Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Cone 6 Wadmore

This next weekend's firing opportunity seems like a great time to explore using wads for a cone 6 firing, lifting the work up off the shelves for better heat convection in a gas kiln.


 700 grams of cone 10 clinker slop, (recycled cone 10 clay).


50 grams Alumina Hydrate...


Saw dust... (add and mix in until the slop becomes wedgable, then wedge-it up, divide it, and wrap up the batch for damp box storage.)


This may or may not go unsaid... apply small wads to the bottom of wear by dipping wads lightly in wood glue thinned with a spot of water.  This is enough wadding for a very liberal application in (2 to 3) 17 cubic foot kiln loads of work.

8 comments:

Linda Starr said...

Thanks for the recipe, can it be used for cone 6 oxidation too? Do the wads every explode due their moisture content?

Unknown said...

I don't know a whole lot about wadding stuff for gas kilns, mostly because I fire electric.. but when I was in Tuscarora this summer, we found that the wads stick really well to feet that have been dipped in paraffin wax. Good luck with your wadding! :D

Michael Mahan said...

I've had great luck with using Laguna Amador clay for wadding at cone 6. Amador is a cone 10 clay body with a lot of sand in it. No alumina.

ang design said...

oooh coolies...do we get vids for this one??

FetishGhost said...

No vids this time, and I haven't had one explode yet... Micheal getting a bag of cone 10 Amador would probably be a lot easier, I'm try that one next time.

barbaradonovan said...

I hate to ask a stupid question - maybe I've been firing electric way too long - but I don't remember ever wadding pots for a gas firing unless it was salt/soda (and of course for wood). Is this commonly done now? Does it make that much difference for heat distribution? Come to think of it, I remember adding alumina to my wax to avoid kiln wash sticking to the bottems of pots. Is the wadding for that reason?

FetishGhost said...

The wadding is a new habit I'm developing. I'm looking to push my work through a few different kilns and getting the feet up off the shelf is simply a precautionary measure. It eliminates sticky feet problems that seem to come with well fired shelves.

Brian said...

hmmmm.....
I might have to give this a try in the community electric. I've had several pieces ruined because the shelves are very 'well loved' and less than pristine.
I know some people have resorted to using cookies, but wadding may do the trick.