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Seeding with Zincite |
Zinc Silicate Crystalline Glaze Pottery A chronicle of my recent progress and a way for me to keep it straight in my head! |
10-25-08
These pieces have seeded crystals
The Grasshopper asked me about seeding. Well....he wrote "Do you know a lot about seeding? If so, fill me in."
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"I can't say I know a lot, but here's what I've been doing." |
I made a particle size reducing gizmo to get small pieces of zincite.............. |
........and use the tip of a pencil to pick up a small dot of glue. |
Then get a small zincite crystal, ~ the size of a pencil point, and put it on the pot. |
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Some times it sticks to the pot easily, other times I have to roll the pencil to get it off. |
Kat liked this action shot of me in my patriotic suspenders the best. |
I've been doing a bunch of pots at the same time. |
And I'm not sure what else to say about it. |
Well........................(Should I use more .....s Mr Wizard?).............I can say:
-Seeding helps maximize the number of crystals which grew throughout the full range of the crystal growth portion of the firing cycle.
-Very small pieces of zincite can nucleate crystals.
-If the pieces of zincite are too large you get bumps on the finished piece and often get those "ice cream cone", or "pointy leaf" shaped crystals.
-Fa showed us how to impress larger pieces of zincite in leather hard pots, but I don't like this method as much because it made those funky pointy bottom shaped crystals.
10-27-08
Nathan asked me a few questions about seeding and in conversation I found out that The Grasshopper has a mother lode of zincite.
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Phil Hamling
376 County Route 1
Warwick, NY, USA 10990