Salt experiment

Having an electric kiln I don't want to kill it by salt glazing - so I've never tried it. However, this may sound silly, but I have heard of rice, sawdust and other items being put into the clay - and was wondering what effect you would get in the glaze by mixing salt into the clay body? Obviously, if you put it through a bisque fire it would burn out, but if it were a once fire would any residue have an effect on the glaze? I can't try this in my kiln, but have others thought about it? JM

Reply to
J M
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At the moment our group are having an anagama firing in our newly built kiln. I was on duty from 8pm to 2am last night - yup fairly tired today. Anyway - one friend was telling me that he soaked his bisque ware in a saline solution to create a salt fired effect. I will be interested to see the result. The kiln will still be firing till wednesday morning and then will take quite some days to cool down though.

Reply to
Annemarie

what is really groovy is to wrap ware loosely (like string...)in brine soaked straw (rice straw if you can get it, but any sort will do), let it dry and then stick it in the kiln.... Where the straw is the salt sticks and flashes and where it isn't it does other stuff, absolutely far out.... (the japanese do this (used to do this) on tea bowls... really nice subtle effects....) Hugs Eddie

Reply to
Eddie Daughton

Hi JM, Have you ever thought of looking at Egyptian paste recipes; various 'salts' are included in the clay bodies and following this allowed to dry slowly forming salt crystals on the surface, when fired the crystals form a glaze. It's a long time since I had a go at this myself but I seem to recall I ended up with a lot of blue/turqoise beads. If you want a recipe I will try and dig one up from my records. I don't think that small quantities of this type of body would cause much if any damage to an electric kiln, I certainly didn't notice any. Andy

Reply to
plodder

The important thing with Egyptian Paste is (curiously) to avoid touching it as much as possible as the soluble salts that make it glaze can be disturbed/removed by too much finger contact. The people I know who work with it mix it up in a polythene bag, and wear thin latex gloves when modelling with it. See For more information including 3 recipes.

Steve Bath UK

In article , plodder writes

Reply to
Stephen Mills

That jogs my memory Steve;

I can recall making up porcelain beads at the same time, using stains to colour, so the gloves and bags came in handy there too. As I was making beads only, I threaded them onto nichrome wire and set them in the firing jig (the whole kept inside a polythene bag) before allowing the crystals to form, as you say, to avoid over handling the finished items.

Andy

Reply to
plodder

Although the ingredients of Egyptian paste include "salts", they are other salts than sodium chloride (table salt). At least, it's not on any of the recipes I have seen or used.

I'm not sure what it is about salt firing that damages kilns, but the part that damages the potter is the chloride being released as chlorine gas. Definitely not something to mess around with unless you are pretty sure of your kiln vent. My understanding is that many community ordinances don't allow salt firing due to the hazard.

If you want to try solubles in clay bodies, note that Egyptian paste is generally a very low-fire thing (cone 06 or so). The solubles are typically sodium salts (sodium carbonate = soda ash is the most common), which are strong fluxes. Same with borax and all the others that come to mind. So you might want to work up slowly in temperature with your experiments. Please let us know what you come up with!

Best regards,

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

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Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

Reply to
Bob Masta

Oh, by the way (having just re read the post) DON'T try this in a 'lecky kiln you'll F"£$k it up a treat... Only for use in woodfired/gas fired where you don't mind a little bit of salt flying around.. Hugs Eddie

Reply to
Eddie Daughton

Interesting reading folks....I have not intention of attempting salt firing in my electric kiln - too risky I don't want to damage my kiln - I posted, wondering if anyone had tried salt in a body and if it would achieve the same result? I would love a gas kiln - so that I can at least reduce and salt fire; I only work with stoneware and glaze oxidised firings give limited results.

A friend of mine (whom I'm glad to say I met from the forum), introduced me to the brilliant world of raku and I would also love a raku kiln to expand my range. However, the unit I'm moving into (in Cornwall) doesn't have a yard and is straight onto a road - so any chance of raku work goes out of the window there! Sob ='( Can't have everything I suppose.

Thanks for the input. JM

Reply to
J M

Hey I wonder if you could put a salt soaked pot into a sagar in the electric kiln, just a thought.

Reply to
Annemarie

Hmmm, I wonder if that would work? However, it reduces the size and scope of what could be fired.

Reply to
J M

Seems like it should work in principle. However, you'd still have to worry about the chlorine gas, which might not be well-contained by the saggar. Even if you seal it up well with clay/wadding. it might be hard to know if it was leaking chlorine. I'd want to make sure the kiln was well vented, unless it was outside (which is not usually the case for electrics).

Hmm, I'll have to ask my chemist father-in-law if there is any simple chlorine-absorber chemical that could be included inside the saggar...

Best regards,

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

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Home of DaqGen, the FREEWARE signal generator

Reply to
Bob Masta

I know several people who put all sorts of stuff into Saggars including salt. With regards to the latter, the amounts they use, and that could be absorbed into a piece of Bisque would be too small to be a significant health hazard except in a very enclosed unventilated space.

The perceived salt problem originates with the practice of throwing large amounts of it into a fuel burning kiln, though the resulting cloud of vapour is 90 percent water. The harmful and corrosive elements which comprise the remaining 10 percent disperse very rapidly in open air.

The visual effect of this of course has, as we say; *Given the Dog a bad name* and damned any process that involves salt and heat!

In an enclosed environment like a Studio, an Enviro-vent or lots of open windows would suffice to disperse or dilute any possible harmful emissions. Also, I suspect the possibility of element damage would be no more than would occur from the regular use of some of the chemicals that make up our glazes!

No kiln manufacturer that I know of guarantees their elements; the environment is too hostile.

Steve Bath UK

Reply to
Stephen Mills

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