Clay Moisture

I’ve been seeing videos where people are picking up the clay and moving it nearly effortlessly. It takes me a lot more effort to move the clay and to do my pulls. I’m sure it will get easier with more experience but to try something new I  wedged a bunch of 14 oz balls of clay and intentionally made it more moist than I normally throw. Well this works, in a way… it certainly makes the clay more pliable and easier to make the movements and gestures but I had the biggest problem getting it off the wheel head. I don’t use bats. I do it old school, just cut it off with a wire like the olden days! So I had the idea that a small propane torch would do the trick to dry the outside enough for me to get it off the wheel. It works great! I dont think that I am going to continue to throw with the clay moisture at this level though. It just doesnt seem to be worth it.

IMG_3620

IMG_3646

Fusing Glass and Ceramics

Wanted to stop in and give a quick update about an experiment I did fusing glass to some ceramics in my last firing. It turned out pretty well! I used some of the flat glass “beads” from the craft store that are usually used for decoration on their own. Fired all the way to cone 6 and placed them on a bottom shelf with a pretty close shelf above it in case there was any splashing or anything. I placed the glass over the glaze that was already in the pot.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

You can see that it creates some crazing in the glass and its definitely not food safe or anything like that but looks really neat

I had one issue with a hairline crack on one pot I think that as the glass cools it creates an inward pull and it was just too much for the clay.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA