: KathleenHamlet - Viewing Profile

pub58pottery, on 08 May 2013 - 11:52 AM, said:

Follow Arnolds advice and also start reading up on electricity...then call an electrician to do the work. Paragon has an awesome website with all kinds of troubleshooting info...

larryinalabama, on 06 May 2013 - 10:27 AM, said:

All my kilns are CL kiln...look for good clean bricks and a decent sitter...everything else is easily replaced...but I wouldnt pay $450 unless its perfect- here in Austin. I dont know about your area. Here we usually have at least 20 listed at a time.

Buy the best wheel that you can...check craigslist, ebay, amazon, etc...avoid the cheepies!

KellyRainey, on 31 October 2012 - 10:39 AM, said:

Antoinette's husband is the photographer

jo4550, on 16 September 2012 - 12:03 AM, said:

Thanks Chris! Good idea to let them rest....that i dont do-too impatient, I guess. The paperclay is also colored. I was using big blocks (like you do) but that was tying up too much clay at one time. And I was frustrated with the cracking -I knew that it is difficult to slice cleanly with paper in it. Its also fun to make the little canes and mix them up. The warping is also a big issue. For awhile I was mixing frost with other clays. The most promising was the grolleg based clay from Matt and Daves. Unfortunately, it didnt come to market. On Monday morning, I am going to buy my local supplier's grolleg. I am building a small hand operated ram press to help with warping and unevenness. ought to be interesting! Like you, I started with colored clay and never wanted to do anything else! Thanks for the help...Kathleen

If I understand what you are trying to do ... It's probably one of the most difficult challenges around so that's why you are getting so frustrated.
From what I understand ... You are trying to cut thin slices from a colored block and laminate it onto paper clay. You are dealing with extremely different shrinkage rates that will affect every firing and result quite naturally in cracks, bloats, breaks and everything else. No getting around the fact that the two things are on different paths!
In order to make your idea work, you might have to add the colors to the paper clay, not pure clay. This way the shrinkage rates will match and they will work as a team rather than against each other. Check out the previously mentioned page on my site for some of my results.

If I misunderstood and the colored clay is paper too, then you just have to slow down ... When laminating two pieces, I roll them both out then let them rest on a damp towel for at least an hour before trying to connect them. This gives the clays a chance to relax and retract alone before they have to merge. I get best results when I leave them on a damp towel overnight covered with plastic then laminate in the morning.
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