Low firing Rod's Bod

[LexiD]

I have 50 lbs of Rods Bod clay and am working with pre-schoolers.  I have tons of 06 glazes.  Can I bisque to cone 04 then glaze and fire to cone 06?  Will the product be OK???? I'm not worrying about anyone eating off of it. BUT... am planning on making some planters with it and want to know it'll be waterproof. Will it work? Will I still get the speckled Rods bod look - which I love!!! ???

[fergusonjeff]

I use that same clay for Cone 10 wood firing.  You are basically just talking about bisque temps.  It is definitely not waterproof at those low temps.  I doubt the low-fire glazes would fit well enough to provide any good protective layer. 

The speckles in Rods Bod are mainly from iron, and they take the high temperatures (like cone 10) to develop.  My bisque fired rods-bod (what you are planning) is just an off-white color and very absorbent. 

[Callie Beller Diesel]

It’d probably be fine if they’re making little animal sculptures or other things of that nature. I’d maybe make a test to see about how much a plant pot would weep before committing to that project. 

[Mark C.]

I'm guessing all these pots will weep badly-maybe thats ok for small planters.

I did a firing for our local elementary school and may them use the right clay (I provided)-clay is so cheap-have you considered buying some low fire clay instead of rods bod.

[Min]

+1 for picking up some low fire clay for the pre-schoolers and firing it to maturity.

Children will take their creations home and parents will dote over them, treasure them for years to come, maybe in the back of a kitchen drawer (cough cough, guilty here). Years from now they'll get dusted off by the children who have now grown into adults and have a giggle over their work. Pieces need to be able to stand up to years of knocking about the house, bisque fired ^10 clay isn't strong  and children don't all know how to be gentle.

[Rae Reich]

In case you didn't know it, the cone numbers indicate increases in heat, but what takes some getting used to is that ^018 is the coolest. So numbers go from ^018 to ^01 getting hotter with each (counterinuitively) and then from ^1 to ^11 (intuitively) getting even hotter.

My point is that a bisque at ^04 will be hotter than the glaze fire at ^06, but it won't be hot enough to mature the clay to non-porosity. 

@Mark C.'s advice to get the proper temp clay for the students will also leave you with the clay that will mature to planter tolerances when you can fire it to its own temp.

[LexiD]

Thank you all for your input. I will make some tests and YES... I will buy some low fire clay for the future... any idea what kind of projects would work best with Rods Bod since I already have 50 lbs of it?  Pinch pots... vs. slab cut outs? And I will use low fire for other projects... like pinch pot monsters!!! 

[Min]

@LexiD, are you wanting to make functional pots like bowls and mugs or decorative pieces with the Rods Bod? For functional pieces you would need to fire it to cone 10, is this something you do?