PM. Posted February 25, 2021 Report Share Posted February 25, 2021 Can someone please recommend clay that can be used to make Indian style unglazed cookware and the firing technique for such clay. Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted February 25, 2021 Report Share Posted February 25, 2021 When you say cookware are you talking about pots to go in an oven or on a stovetop? Also, unglazed as in zero glaze on the pot or unglazed on the exterior with a liner glaze? Welcome to the forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM. Posted February 25, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 25, 2021 Both pots that go in an oven and on a stovetop with zero glaze. However, I may try with a liner glaze on the inside also, so would like responses for both kinds. Thanks so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted February 25, 2021 Report Share Posted February 25, 2021 @PM. This might help - Sounds like micaceous clay fits the bill. Google Felipe Ortega these are interesting unglazed pots, pit fired and used in the oven, on the stove, grill, campfire. Philippe Ortega is gone now but I believe his workshop or some such still exist. Very interesting pottery - coil and scrape. Here is an article / website to refer to: https://craftsmanship.net/blog/felipe-ortega-the-clay-raven/ An interesting note: we had his Vimeo course and even have 50#’s of micaceous clay here and a box of extra mica. Made several bowls, end result, interesting old world pots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted February 25, 2021 Report Share Posted February 25, 2021 3 hours ago, PM. said: Both pots that go in an oven and on a stovetop with zero glaze. Thanks for clarifying. There can be huge issues with both aspects of what you are looking for. The physical strength of pots having direct stovetop heat applied calls for a very specialized flameware body. I haven't heard of any commercial red clay bodies available in the US for this. Other issue is the zero glaze one. I know there are pots available that tout the benefits of no glaze but there is a hygiene and food safety issue here. Oils etc seep into the clay causing rancidity amongst other things. If you are planning on selling pots for stovetop use I'ld be sure and have a comprehensive insurance policy. Not trying to be negative here but realistic. Really good link to flameware explanation and recipes here. One well known flameware maker is Robbi Lobbel, some of her recipes in the preceding link, the following is how she tests her pots: "In order to test my pots, I put them through a series of extreme temperature changes. I poured rapidly boiling water into the pots, then put them directly into the freezer. I allowed the pots to stay in the freezer overnight, where they froze into solid blocks of ice and then put them directly into a pre-heated 450˚F (232˚C) oven. The ice slowly melted and began to boil again. In his book, Clay and Glazes for the Potter, Daniel Rhodes suggests the following: “To test a body for resistance to flame, a small flat dish is made about seven inches in diameter, with a rim one inch high. Water is placed in this and it is put on an electric hot plate and heated until the water has boiled off. After five minutes of further heating, the dish is plunged into cold water. If a body survives this heating and cooling for several cycles, it may be considered flameproof” (1973 edition, page 57). I did this test too, though with one of my forms, and on a gas flame, which is a bit harder on the pot because of inconsistent heat between the flames and the burner grate." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Russ Posted February 25, 2021 Report Share Posted February 25, 2021 They sell a couple of mica clay bodies at New Mexico Clay along with other mica products. https://nmclay.com/search/?q=mica Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted February 25, 2021 Report Share Posted February 25, 2021 52 minutes ago, Russ said: They sell a couple of mica clay bodies at New Mexico Clay along with other mica products. https://nmclay.com/search/?q=mica Good to know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilestrick Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 5 hours ago, Min said: I did this test too, though with one of my forms, and on a gas flame, which is a bit harder on the pot because of inconsistent heat between the flames and the burner grate. I respectfully disagree with this statement. An electric burner puts more inconsistent heat on the pot, as the hot electric coil is in direct contact with the pot, creating an extremely focused point of heat compared to flame. Flames spread more and help to even out the direct heat of the burner grate. Many open bodies can survive flame, but will crack on an electric burner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Min Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 11 hours ago, neilestrick said: I respectfully disagree with this statement. An electric burner puts more inconsistent heat on the pot, as the hot electric coil is in direct contact with the pot, creating an extremely focused point of heat compared to flame. Flames spread more and help to even out the direct heat of the burner grate. Many open bodies can survive flame, but will crack on an electric burner. Quote is from Robbi Lobbel and how she tested her body, I think if I was going to attempt this, which I have no plans to do, I would be testing on a gas flame an electric burner and probably a barbecue too. Since we have no control over pots once they leave our hands I'ld be testing the heck out them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bill Kielb Posted February 26, 2021 Report Share Posted February 26, 2021 3 hours ago, neilestrick said: An electric burner puts more inconsistent heat on the pot, as the hot electric coil is in direct contact with the pot, creating an extremely focused point of heat compared to flame. Question has been debated for some time actually. Natural gas flame temp, prox 2000 f, Red heat burner prox. 1500 f degrees. 1500w - 2600w high output electric burner = 5000 - 9000 btu. Gas burner 5000 - 20,000 btu burners. electric burner 6” to 8” in diameter with about 40% - 60% of the area functional heating element. Gas 6” to 8” diameter with about 20% - 30% of the area to distribute So who knows, they are both basically really hot, gas being instantly hot, electric takes a few to warm up but both are cooled by the energy conducted away from them which is very fast for a pot with liquid in it. If you are a chef - gas provides more energy to get your giant pot of water boiling hands down - nearly 3:1 or more advantage. Electric stoves are sort of limited to total wattage (50amp) stove. Gas barbecues definitely make sense vs electric barbecue grills Wanna heat something faster, more btu is the way. Heat something more evenly, more surface area per unit energy source. My suspicion, gas but I am sure there can be electric examples. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sorcery Posted February 27, 2021 Report Share Posted February 27, 2021 All the pitfired cooking vessels of old I've watched videos on are dug local clay. These are mostly civilizations that probably have guts that can still handle the bacterias produced, where we basically drink hand sanitizer and bathe in bleach. Keep seperate your information on modern flameware bodies, and these old porous vessels. They "work" for different reasons. Sorce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PM. Posted February 27, 2021 Author Report Share Posted February 27, 2021 Thanks everyone for your input. I truly appreciate it. I will not be making these to sell commercially. They are a request from a dear friend. Will process all this information and then decide if I go ahead with it. If I do, will post results here. Thanks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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