Amaco Celadons

[Bill Kielb]

@MFP

I like throwing it but feel it is less elastic than many. I find it smooth and easy to throw and it fires translucent up to about 3/16” for easy neat carved votives. The stemless wineglass below is not carved but a flashlight does make it through. As far as construction: compress, dry out, uniform thickness, more careful compression.

You already know I compress in to out on the bottom but also set the outside bottom edge  by reinforcing with  my finger there while I work on the bottom a bit  and of course rib out to in as much as in to out. This real attention seems  to ensure the plates don’t fail. I also always compress the  rims downward  for the wine glasses and inward for plate edges.

then carefully trim of course.

All that may seem excessive but often I will lightly torch it dry to stiffen before removing (definite no no), lift it off the wheel, set it on a cfold towel on a batt and lightly cover it for a day or two before trimming. All a bit excessive but as one off  high end hand painted sets my wife is definitely not pleased if her original painted decoration goes to waste. Just paint another dear!

[MFP]

Thank you Bill. I did not have an issue with the plasticity part.  I will try to compress more. I usually go back and forth several times and press hard enough to get small chatter marks. I also pay attention to where the bottom meets the wall and compress that as well a number of times. I finally do a final compression at the end on the bottom to make sure I am getting all the water off the surface.  This last one that cracked was under plastic.  Of course, it's about 120 degrees in my shop until I go out there and open the doors....then it's about 100. But the Frost was the only cracker. What i have noticed is that it is very picky about thickness....can't be too thick or thin. If Master Lin can use a hairdryer on his pots on the wheel, I don't see why you can't. I also tried something new today. I have had trouble with the wider pieces not wanting to let go of the bat....and then the edges start getting too dry and in the instance of Frost, I think that puts too much tension on the bottom. Today I had a very wide plate that the edge indicated it needed to be turned but it was so wide, I knew there was no way it was going to come off. So I put another bat on top of it and turned it over. I then spent several hours making up glaze samples. By the time I was ready to go in, it came free from the bat. I think I am going to start doing that with Frost. That New Zealand body I was telling you about is a glassy porcelain. I find it to be very throwable.  How wide are your widest pots with Frost?

I made up 9 glaze samples today. I already have 9 tests made up for those materials....and to make sure Mark was right about that one can being zircopax.  It occurred to me today that one of them might be Kona F 4.  I need to make up your Hard Candy tomorrow....I forgot the printout in the house.  I am going to make a clear sample and one with mason stain....there is a clear crimson I am after. 

[liambesaw]

Don't use a hair dryer, use a heat gun! They're the same price but one is designed to dry hair and the other is designed to burn it!  Love my heat gun, way easier than a torch

[MFP]

When I went to Home Depot to look at heat guns....I saw what I thought was a hairdryer....apparently he was using a heat gun. But I was looking at the watts and they did not appear to be any different than a hairdryer. What makes them different?

[liambesaw]

Heat guns get hotter.  1000 Fahrenheit on a cheapie and 1400 Fahrenheit on a heavier duty one.  If you're trying to dry ceramics on the wheel it is gonna take longer with a hair dryer.

[MFP]

Which brand do you use? They are a zillion of them!

[liambesaw]

8 minutes ago, MFP said:

Which brand do you use? They are a zillion of them!

I just have a cheap one from harbor freight, I think it was like 10 bucks with a coupon.  Works good, I assume any brand will probably be fine