How to make and glaze ceramic chopsticks??

[Caris]

Hi folks.  I am primarily a handbuild artist, doing sculpture and some tableware.  I fire in a Skutt 1027 electric kiln, and use mostly commercial glazes and some oxides.  My clay bodies are all ^6-^10 stoneware.  I don’t currently have any porcelain, although I do have some ^10 white clay.  
I have a hope of making some chopsticks.  I am hoping someone can give me a clue about how to glaze fire them.  

thanks

Caris

[Bill Kielb]

3 hours ago, Caris said:

 I am hoping someone can give me a clue about how to glaze fire them.  

When we made them, it was easiest to hang them by one end while firing  (Keeping them reasonably straight). From there a choice  of a hole could be made in the handle and stay in the finished ware as decorative, or a sacrificial eyelet could be scored in advance and removed after firing yet ground perfectly smooth with a diamond pad. All of ours were porcelain, (Frost or standard 365 English porcelain) fully vitrified to 1% or less yet glazed for 99.9% of the chopstick. Decoration was typically carving and underglaze with a durable clear or ombre overglaze so often the white porcelain was visible in parts.

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Edited December 24, 2023 by Bill Kielb

[Caris]

Thanks, Bill.
Did you hang them from a bead firing wire sort of rig?  I figure I can bisque fire laying flat, and then hang them to glaze fire?  I like the idea of the hole, esp incorporating it into the design.  I am now emboldened and shall experiment.

cheers!

[Bill Kielb]

1 hour ago, Caris said:

Did you hang them from a bead firing wire sort of rig?

Yes, either between shelf posts or hung off the end of a half shelf. Never made a special holder, maybe only fired a handful as very custom gifts. The Kanthal wire was fairly thick though, 1/8” or bigger as I recall.