I have been intrigued by the idea of making some pots from local materials. Kentucky has long been wealthy in minerals but that wealth is usually in the form of coal. I don't have any use for coal itself but I plan to use one of its byproducts.
Central Kentucky presents somewhat of a challenge for a "Local" pot. We have lots of some materials but a lack of others.
What we have.
Here in Central Kentucky we have limestone, and lots of it. Along with those deposits we find marls and other earthenware clays. We have shales. We also have Fly ash from burnt coal. We have some small sources of wood ash and if you have a place to burn things, you can no doubt source endless agricultural byproducts for making ashes of various types. There are deposits of silica sand not too far away. A bit further is an area rich in clays once used to make fire bricks.
What we lack.
All types of igneous rocks. Granite, rhyolite, nepheline syenite.
White clays. There is supposedly some kaolin in Hart county but that is about 4 hours by car. Not too local either huh?
Looks pretty limiting for the high fire potter but it is a challenge that I would like to attempt.
I have good sources for ash, earthenwares, and limestone. The major thing I need is a source for high fire clay. I guess since that will be the base which all pots are built on it should be the main focus of my prospecting. Time to check up on a few leads I guess.
On a related note, I bought a new book off Ebay and recently had reason to actually read it. I ran across a potter who had lots of wood ash on hand. I bought a couple of buckets from her and started reading "Ash Glazes" by Phil Rogers.
If I haven't said it before, I LOVE his work.
I'm in the process of Washing the ash right now. It is a mixture of hard and softwood ash so I imagine it will make a celadon type glaze when mixed with whiter types of clay. It will be fun to experiment with.
I also have several hundred pounds of earthen ware from a local construction site that I will be using with the ash. Not sure of the iron content but it fires with similar results to redart and that would put the iron at about 7%. It won't be making any white glazes with that clay but it could be used to source iron for a celadon if I can find another low iron clay locally.
My next prospecting adventure will be to the Tyrone power station in search of Fly ash. I contacted the local electric utility and they pointed me towards the local coal burning power station. Fly ash is the portion of coal left after burning that is light enough to be carried away on the draft of the furnace. They have to filter the stuff out of their exhause so they should have TONS on hand. I hope that it will require little to no milling for use. Once again though it usually has pretty high iron content (about 10%) so its use will be limited.
I'd love to hear from anyone interested in this idea as I'm sure there are materials that I have not considered.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
New year
The new year has me invigorated. Lots of energy for new and old projects.
This blog is one of the old projects that has fallen by the wayside and needs my attention.
I have actually been making pots since the last post. Here are some pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29665788@N04/sets/72157610906937840/
I have continued my experiments with glaze on glaze. I have been using several combinations and here are my favorites.
Mashiko kaki fake / wax resist / Temple white
Kaki
kona f4 spar (soda) 31.2
talc 5.2
wollastonite 6.5
bone ash 0.5
epk 11.4
om4 11.4
silica 26.8
red iron oxide 6.4
titanium 0.5
manganese 0.2
I leave the manganese out. I found this glaze posted on clayart and it was attributed to John Reeve.
Temple white
custer feldspar 35.7
whiting 2.5
dolomite 19.1
epk 23.5
silica 19.1
This glaze is a favorite of mine. It tends to mute over and under glaze decoration due to the large clay portion. I love this effect on under glaze decoration especially with cobalt.
I have been using hot paraffin wax mixed with about 15% ULTRA PURE paraffin oil to do my resist patterns between coats of glaze. Works well but it tends to dictate the type of patterns you can create. This is both liberating and limiting at the same time. I bought some Aftosa brand cold resist to try on some patterns that I just can't do with hot wax.
I have also been using oxide washes over various glazes. In this case it is Temple white / wax / iron oxide.
Notice on the rim that the banding gets a little thin. Temple white takes a lot more oxide than lower clay glazes. This effect could be used to great advantage with painted on scenes and decorations. If only I could paint.
Another combo I like is 4321 celadon / wax / iron oxide
4321 is a Bernard Leach glaze
potash feldspar 40
silica 30
whiting 20
epk kaolin 10
This glaze has lots of flux and lots of silica and is very fluid when it melts. Wax resist patterns move a lot and fine details tend to bleed together. This dictates what patterns will look good which is limiting but it also forces you to try out new patterns and when working with the hot wax it makes you move quickly and get things right the first try. I'll be interested to see if the Aftosa cold resist will allow for some different styles of patterns or if the glaze will be more of a deciding factor.
This blog is one of the old projects that has fallen by the wayside and needs my attention.
I have actually been making pots since the last post. Here are some pics
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29665788@N04/sets/72157610906937840/
I have continued my experiments with glaze on glaze. I have been using several combinations and here are my favorites.
Mashiko kaki fake / wax resist / Temple white
Kaki
kona f4 spar (soda) 31.2
talc 5.2
wollastonite 6.5
bone ash 0.5
epk 11.4
om4 11.4
silica 26.8
red iron oxide 6.4
titanium 0.5
manganese 0.2
I leave the manganese out. I found this glaze posted on clayart and it was attributed to John Reeve.
Temple white
custer feldspar 35.7
whiting 2.5
dolomite 19.1
epk 23.5
silica 19.1
This glaze is a favorite of mine. It tends to mute over and under glaze decoration due to the large clay portion. I love this effect on under glaze decoration especially with cobalt.
I have been using hot paraffin wax mixed with about 15% ULTRA PURE paraffin oil to do my resist patterns between coats of glaze. Works well but it tends to dictate the type of patterns you can create. This is both liberating and limiting at the same time. I bought some Aftosa brand cold resist to try on some patterns that I just can't do with hot wax.
I have also been using oxide washes over various glazes. In this case it is Temple white / wax / iron oxide.
Notice on the rim that the banding gets a little thin. Temple white takes a lot more oxide than lower clay glazes. This effect could be used to great advantage with painted on scenes and decorations. If only I could paint.
Another combo I like is 4321 celadon / wax / iron oxide
4321 is a Bernard Leach glazepotash feldspar 40
silica 30
whiting 20
epk kaolin 10
This glaze has lots of flux and lots of silica and is very fluid when it melts. Wax resist patterns move a lot and fine details tend to bleed together. This dictates what patterns will look good which is limiting but it also forces you to try out new patterns and when working with the hot wax it makes you move quickly and get things right the first try. I'll be interested to see if the Aftosa cold resist will allow for some different styles of patterns or if the glaze will be more of a deciding factor.
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