Airstream Wanderings is a channel of occasional videos about things that interest me, such as primitive pottery and pottery making and travel in our Airstream trailer. The email is listed but be aware I don't check it often.
Thanks, I think you are totally right. I'm planning to make a garbage can raku kiln with a week burner. I'm not sure how it would work for the fiber blanket to be in contact with the charcoal.
Thanks for watching and your comments. Maybe I'm naïve but I'm not understanding what is scary. It is a good idea to wear a mask. A huge advantage of plaster is that you don't have to fire it and it is light weight. I think there is a good chance that a clay one could warp or break in the firing process but it might work really well. This one has worked well but I always line it with cloth so I don't get any plaster on the clay. Good luck.
Worried about my bad back and being obese gonna make sure all the blood is flowing before I try climbing out that 2500 lol thanks for sharing your ideas I learned a bit.
I plan on doing a combination of charcoal and wood on a smooth flat porcelain base with clay brick walls. Inside of a large shallow firepit. I'm making instruments and small pots, so I am really hoping this goes well.
Sorry for the slow reply. It might take a couple of times to work out the bugs but it might work really well. Good luck. I have used floor tiles as sherds and found that they couldn't take the thermal shock. It will be interesting to see how the porcelain holds up. My kiln is pretty much filled with sand and bricks.
Another additive that might improve clay plasticity in very small quantities is smectite clay. Add less than 1% dry volume smectite clay (bentonite or montmorillonite) to the wild clay to add some plasticity. You'd be surprised how common smectite clays can be in an urban area. I found some orange bentonite clay at a construction site last year and I've saved a block of it in my garage to add to clay bodies that are marginally plastic.
Sorry for the slow reply. It might work to use wood but I don't think there is enough room. Like you suggest, then it wouldn't get hot enough. I haven't tried it so it might work especially if you have a really small pot.
george's fractionally distilled aloe juice has the harmful things like latex removed and goes down like water. people with connective tissue disorders take it for the polysaccarides. i wonder if it's the latex found in most aloe juice that helps with the plasticity and what would happen if it was concentrated a bit thicker.
I have seen a few of your videos now, I think. I like the way you share the topics I have seen. This looks like a great option for firing a small amount of clay projects. With the holidays coming, these might be great gifts for family and friends. Do you know if there is a good pricing formula for selling these kinds of projects? No one talks about the potential problems with this kind of firing, or how it compares to using a kiln. I don't know much about any of this. I have been surprised to even find these videos. I am wondering if the fired clay lasts as long as a kiln fired project. Also wondering about the required steps, times, temperatures, thickness of the clay needed to make something from start to finish. I am wondering how you make the designs. I also thought each project had to be fired twice. Any videos on these topics will be welcomed. I will subscribe and see what you make for awhile. :-)
Thanks for watching and for your comments. If you go through the videos you may find a lot of your questions answered. Be sure to check out Andy Ward Ancient Pottery. Andy is a good teacher and has loads of information. He also has some on line classes. This is a low-fire pottery and it isn't as durable as the fully vitrified stuff you have in your home. It is resilient, though, and can be used in a fire to cook. You will see that some potters bisque fire their pots first in a normal kiln and then use a wood/sawdust fire to create color and make the pots look nice. I'm pretty sure Native Americans fired their pots once. Temps need to be 700C or more. Mine are usually 850 - 900C. This type of firing can be really fast. If you use a wood fire, it can all be done in a half hour. Charcoal just takes longer to burn and cool down. Give it a try, it can be lots of fun.
4 Potential problems and how to solve it. 1. Air bubbles in clay make sure you'r bottom part of the pot don't have air bubbles. 2. Not enough preheating, longer is better. 3. Moisture in the wood or coal. Make sure your burning material is completely dry. 4. Bad processed or generally low quality clay or grog.
might want to try adding other types of clay (ball clay, bentonite clay, etc.), from what I understand having more varieties of clay and clay size particles in a clay body will increase/improve the plasticity. the smaller particle clay will fill in the empty gaps of the bigger clay particles. You might also want to try adding fiber/paper pulp, the cellulose fibers will help create links to help the particles hold on to each other better, as in fired paper clay. adding a little Sodium Silicate/water glass might also help flux and make the clay particles more sticky to each other. Just throwing more ideas your way for future experiments :) All the best!
Yes I saw a video on that method as well. I tried making a large puki that way and the clay wasn't strong enough and collapsed. Thanks for your comment.
@@airstreamwanderings3683 I haven't tried to make one as large as 17" so you make a great point. I do appreciate your videos, very informative and well edited!
I suppose that depends what proper is. I typically hit about 900C which is fine for primitive pottery. it would be nice if I could get enough heat for glazes.
Thanks, Wes. As always, well-done. I plan to replicate Chaco Culture Chocolate Jars, so I'm delighted that I found this video. I recently watched a video by Andy Ward, in which he said that the ancient pottery makers in SW USA/NW Mexico never "pulled" handles. They always riveted. It makes sense, as any attachment is inherently weak. Wouldn't it be fun to time-travel and find that ancient potter who came up with riveting?
Yes I did polish them a bit before painting. Whether some slips accept paint differently is a great question which I have not tested. I know you need smectite clay to accept organic paint but I don't know if there is a difference with mineral paints. I will have to put than on the to-do list.
Good question. The steel fire ring is very concave so I filled it in with bricks and sand to make it flat on the bottom and to better use the full diameter of the space. Cheers
hey i love your hole spirit and your potteri is amazing i love it. Can you show how you use all your work in your Home i mean how you can use it and make a viedeo out of it? greetings
@@airstreamwanderings3683 Just how you also use it to store flour or something in a way like your coking video. Thanks for your quick answer. Nice Day and greetings
I love that black sheen! I've tried it once with a small bowl completely immersed in tamarisk needles, and l had a similar black finish. I want to do that again. Out of curiosity, I later refired that bowl in oxidation, and it went right back to its normal red color. Now I'm wondering how well that carbon seals the pores.
The black does not rub off but I really don't know whether it does much to seal up the pot. Was there a functional reason for smudging or was it purely aesthetic?
That is a beautiful pot. Thank you for taking us through all the iterations to get there. This is not a suggestion, because I am just learning, but I wondered if you put wet sand or mud around the pot lip to seal in the organic matter, might that create the smudge you are looking for would the whole thing blow up? My Hostas hate heat, how do yours survive the fire and heat so close to them? I live in New Mexico, so there is that climate consideration, but they are fighting the good fight...
Thanks for watching. Sand or mud might seal it up but I would be concerned that the moisture would be absorbed by the clay and cause cracking or failure to fire completely on the rim.
