Ceramic Adhesives

Ok! I finished my adhesive testing, and no I didn't sniff them. Some potter friends of mine told me to use epoxy. Non-potter friends but who are extremely talented in their own industrial occupations told me to use E6000. I researched the E6000 on the internet and everything I read said there wasn't anything that this stuff wouldn't bond. The propaganda was just too good so I bought a tube of it to try thinking this was the stuff. I do have to say it is damn good stuff for certain applications and I do believe E6000 will bond anything together but if you looking for something with load bearing weight capabilities, don't use use it. As you can see in the photo to the right, it can't take the weight. After 4 minutes this hanging cement block crashed to the floor.

The other adhesive was Gorilla Epoxy. It was the only epoxy WalMart had so I bought it. It set up in 5 minutes and when I hung the cement block up in the air., it was rock solid. In fact its still hanging. I'm sure regular epoxy will work just as well, but I'm sticking with Gorilla Epoxy to mount the hardware to hang my wall sculpture.

Getting Closer

Getting a bit closer to firing although it seems like it is taking forever for this sculpture to dry.

I made the decision to raku fire this. Don't know how I'm going to do that since this torso will not fit in my fiber raku kiln. I guess I am going to have to try to fire it in my brick kiln and hope it survives and comes out the way I planned.

Oh, the way I planned..... I painted the body of the dancer with black underglaze. I wanted this completely black and if I raku fire this I wasn't sure if the post reduction firing would make it as black as I had in mind. This will take care of that. The leotard dance suit will get a coat of Ferguson's Turquoise Raku Glaze, which should turn out a brilliant gloss turquoise and after a post reduction firing should have a very nice raku crackle pattern. Anyway, thats the plan. Will figure out the firing details in the next couple days.

Another Torso

I finished another torso this weekend. The second torso sculpture went quite fast. I think I only have about four hours into it at this point.

The torso on the left is actually a dancer wearing leotards. The torso on the right is just a naked torso. I think I am going to use slips and underglazes on both.

The big problem I have now is how I am going to display the torsos. Originally the plan was to make them as wall hangings but they are kind of large and heavy and I didn't thing I could make anything out of clay that would support the sculptures. Now I am thinking about trying epoxy glue and some wire and picture frame hardware. The torso on the right I would like to try to mount it to a brass pole that is attatched to a thick square piece of marble, so that it stands upright. Once again I'm thinking about using epoxy. If anyone has any suggestions for me I'm very much interested in hearing them.

Torso II

I finished the torso sculpture this weekend. Right now it is 31 inches tall. I need it to shrink at least another inch to fit in my bisque kiln. Two inches would be better. Was thinking about making this a wall hanging piece to be Raku fired in my wood burning kiln. Planning on using a Turquoise crackle glaze on the body suit and either a clear crackle or maybe just black glaze on the skin. Will fire it in my brick wood burning kiln that I made last fall.

Need to finish the fiber lid for my brick kiln and get this fired and finished by May 1st. I'm hoping to enter this piece in an exhibit at our local Regional Arts Center. If it does well there it will go on to a State Exhibit later this year.

Torso Update

Haste makes waste. Alas, poor torso is dead. I should have waited for some help. I was turning my sculpture over so I could do some work to the other side and it slid right off my plywood board and flattened itself out all over the floor. Damn! Now I have to start all over.