Kiln Shelf Cleaning Party

Before we had all the snow, Terry Whye came over from Maryland with her crew and proceeded to resurface the kiln shelves, which as you know, were in terrible. She just forwarded some photos of the process. We all need to do all we can to make sure the shelves stay in their new pristine state. Here are the pictures Terry sent:

Terry and Jeannette applying new kiln wash to the shelving that had been completely scraped down.

Loren Scherbak of Rockville Maryland brought a selection of power tools for grinding off the old kiln wash and glaze drips. We used diamond bits and several electric grinders. High quality respirators are required so the dust cannot be breathed in.

 

Grinding is a noisy, dirty job. We are highly motivated to keep the shelves free of glazing drips in the future! Terry Whye of Finksburg Maryland grinds away at one of dozens of shelves badly needing maintenance.

 

Tada! Now we need clean or new posts to holdup each shelf to avoid newblemishes on the shelves.

Terry Whye was joined by three hardworking Maryland volunteers: Loren

Scherbak, Charlene Fischer and Jeannette Dowling who have all assisted in Whye's workshops. They were welcomed by Wes Stack who assisted in applying the new wash. Kate Lear joined in to get some tips on shelf maintenance and to try out her new electric grinder. Karen and Kim also stopped by during the work day to cheer on the troops. 

Glazes Upgrade

The following glazes have been topped off. Test tiles are ready for firing, but haven't been fired yet, so use at your peril.

Jade Green
Gloria's
Milky Blue
BTBT

Reminder that the latter two run, so you may want to follow the previous guidelines in their use.

More glaze tips for RAL potters

Glaze tips-
The recent glaze results give rise to several tips, which might be useful.

First, the glaze buckets will accumulate a residue of materials on the sides of the bucket. This residue will contain various components of the glaze, which are critical to its desired application.
So the first tip is to always scrape the sides of the bucket before glazing. Some of our glazes will tend to settle out prior to, and even after, mixing/blending. Stir the glaze well before glazing and even in between applications.

Second - Runny glazes-
We have several glazes, which have a tendency to run, especially when combined with other glazes that also run (Milky Blue, BTBT and New Blue). When using these glazes either alone or in combination, use the following procedures:

1. The Amie/Carmela procedure – dip your piece into a water bucket about 1/4 to 1/3 up from the bottom prior to glazing
2. The Kate procedure –after dipping your piece 2/3 from the top, paint the rest of the piece with the glaze to the to the bottom 1/4” point.

Third, be aware that glazes can vary over time depending on evaporation and the possibility of contamination due to introduction of other materials into the gaze mix. If you get an unusual result from your glazed pieces or notice a variation in the appearance of a given glaze, please make note of it in the glaze notebook and notify Wes Stack (wesnerstack@comcast.net).

Fourth, thickness of the glaze is an important determinant of the outcome. Most of our glazes require a hold of 3 seconds in the glaze to get the desired results. This is only for the first dip. If you are using a double dip, a one second hold is sufficient. A longer hold will probably result in running.