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Re: Question on glazing

I am new to this forum and to earth clay and kilns. I have made some small

>masks about 1 1/2" x 1 3/4" and have bisqued fired them. They turned out >really good with no cracks, etc. I am wanting to glaze them on both sides. >They have two tubes on the back sides so a cord can be used for hanging them >or making a necklace. I want an all over glaze on front and back. I know I >cannot dip them as the glaze could fill the holes.

You can always plug the holes temporarily (with wet clay, etc) while you dip, then remove the plugs after the glaze is dry. Or just dip away and let the glaze fill the holes, then clean it out later with a pipe-cleaner or wire.

My question is---What is the best way to go about getting a glaze on the >front and back without the glaze sticking to the triangles in the final >firing? I have some small triangles that are about 1/4" high that I >purchased from Amaco. Do I coat the triangles in kiln wash? Will this >help? Am I expecting to be able to do something that might not be possible? >I will need to fire to 1915F. These little triangles are rated for up to >cone 10.

I haven't used the triangles you mention, so I can't address those specifically. But here are some general ideas: First, if the backs are not really intended to be conspicuous and you only want to glaze them to seal them, you can put a much lighter coating of glaze on the back than the decorative glaze on the front. This will most likely mean everything is brushed on at first, but if you go into production there are other approaches possible, such as a light dip, masking the back, and a second dip for the front.

Having less glaze on the back will mean much less dripping or running onto the supports during firing. After a few trials, you should be able to get good sealing coverage with no running at all.

I suspect the kiln wash idea will be helpful with the triangles, but whatever you use you may have to accept a blemish where it touches, or else be prepared to do a little touch-up grinding. You can probably do that with a hand-held stone, no power tools needed.

But if you have glaze-free hanging holes on these masks already, the simplest approach might be to fire them while hanging on high-temperature wire, as is done with beads. You can make your own support for the wires, or string it between kiln posts or something. Keep in mind that the wire will lose stiffness when it is hot, so keep the unsupported length as short as feasible until you get a feel for this. You don't want the weight of the masks to sag the wire such that the masks touch the bottom or fall off.

For heavy-ish things (these sound heavier than typical beads) I have had good luck with bundles of wire for added stiffness. I usually coat the wire with kiln wash, which helps if some glaze sneaks around the edges and onto the wire. I find the kiln wash goes on easier if the wires are warm, so I put them in the kitchen oven first.

Hope this helps!

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

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Bob Masta
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An addendum to my other response: Ceramic suppliers sell "stilts" that are typically Y-shaped clay with wire points sticking up for you to set your piece on. Since the wire is very thin, it doesn't mar the glazed surface as much as a broader point.

If you have some high-temp wire, you can make your own custom stilts to fit your piece, just by sticking stubs of wire into a clay pat.

There's an even sneakier way to make quickie stilts: Get a small piece of steel sheet and bend up the corners to become the points. This is definitely a limited-use approach, since the steel will oxidize in the firing. But that helps release the piece, because the oxide scale that forms can be easily pulled away from the remaining steel. The steel gets thinner with every firing, so don't start with anything *too* thin or your piece might collapse.

As a bonus, you'll be left with some dandy iron oxide that you can crush a bit and use for artsy effects by working it into the surface of a clay body.

Best regards,

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

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Bob Masta

You can use even pretty thin bead wire to make stilts, by just sticking it vertically into a clay pad but keeping the exposed wire short (say, 1/4 inch or less). If you are trying to support the concave backside of your masks, you may want to build a little form just for this purpose. It would look like a cast of the mask backside, with the short support wires protruding vertically. Note that I really do mean vertically, not perpendicular to the local curved surface like a pincushion: You want the force on the wires to come straight down as much as possible, trying to buckle the wire instead of bending it. Short wires are always stiffer than long ones, and usually harder to buckle than to bend.

One advantage of making a custom support like this instead of suspending the whole mask on a wire, is that if you miscalculate and the mask sags the wire, it just moves closer to the support instead of crashing sieways into something else in the kiln.

Best regards,

Bob Masta dqatechATdaqartaDOTcom D A Q A R T A Data AcQuisition And Real-Time Analysis

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Bob Masta

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