Post #406396 by Babalu on Sat, Sep 6, 2008 11:02 PM

Tornhalo - Yup, you can bathe your baby in it, and then get hell of a drunk going on in it after that!

Sir B. - Can't wait! I'll bet you couldn't help it and put on beauty marks, pimples, and every darn thing on those island babes? Post soon brother...I'm on the edge of my seat in anticipation!

Cass - I can't wait to see your mask! I don't know what type of clay you are using, but I've been using this white low fire (04) Laguna EM 347 with grog. It is certainly different than the stoneware I am use to using. I am finding that there are advantages and disadvantages to sculpting with this low fire clay. Advantage: it does not fire out as hot which reduces thermal shock. This has to be good for sculpture... Disadvantage: It's harder to work with and can be prone to crack easier in drying.

In my last load, I also noticed some surface cracking in some of the work. The cracks never went further than they did in dry out, and the glaze covered them nicely. I'm sure I will see the same in this next load as well...I know how you feel...cracks of any kind freak me out. Some cracks I will try to carve out, some not. As you may, or may not know...the Japanese would emphasize cracks that occurred in prize tea cups by filling them with silver. Nice thing about doing a mask is that it doesn't have to hold liquid :)

Drying out: The big key to drying out clay is not so much the time involved in drying as it is that you dry the work out evenly. When I'm working clay, I always double bag (trash bags) when I walk away from it for any length of time. To dry finished work out evenly, I wrap the work up tight, then everyday I will unwrap the work, turn the plastic bag inside out that it was wrapped in, and rewrap it. I might let it sit out for an hour or so before I rewrap. Moisture will come out of the clay as it is wrapped...turning the bag inside out, gets rid of the moisture evenly. When you are noticing that the bag no longer has moisture in it when you check...your clay is getting to a good point where you can leave the work in the plastic, but don't wrap it tight...leave it a little open so that some air can circulate in and out. After a few days of this you can just take the work out and leave it exposed to the air to finish drying all the way.

Ok, on with stuffs...today was kind of a "honey do" day, but I was able to get some work in...

I made a boat load of little glaze test trees...Boys, we will be firing off a test glaze kiln right after this next bisque firing, so start thinking about color you would like to test before the final glaze on your work.

Next, I put some time in on the bowlie here...I guess I'm trippin out on the tentacles a little more this time...seems the design is getting much busier that the last bowl...I'm liking it. Need to put a wrap on this one soon...Kelly wants to party!