramps. While that’s exaggerated, and definitely overkill for your purposes, the same principle applies. Oven drying could be too hot or heat up too fast for larger thermal mass items. If it’s going to dry more rapidly on the outside than the inside, that’s usually where the problems occur.
So +1 for the 12 hour preheat, but if your piece is thicker than standard beginner pottery, I’d opt for 175-180 F instead of 200.
I’d take another note from that link and transport the pieces while they’re still leather hard, if you can. Bone dry work cracks much more easily.
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Wow. That’s some pretty bad customer service on Aardvark’s part. If you’re buying clay a ton at at a time, they should definitely be concerned about large scale screwups like that.
I’m going to tag @Min because she recently had some similar experiences with another company. (Give her a few days to reply though: she’s on vacay.)
They are correct in that sometimes material inconsistencies do occur, it happens everywhere with every company, it’s just a matter of how they deal with it. If the batch is messed up, the best thing they are able to do is offer to exchange for better. I hope you did that, because I hate to think of the hours or wasted pots otherwise.
Going forward, if you want to re-order the same clay, given their lacklustre response it’s going to be a buyer beware situation. I’d go to a local supplier and ask if they have one box on hand from a different batch number, presumably one more recent. Open the box, and wire open a block in the parking lot to see if there’s any evidence of those inclusions. If it’s got them, point it out to the vendor so they know too. If the clay store complains, Aardvark might listen more.
If the inclusions are gone, bring it home and run some tests to make sure it’s back to its proper specs. If it passes, go ahead and re-order. If not, could be time to pick a different clay. Buy a smaller batch of the black mountain to tide you over if you must.
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If you’ve got an electrician coming in anyways for the kiln, can the heater be moved, or another one added in the left hand side? I did also have that concern about having both kiln and heater in the same area. But my logic for having the kiln separate from the office area was that if you’re firing the kiln, you maybe don’t want to be always working next to it, even with venting. Working on office stuff while the kiln’s going (or running it overnight with appropriate precautions) was my assumption. But it depends on how you’ve got your work cycles set up.
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I propose this layout below. You may want to adjust it, but here’s the logic:
1) Put as many things on wheels as you can for ease of cleaning, and so you could maybe shift things if necessary. The orientation of the large work table on the right side may be changed, but the table should have bucket/material storage underneath. Additional materials/small items/tests/work in progress can be stored on adjustable shelves in that awkward between post area.
1a) I strongly suggest adding more lighting, and perhaps paint the walls white. I had a similar paneling system in my studio, and found it very depressing, especially in the winter.
2) You’ll probably want a small rolling cart to transfer finished work from the kiln to the office side, where you’ll photograph, make listings and pack it. I’m assuming the closet will hold packing or other office supplies.
3) Clay comes in through garage door #2, and travels the farthest distance. It gets stacked close to the wheel working area on the end of the work table.
4) Pots get made in the back left corner. You may wish to have a small wedging table or some low shelves in front of you to hold work as you make it, or put some adjustable shelving on the walls for ware-in-progress storage that works around the heater. You could enclose this in plastic for a damp cabinet, or not. There’s no measurements to work with, so I didn’t get too specific.
5) Pots go into the kiln for bisque, and out onto the work table for glazing, and back into the kiln. Minimize your steps. I’m basing kiln placement at least in part on visible electrical outlets. This room isn’t so large that venting couldn’t easily be run out the small back window from wherever it is. You will want to get some form of fireproofing to line the walls behind the kiln. Check local building code, but we’ve had cement board and sheet metal suggested for this.
6) Pots get moved into the office area for final storage before you either take them to a market or packed and shipped.
Neither you or your husband wants clay or glaze dust getting into any electronic equipment, and foot traffic could drag that upstairs. I would strongly suggest having a pair of shoes that you put on when you go into the “dirty” side on the right, but that never cross the threshold going the other way. Some small rugs will be a good idea at the human door and the base of the stairs to limit tracking, and probably one at the slider opening.
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The raised clay bins are really smart, and the light is really nice in there!
As a fellow small space user, any time you can build wall shelves, do it.
If you ever decide to go for making up some larger buckets of glaze, I keep mine in 5 gallon buckets and stack them on each other behind my studio door. I also made a conscious decision to keep the number of “big bucket” glazes to five or less.
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I just remembered that last year Mea mentioned she switched from Weebly to GoDaddy as her blog and website builder. I just had a look at their pricing, and the non-shopping systems are all quite affordable. The one tier that offers e-commerce is comparable to both Square’s top end and Shopify’s most affordable. All 3 of the latter have comparable service offerings.
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Wow! That article brings back the college memories! I do NOT miss the days of nonexistent glaze software access. So much fumbling! Thankfully, better starting points for cone 6 glazes have definitely come on the scene since. Tony Hanson’s stuff on digitalfire are great, but some Americans find those recipes need to be adjusted for crazing. John Britt and Joe Thompson (Old Forge Creations) are also good resources. Both Tony and Joe make a LOT of info available for free, John has a bit of a paywall for concise info.
