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Hate sieving glaze? DIY rotary sieve


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On 1/16/2019 at 12:36 PM, liambesaw said:

Oh, no, I've never had to reseive a glaze, I only do it when I'm mixing up a batch.  If it has cobalt carbonate I will sieve the next day because otherwise the spotting can get annoying. 

I only have 6 glazes in 5gal buckets, I guess I use them enough to not run into lumps or hard panning 

 

Doesn't glaze dry on the inside wall of the bucket?  By the time the 5 gallon bucket is half way down, the inside wall is covered with thick  semi dried glaze for me.  I can scrape it into the glaze, but then it must be sieved to get out the lumps.  My buckets are sealed screw lids as well so they don't dry out between glaze episodes.  Maybe you don't mix enough glaze for multiple firings, but for me reworking glazes is an ongoing deal.

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5 hours ago, CactusPots said:

 

Doesn't glaze dry on the inside wall of the bucket?  By the time the 5 gallon bucket is half way down, the inside wall is covered with thick  semi dried glaze for me.  I can scrape it into the glaze, but then it must be sieved to get out the lumps.  My buckets are sealed screw lids as well so they don't dry out between glaze episodes.  Maybe you don't mix enough glaze for multiple firings, but for me reworking glazes is an ongoing deal.

In a glazing day I usually go through around 5 gallons total of glaze spread over 3-5 buckets of glaze.  I'd really hate to have to sieve them each time.

I have a glaze full of soda ash and lithium though that I HAVE to sieve each time because of the crystallization. Even in the summer it recrystallizes over night.  But in general i don't resieve glazes unless there's an issue. Never with my main glazes, maybe I go through it too fast to get the dry chunk problem like you, or maybe it so wet and cold here in seattle that it just never has the chance to dry.  Don't know.  All I know is this drill brush thing is the cat's meow when it comes to sieving.

I now have 8 glazes total in my arsenal, and still none hardpan.  I think if I got a glaze that lumped up or hardpanned I'd probably try to fix it and if that didn't work I would pass on it.  Not worth my time to fight glaze in the buckets.  The lithium one is bad enough.

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5 hours ago, CactusPots said:

 

Doesn't glaze dry on the inside wall of the bucket?  By the time the 5 gallon bucket is half way down, the inside wall is covered with thick  semi dried glaze for me.  I can scrape it into the glaze, but then it must be sieved to get out the lumps.  My buckets are sealed screw lids as well so they don't dry out between glaze episodes.  Maybe you don't mix enough glaze for multiple firings, but for me reworking glazes is an ongoing deal.

With the right power mixer head on a drill (1.2inch drill) you do not have to resieve many glazes after scraping them down. Only the tougher ones.

With a large  jiffy mixer head you beat the cr-p  out of the glaze  in a few minutes and you are good to go.

Power is your friend -forget the hand whips and such.

I do this every week or so with 15+ buckets. Only now and then do I do the sieve the whole bucket routine. Not all glazes build up thick on the walls anyway 

glazing 42 cubic feet every week or two one learns all the tricks with glaze..Just mixed up 15 gallons an hour ago-2 glazes.One is in a 25 gallon bucket (black glaze with 1# cobalt Oxide per batch)

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3 hours ago, Mark C. said:

With the right power mixer head on a drill (1.2inch drill) you do not have to resieve many glazes after scraping them down. Only the tougher ones.

With a large  jiffy mixer head you beat the cr-p  out of the glaze  in a few minutes and you are good to go.

Power is your friend -forget the hand whips and such.

I do this every week or so with 15+ buckets. Only now and then do I do the sieve the whole bucket routine. Not all glazes build up thick on the walls anyway 

glazing 42 cubic feet every week or two one learns all the tricks with glaze..Just mixed up 15 gallons an hour ago-2 glazes.One is in a 25 gallon bucket (black glaze with 1# cobalt Oxide per batch)

Maybe that's what it is, I really whip the crap out of my glaze buckets with a one of these, it really does a great job: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N6U1M8Y/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabt1_VkISFbMZWA2Q7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1

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10 hours ago, liambesaw said:

I now have 8 glazes total in my arsenal, and still none hardpan.  I think if I got a glaze that lumped up or hardpanned I'd probably try to fix it and if that didn't work I would pass on it.  Not worth my time to fight glaze in the buckets.  The lithium one is bad enough.

Huh, that's funny, I thought lithium was supposed to make things better...

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When I first transitioned into more full time clay work, I did notice that because I was using my glazes more frequently and consequently keeping them stirred up on a regular basis, I had to sieve them less. When I was only having a glaze day every few months, glazes had more chance to hardpan and do other things that required sieving.  As a part timer, I had to sieve all the glazes every time I wanted to use them because they'd been sitting too long. Now I only really do it when I add material to the bucket. I also found it saves scraping to give the inside of the bucket a quick swipe after a glazing session.

 

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14 minutes ago, Benzine said:

I think there some literature from the '90s on the subject, specifically the "Nevermind" album...

Classic dissertation on the effects of lithium salts by C. Cobain, D. Grohl, K. Novoselic, et al.   

Really explores the depths of lithium however no mention of recrystallization or hard panning.  Was hoping to find something that would shed light on why lithium salts seem to act as a surfactant, making my glaze foam up when mixed.  Oh well.

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44 minutes ago, liambesaw said:

Classic dissertation on the effects of lithium salts by C. Cobain, D. Grohl, K. Novoselic, et al.   

Really explores the depths of lithium however no mention of recrystallization or hard panning.  Was hoping to find something that would shed light on why lithium salts seem to act as a surfactant, making my glaze foam up when mixed.  Oh well.

Any relevance?

Spodumene https://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/spodumene_1287.html
Some types of spodumene do contribute to the formation of bubbles in the glaze slurry. You can wash spodumene before use to alleviate this issue (mix it well in plenty of hot water, allow to settle overnight, pour off the water the next day and dry it).

In https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Lei-Zhang-2163696150
... The beneficiation of spodumene from ore deposits is mainly by means of froth flotation taking advantage of the difference in the surface chemistry of spodumene and its associated aluminosilicate minerals.

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16 minutes ago, PeterH said:

Any relevance?

Spodumene https://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/spodumene_1287.html
Some types of spodumene do contribute to the formation of bubbles in the glaze slurry. You can wash spodumene before use to alleviate this issue (mix it well in plenty of hot water, allow to settle overnight, pour off the water the next day and dry it).

In https://www.researchgate.net/scientific-contributions/Lei-Zhang-2163696150
... The beneficiation of spodumene from ore deposits is mainly by means of froth flotation taking advantage of the difference in the surface chemistry of spodumene and its associated aluminosilicate minerals.

Not sure, but I use lithium carbonate, not spodumene, and it still foams.  I suppose it could also have something to do with soda ash, since I have mixed 3 glazes with lithium and all 3 have soda ash too.

Then again I also have another glaze with soda ash that doesn't bubble.  The mystery continues.

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1 hour ago, liambesaw said:

Classic dissertation on the effects of lithium salts by C. Cobain, D. Grohl, K. Novoselic, et al.   

Really explores the depths of lithium however no mention of recrystallization or hard panning.  Was hoping to find something that would shed light on why lithium salts seem to act as a surfactant, making my glaze foam up when mixed.  Oh well.

Nicely done!

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