[Nancy S.]

Marcia Selsor, on 25 November 2012 - 10:50 AM, said:

Nelly,
You got some great advice and info safety concerns. ALways good things to think about.
Here is another...Tashiko Takeazo (sp) used the NY Times to stiffen up ehr huge thrown pieces. SHe working in an old stone building with high ceilings.
She would crumble up paper and light it, adding more and more paper slowly until the pot was stiff enough for her to add more.
She had little bits of ash flying around as she continued.
This should get a warning "Don't try this at home" message. But it is an example of what potters do as necessity calls.

Marcia

Soooo...with bits of burning paper inside the vessel, how did she stick her hands inside to build up the walls? Or did she wait for the paper to burn out before continuing?

Not to digress, but I'm curious about the logistics of such a technique -- and it's purely academic, since I'd NEVER try that in my wood-all-around studio!!!

[Nelly]

Nancy S., on 26 November 2012 - 10:11 PM, said:

Marcia Selsor, on 25 November 2012 - 10:50 AM, said:

Nelly,
You got some great advice and info safety concerns. ALways good things to think about.
Here is another...Tashiko Takeazo (sp) used the NY Times to stiffen up ehr huge thrown pieces. SHe working in an old stone building with high ceilings.
She would crumble up paper and light it, adding more and more paper slowly until the pot was stiff enough for her to add more.
She had little bits of ash flying around as she continued.
This should get a warning "Don't try this at home" message. But it is an example of what potters do as necessity calls.

Marcia

Soooo...with bits of burning paper inside the vessel, how did she stick her hands inside to build up the walls? Or did she wait for the paper to burn out before continuing?

Not to digress, but I'm curious about the logistics of such a technique -- and it's purely academic, since I'd NEVER try that in my wood-all-around studio!!!

Dear All,

I recall doing something that while not entirely similar it does present the same type of idea. I was in a head sculpting course in Mendocino. It was a guuuureat class. We made marionettes and head sculptures. We did some raku firing for the marionettes and did some terra sig. on the heads. I remember after the heads were bisque fired we each put our sculpture in metal garbage cans, added some gas or ligher fluid and fed it paper. It was, I am guessing, sort of like a smoke fire technique. If you have pryomaniac tendencies this is definitely the way to go.

It is similar to the description Marcia gave in that we fed these buckets pieces of paper but it was on the outside of the vessel. Pieces of cartoon strips and colored magazines were used to fuel the fire with the hopes that some of the color would transfer to the heads created. In this instance, all we had to do was wait for the heads to cool after the fire extinguished completely before removing from the bucket. Sorry to digress...but it is a great memory.

Nelly

[JBaymore]

Newspaper is fed into the fire until the potter judges that the residual heat energy is sufficient to dry the form as needed. The the fire is allowed to burn out. Work can continue when the clay is cool enough to touch.

Years and years ago I saw her do this inside a high celinged commercial space... and set off the fire alarm system from the smoke. ;)src="http://ceramicartsdaily.org/community/public/style_emoticons/default/wink.gif">

best,

.............................john

[yedrow]

I use both a hair dryer and a torch at work. The hair dryer is mounted on a microphone stand and can be adjusted. I use it for larger pieces and I use the torch for smaller pieces and when my lids don't quite fit (who said that!). I'll use the hair dryer when I can do some other work (like waxing) and shift it as needed to cover the piece. I tend to prefer the torch, thanks John! now I know why!

Joel.