Seeding with Zincite

Zinc Silicate Crystalline Glaze Pottery

A chronicle of my recent progress and a way for me to keep it straight in my head!

 

10-25-08

These pieces have seeded crystals

 

The Grasshopper asked me about seeding. Well....he wrote "Do you know a lot about seeding? If so, fill me in."

"I can't say I know a lot, but here's what I've been doing."

I made a particle size reducing gizmo to get small pieces of zincite..............

........and use the tip of a pencil to pick up a small dot of glue.

Then get a small zincite crystal, ~ the size of a pencil point, and put it on the pot.

Some times it sticks to the pot easily, other times I have to roll the pencil to get it off.

Kat liked this action shot of me in my patriotic suspenders the best.

I've been doing a bunch of pots at the same time.

And I'm not sure what else to say about it.

Well........................(Should I use more .....s Mr Wizard?).............I can say:

-Seeding helps maximize the number of crystals which grew throughout the full range of the crystal growth portion of the firing cycle.

-Very small pieces of zincite can nucleate crystals.

-If the pieces of zincite are too large you get bumps on the finished piece and often get those "ice cream cone", or "pointy leaf" shaped crystals.

-Fa showed us how to impress larger pieces of zincite in leather hard pots, but I don't like this method as much because it made those funky pointy bottom shaped crystals.

 

10-27-08

Nathan asked me a few questions about seeding and in conversation I found out that The Grasshopper has a mother lode of zincite.

 

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Phil Hamling

376 County Route 1

Warwick, NY, USA 10990

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