TIPS & TOOLS
Members share their favourite tips, tools and ideas. If you have something useful to add, we’d love to hear from you—please email your contributions to [email protected]
Canvas Bats
Getting a plate off the wheel without ruining its base can be frustrating and tricky. Using a medium weight canvas can overcome this problem.
1. Cut the canvas to the size of your bat, place bat on wheelhead just like you would normally
2. Use slip on the bat to smooth out the canvas, make sure that there are no air-bubbles and don't make it too wet or your clay will slip
3. When you have finished throwing the plate, run your cutting wire between the canvas and the bat
4. When it is leather-hard, turn over, remove canvas and trim as normal
5. This can also be used for wide based bowls or similar.
Source: Ceramics Monthly magazine. June/July/August 2015 Issue
Getting a plate off the wheel without ruining its base can be frustrating and tricky. Using a medium weight canvas can overcome this problem.
1. Cut the canvas to the size of your bat, place bat on wheelhead just like you would normally
2. Use slip on the bat to smooth out the canvas, make sure that there are no air-bubbles and don't make it too wet or your clay will slip
3. When you have finished throwing the plate, run your cutting wire between the canvas and the bat
4. When it is leather-hard, turn over, remove canvas and trim as normal
5. This can also be used for wide based bowls or similar.
Source: Ceramics Monthly magazine. June/July/August 2015 Issue
Keeping your glaze on your pots while transporting them
Sprayed ceramic glazes tend to be very porous, powdery, and easy to rub off your pots. Some of the glazes are so sensitive that fingerprints from where I handled the pot would show up after the cone 10 firing. Not just spray glazes, but other glazes can have the same results. One of the other students suggested using spray starch (1)—commonly used for ironing, and available at any grocery store. The spray starch, when applied in an even coat and allowed to dry, creates a hard surface that protects your glaze (2–3), but burns off in the kiln, leaving no trace behind (4). (Another variation on this trick is to use liquid starch, also available in the laundry section of your local grocery store, and mix it into your bucket of glaze—this will get moldy so mix it in small batches. If it does mold, just skim the mold off and stir well. Any remaining small traces of mold will burn out in the kiln.).
Underglaze pencils can have a similar issue - with the powdery pencil marks easily smearing. I decided to experiment on one of my class demo pots, and see if the spray starch would also work under the glaze, fixing the pencil in place so I could paint on clear glaze with worrying about smearing. It worked like a charm. The pencil didn’t smear, and the starch burned off in the kiln, with no side effects (5).
Source: Ceramics Arts Daily.org
Sprayed ceramic glazes tend to be very porous, powdery, and easy to rub off your pots. Some of the glazes are so sensitive that fingerprints from where I handled the pot would show up after the cone 10 firing. Not just spray glazes, but other glazes can have the same results. One of the other students suggested using spray starch (1)—commonly used for ironing, and available at any grocery store. The spray starch, when applied in an even coat and allowed to dry, creates a hard surface that protects your glaze (2–3), but burns off in the kiln, leaving no trace behind (4). (Another variation on this trick is to use liquid starch, also available in the laundry section of your local grocery store, and mix it into your bucket of glaze—this will get moldy so mix it in small batches. If it does mold, just skim the mold off and stir well. Any remaining small traces of mold will burn out in the kiln.).
Underglaze pencils can have a similar issue - with the powdery pencil marks easily smearing. I decided to experiment on one of my class demo pots, and see if the spray starch would also work under the glaze, fixing the pencil in place so I could paint on clear glaze with worrying about smearing. It worked like a charm. The pencil didn’t smear, and the starch burned off in the kiln, with no side effects (5).
Source: Ceramics Arts Daily.org
Christmas Ornaments - Cookie Cutters
When cutting out Xmas ornaments with cookie cutters, it helps to put a sheet of plastic (Glad Wrap) over the clay so that you get nice clean edges and don't have to do a lot of cleaning-up once the ornament is dry.
Also - don't use clay that is too wet, this will then distort the shape when you take it off the board.
When cutting out Xmas ornaments with cookie cutters, it helps to put a sheet of plastic (Glad Wrap) over the clay so that you get nice clean edges and don't have to do a lot of cleaning-up once the ornament is dry.
Also - don't use clay that is too wet, this will then distort the shape when you take it off the board.
Glaze Tips for Potters
Use silicon carbide paper to remove any rough spots you missed before bisque firing. Place your work on a piece of foam to prevent chipping. After sanding, wipe with a damp sponge to remove all traces of sanding dust. Use a damp sponge instead of rinsing, which should be kept to a minimum. Wring the sponge thoroughly and rotate it so each area is only used once.
If you’re glazing pots that don’t have a defined foot, push them across a piece of 220-grit silicon carbide sandpaper. The sandpaper removes some of the glaze from the contact areas, indicating where you need to wipe off the remaining glaze.
(courtesy of Port Hacking Potters Group Newsletter)
Use silicon carbide paper to remove any rough spots you missed before bisque firing. Place your work on a piece of foam to prevent chipping. After sanding, wipe with a damp sponge to remove all traces of sanding dust. Use a damp sponge instead of rinsing, which should be kept to a minimum. Wring the sponge thoroughly and rotate it so each area is only used once.
If you’re glazing pots that don’t have a defined foot, push them across a piece of 220-grit silicon carbide sandpaper. The sandpaper removes some of the glaze from the contact areas, indicating where you need to wipe off the remaining glaze.
(courtesy of Port Hacking Potters Group Newsletter)
Pit Firing Tips
You can place your smaller items for pit-firing into a box and you can include various items in the box to add colour to your creation.
For example:
Copper Carbonate …greens, blues, maroons, reds
Copper Sulfate …greens, blues, maroons, reds
Cobalt Carbonate …blues
Ferric Chloride …reds, yellows, oranges
Steel wool …blues, grays, pinks
Banana peels …greens, grays
Copper wire …can be red, black, blue, green, whites depending on wire
thickness and temperature of the fire
Sawdust …black, gray, blue-gray,
Cow pies… depends on what it ate…blacks, yellows, greens, grays, browns
Bacon Grease …brown/greens
Sodium Chloride …Orange, yellows, salmon, peach, gold
Coffee Grounds …browns, greens, blues
Nails …Neat blue/gray dots with halos
Leaves …brown/greens
Grass clippings …brown/greens
You can place your smaller items for pit-firing into a box and you can include various items in the box to add colour to your creation.
For example:
Copper Carbonate …greens, blues, maroons, reds
Copper Sulfate …greens, blues, maroons, reds
Cobalt Carbonate …blues
Ferric Chloride …reds, yellows, oranges
Steel wool …blues, grays, pinks
Banana peels …greens, grays
Copper wire …can be red, black, blue, green, whites depending on wire
thickness and temperature of the fire
Sawdust …black, gray, blue-gray,
Cow pies… depends on what it ate…blacks, yellows, greens, grays, browns
Bacon Grease …brown/greens
Sodium Chloride …Orange, yellows, salmon, peach, gold
Coffee Grounds …browns, greens, blues
Nails …Neat blue/gray dots with halos
Leaves …brown/greens
Grass clippings …brown/greens