Idigclay Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Hello i am new here and I have a BIG problem! My problem is as of recently my glaze on my wares have been flaking( shrivering) off my pieces! First a little info on my setup... I use commerical glazes only( and two brands at that Duncan and Mayco) Also I use commerical clay( up to this point it has been Standard #105 no grog) I fire at cone 04 and for my glazed pieces I fire at cone 06. I have a small 120 volt kiln( but my items are small....i make guitar slides, candle holders, incense holders, etc...) I have been making a living( barely lol) for about a year and During Christmas I lost out on about $2000 because i had so many pieces that came out defected( shrivering) and so i have been reluctant to fire anymore and meanwhile I am trying to get answers as to why this is happening. I was told to go with the standard 105 with grog. i was told that the grog will help with the decompression of the clay and allow for a better fit between the glaze. Now, my other problem is that when i make my guitar slides i sand them down with steel wool to smooth the inside and outside but i am noticing that the sanding down is causing the grog to pull out of the clay and gives it a slight pitted appearance( I am not too sure that will be a desired effect for my customers). I was told that the changing over to Texas talc is the main reason behind the shrivering. So, what are my options, choices or suggestions that you may have? thank you in advance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Campbell Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 I am not a guitar player but I can't imagine that a rough pick is a good thing so I would stick with a low/no grog clay for them. How high can your kiln fire ... or how high do you want to fire? There are a ton of clay choices out there. Have you talked to the folks at Standard? Is that who told you about the talc change being a problem? Sorry for the questions and no answers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idigclay Posted March 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Chris thanks for trying to help a newbie out....what i mean by slide is back in the day blues musicans would use an old glass pill bottle or cut off the neck of a bottle and wear this on a finger and slide up and down the strings as they picked( this would modulate the pitch of a note) so i faishon my slides from clay( to get the same effect) and since I hand roll the clay there are little lumps that need to be smooth out( hence the sanding w/ steel wool to make a uniformed smooth surface) and it does not look like the grog is going to do the trick. I have been told that the reformulation of the clays using the Texas talc( by standard and 2 ceramic centers) that this the root of the problem. I'm still scratching my head because i used the same batch clay and glazes and underglazes and some flaked and some did not( everything was fired at the same time and there was no variations) so I guess I'm try'n to figure out is this something many people have encountered with the texas talc??? thanks again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mudlarque Posted March 22, 2011 Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 I once suddenly had a problem with my glazes falling off. It was the same brand of clay I have been using, the same batch of glazes. I of course blamed my self and my inexperience, and tried changing my firing, my glazes, my application of glazes, everything I could think of. It was only when I ran out of clay and bought new boxes that the problem abruptly stopped. I lost months of work before I used up what turned out to be some bad bad clay. Get rid of the stuff with the talc immediately and find something comparable from another vendor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idigclay Posted March 22, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 22, 2011 Hey Mudlarque thanks for the info and for offering your help! It sounds like I am having the very same problem and from what you said I KNOW you understand exactly what i am going thru( i guesss that I have been somewhat naive thinking it was always going to be smooth sailing and that clay is clay lol) most likely I had to get a bad batch somehow. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JosephDR Posted March 24, 2011 Report Share Posted March 24, 2011 Newbie here. I am having the same problem with glaze flaking off. I called the store where I bought the clay and the lady told me it could be oil from my fingers/hand that gets on the bisqueware as I handle it. Then when I paint with glaze there is oily film keeping it from adhering to the clay. Maybe that's what it is. But wouldn't the oil burn away during firing? I am thinking about cleaning my bisqueware with something before glazing. Rubbing alcohol? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Idaho Potter Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 I once had glaze peel off in sheets! Trying to raku when the weather was too cold, and the pots weren't warm enough so the glaze didn't stick at all. As of now, I don't fire raku in the winter up here in the north and as a result (even covered in plastic)the pots become dusty/grimy and glaze doesn't like that either. Still, I like to build up an inventory so I have choices when loading the kiln. My solution is to put all my raku bisqued pieces through the dishwasher (no soap) about a week before I start firing. They dry, no grime, and though it makes my hands look like alligator hide, I make sure no lotion or oil based soap is used until after glazing completed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icyone Posted March 25, 2011 Report Share Posted March 25, 2011 I've got shivering sometimes on certain pieces, when the clay is not a good fit for the glaze like when I fired my bisque too hot. When an relay went out and took a long time to fire. I also rinse my bisque (have a big tub) to get rid of dust too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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