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firing granite

i thought i could fill up some areas in my kiln with granite rocks to help distribute heat around several larger bowls. i didn't have extra pots for this and was using up all my kiln posts. a "full" kiln usually does a better job firing with stronger colors.

the rocks melted! i guess granite has a larger amount of quartz then i thought.

i reached cones 10-11-12 in some spots and it looks like i ruined several shelves and posts.

the rocks do look cool though! they shifted color from white with speckles (unfired) to brown with very volcanic bubbling.

just a thought before you try it...

see ya!

Reply to
steve graber
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i fired granite tiles in my kiln as shelves, and they basically disintegrated into crunchy dust.

Reply to
Charles Spitzer

It's funny you mention this because I was just wondering how hot it would have to get to melt rocks in the kiln.

Reply to
GaSeku

:o) My 19 yr old son is very interested in the melting points of minerals. I have not allowed him to put anything extra in the kiln. Lets face it folks, our glazes are made of minerals/rocks. This weekend I am attending a workshop run by Lawrence Ewing about glaze. My son is going to come too, so between us hopefully we will be able to come up with some fabulous new glazes. Lawrence Ewing created this software

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Reply to
annemarie

Reply to
Eddie Daughton

Hmmm.... The latest Ceramics Monthly (May 2004) has a brief article about some big installation pieces by Barbara Sorensen on page 18. "Sorensen embedded stones collected from the Colorado River into the wet clay. When the works were fired, the stones exploded, forming a crusty surface."

I don't profess to know anything at all about the mechanisms of exploding rocks, but it occurs to me that some might have surfaces dense enough to prevent the orderly release of trapped or chemical water. Might want to try a saggar for any you aren't sure about!

Just a thought...

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

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Reply to
Bob Masta

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