|
Phil Hamling 376 County Route 1 Warwick, NY, USA 10990 e-mail: pdah-at-optonline.net (change the -at- to @) |
Zinc Silicate Crystalline Glaze Pottery A chronicle of my recent progress and a way for me to keep it straight in my head! Click on thumbnails to enlarge photos |
Info I've been asked to keep in confidence.
|
||
|
|
|
|||
.
June 30, 2009
 |
 |
 |
 |
June 29, 2009
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
June 28, 2009
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
June 27, 2009 I took out the burned out element, repaired the brick lining and replaced the element. Tomorrow I plan to put in a 1/4" inlet in the bottom peep and exhaust tube in the lid.
 |
A paste of colloidal silica and 325 mesh alumina seemed to make a nice "caulk" type material for filling the remaining joint outside the alumina powder layer on both the inside and outside where the rings meet. |
|
Repaired interior prior to a 3 hr drying segment with the bottom ring on low, before heating to 2150F with th e lid cracked and bottom peep out. Quite a bit of stinky smoke burned out of the kiln lining. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
After gouging out the rest of the "rot" I filled the larger cavities with Kaocrete HS (a 2600F rated castable) after removing the fiber and coarse aggregate. |
With the top kiln ring upside down I realized I still had a layer of thin RCF paper which looked like it was acting as a carbon wick helping the brick get dissolved. The alumina powder layer seemed unaffected. |
I was able to gouge out most of the attacked brick, but there were still deep trails into the seam. |
|
June 21, 2009 104th Firing Results
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Kat loved the way her sconce came out but can't decide if she wants it reduced. Unfortunately the image on Andy's "Naked Lady" plate got obliterated in the firing. The clear glaze in hte center seemed to go opaque white as if it picked up something from the white stoneware of the plate. The lead of the penscil must be mainly cobalt colored as you can see the blue blob in the center as well as on the small test shard, |
I did fry an element in that last reduction cycle. |
||
Reduction Results: I think I got an interesting glazed piece, but did burn out an element in the process.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
June 20, 2009
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
A rainy day is a good excuse to spend some time in the studio. |
104th Firing Setup |
Doll Test Kiln Firing |
|
|
These are both firing the same schedule. I pressed the start buttons at the same time and should get a good look at how one compares to the other during firing. |
|||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
I felt the ceramic fiber gasketing wasn't working as well as expected and that maybe a seal of alumina powder between the sections would. I laid it on, nestled the next section on and worked it side to side and front to back to seat things. Vacuuming up the mess was the last step. |
Loaded for Post Fire Reduction. |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
The kiln is heating through 1200F when the first load of "Reducing Agent" is applied. |
Bomb # 2 got dropped when the kiln hit 1500F with the power switched off. It looks like the top element is still glowing. |
Stinky....stinky.....stinky! It looks like the lid is the only place the smoke was coming out. |
We've had a little moss infestation for the last 2 years. Digging out the worst of it is a real PITA! |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Turf disease loves this weather. |
Newton's rings from a little spilled gasoline flowing on the wet pavement. |
Kat is really getting the whole "Let's bake a Cake" thing down! |
|
June 17, 2009
 |
 |
 |
|
This glaze has 3% copper carbonate + 1/4% cobalt carbonate (and no titania) in it just waiting for post fire reduction. No one is going to accuse me of lifting this form by golly jeepers! |
What's new in the back yard? §Terry's latest "Blue Jean on Purple" plus some sections of old, used, brittle kiln elements as lawn art . I mean brittle! You can snap the coils off in your hands and see there are 4 to 5 crystallites across the section of the wire. They are still flexible enough that they wave in the wind. If I recall this is 3.25mm APM wire wound on a 2" diameter pipe. I'm surprised to see it so bunched up, like A-1 does when it gives it up. |
|
June 14, 2009 103rd Firing Results There are definitely a few things to chase here.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Terry asked me to show these to John Tilton |
 I wonder how crystalline glaze will work over this test plate by Any Boswell. |
 |
Here's Phil cutting his teeth on a small engine lathe turning acrylic end plates. It's cool how the plastic ribbons fly! |
June 13, 2009 103rd Firing Setup I have the pleasure of trying a few glazes provided by Kris Friedrich
 |
 |
 |
 |
If you were a sand trap you'd probably need a face lift after 8 years too!
June 11, 2009 Kat asked me to tell the hoppa that she found the best use of zincite in her jewelry work.
 |
 |
 |
 |
I've got to dust that shelf!
June 9, 2009 Around the yard and office.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 Golf anyone? |
.
 |
This load saw 1 hr @ 1500C (2732F). |
June 7, 2009 Gordon Czop...some work...and his grayling.
 |
 |
 |
 |
June 5, 2009
 |
Meet Neil Casper Simak. He's new into crystalline glazes and in deep! I've added Neil to my friend's page. He's going to come to the workshop. I am so looking forward to the workshop in October. I figured I'll have everyone check in with Kat to get a name tag and give me the chance to make sure I have everyone's correct contact information and get a current photo of everyone. Kat will be playing "Little Hostess / Photographer Girl". |
June 1, 2009 Here's some work by Neil Simak, currently a student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. He wrote "I have been using your website ...... to start making crystalline pottery." Neil's got his own website and Forum at www.neilsimak.com
 |
 |
 |
 |
May 31, 2009
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
Another beauty by the Wizard of Clay |
I finally built a new stand for my Doll test kiln |
||
.
Back to Crystalline Glaze Information Page
 |
Recently I had the good fortune of importing many very interesting crystalline glazed pieces from Beijing, China. |
|
|
The source of all my good fortune---my day (and night, 24 - 7) job. ZIRCAR Ceramics, Inc. |
 |
One of my other passions - landscaping, gardening, greens keeping, etc.. |