Re: wollastonite agglomeration. If you plan on using your glazes the same day they’re hydrated, you could get away easily with using plain sugar if you don’t happen to have sucralose lying around. I had concerns about possible bacteria growth, thus the suggestion for the artificial sweetener. It’s not a common practice. It was something we were noodling with at the time.
15 hours ago, baetheus said:I feel like I'm butting against my own serious lack of knowledge about materials
We got you! You found a bunch of folks who do glaze chem and research for fun.
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Suppliers in my neck of the woods tend to be sparse, consisting of Ceramics Canada in Calgary and buying direct from Plainsman in either Medicine Hat or Edmonton. A trip to Ceramics Canada tends to be not only a supply run, but a chance to catch up on clay community gossip as well. It’s a 20 minute drive for me, but I have to factor 2 hours, lol! The suppliers in Canada tend to work in community with each other, as I think I could count them all on both hands with a few fingers left over.
The ones closest to me actually thrived during covid, because everyone was locked out of community studios, and people were looking for calming things to do during lockdowns. The suppliers had a big run on kilns and wheels, and Ceramics Canada started bringing in clay from Ontario as well. They went above and beyond with health precautions, so you had to call your order in and pay via credit card or e-transfer, and pick up your pile of stuff at the back door for a good year and a half. If people were mean about it, I didn’t hear.
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I use a combo of resources, but I favour the written word. I have a handful of books that tend to run at higher price points, but consider to be invaluable, eg Hamer and Hamer. I consult it regularly when answering questions here, as well as using glazy for quick calculations and digitalfire for materials specifics and provenance. There’s a couple of good blogs that I regularly refer people to, because the authors talk about certain topics especially well, like Sue McLeod or Old Forge.
I don’t use youtube a great deal, because I despise video tutorials. Scrubbing through a video for a specific reference requires my goldfish brain to remember too much about where exactly the reference I’m looking for came in the conversation. My adhd does not allow me to tolerate video pacing that isn’t almost professionally done, and that tends to be uncommon on a platform that doesn’t have a content time limit. I find I can use it as a personal resource if I up the playback speed, but for me to recommend a youtube video or channel to someone else, it has to have a LOT of compelling info in it.
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When I asked the same thing about mine, Arturo at Cress said the first 2 numbers of a Cress serial number is the year it was manufactured in. So you have a proper vintage model there!
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My personal opinion is that it’s not stupid if it works, but there’s probably a few reasons why it isn’t more common. Not everyone thinks in cross disciplinary/multi media terms. There could also be adhesion issues long term with putting paint on a smooth glazed surface to get that super mirrored look. I have not personally investigated this, and would suggest testing before making pieces for sale. Not everyone is good with spray paint, and can get a nice, no drip surface. Also, I haven’t seen too many non-industrial scale potters/ceramic artists making work like this. As a generalization, we tend to be drawn to the more “earthy” look of working with clay. Gold lustre use tends to be at least a passing nod to historical ceramic practices, if not a conscious continuation of them. Some people think cold finishes are somehow cheating.
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I have seen people use waterproof packing tape to support moulds, in addition to mould straps. The trick is to make sure the tape is wrapped all the way around and stuck to itself, not the plaster. They explained that it was good because it doesn’t stretch. The straps are still necessary as a backup in case the tape snaps under the weight of the slip.
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Hi and welcome!
Gerstley borate is a great standalone brushing medium and would be added to iron to help make it more workable, and to dilute the amount of oxide you’re using. (Some oxide is good, too much can cause glazes to crawl over it.) I find iron mostly doesn’t need help fluxing, but other oxides may.
if you want a green wash, don’t use the nickel. It tends to go brown. Copper carbonate benefits from some kind of flux with sodium in it to help turn it green. GB does have some sodium, but if you try it and find it isn’t enough, try mixing equal parts epk, copper carb and any Ferro frit you have to hand. 3110 would be ideal, but 3195, 3134 and 3124 would also work. The epk will help make this mix brushable and dilute it, and the frit will do the flux/colour change part.
- Hulk and Kelly in AK
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@kswan can you forward your old email to the new one, or would the integration be clunky? I’m not as familiar with Hostinger’s back end.
I recently had to do a big cost comparison, and if you buy your hosting through weebly, they charge the most. Note that if you like the templates on weebly better, you can buy your hosting (which is your custom domain name) through Hostinger, or anyone else, and still build your website with weebly.
The host/domain name is like a camping spot, and the website is the trailer/tent whatever that you park there. The trailer can be shifted from place to place. Many providers like to offer an all in one service for convenience, but on a technical level, they are separate.
To extend the metaphor, a website that you build for information and contact only would be the equivalent of a tent or a tent trailer. They don’t do much, but you can park those suckers almost anywhere, usually for cheap. If you want to have an e-commerce website, that would be the equivalent of a fancy RV with bump outs and all the fancy stuff. The fancier vehicles need a large enough camping spot (host) to handle the traffic, and the fancier camping spots will offer power hookups so that you can get the most out of your experience.