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July 2006 Issue #40 In This Issue *
Iron "chef" Raku Mona
asks: I
have recently moved and have found my water to have a significant
iron content as to color reclaimed clay (orange).
However, it did not seem to affect my finished thrown
pieces. I will be Rakuing and gas kiln firing soon and
would like your opinion about the results I might expect
with the clay and glazes. Is
using bottled drinking water
or rainwater the only remedy? -
- - In
my experience, if the iron content is high enough, you will
see an affect on your pieces. Several
years ago, I was at a friend's house for a Raku firing.
We mixed up some glazes using his local water supply.
It was full of minerals and somewhat rusty colored.
I'm assuming it had a bunch of iron in it. Well
we fired various glazes and almost everything came out a
brownish color. The blues
were brown, the greens were brown,
even the clears had a brownish tint. It was early in my
Raku career and I was puzzled as to what caused this problem,
but I'm convinced now it was the water. So
I would suggest removing this "variable" in your work, and
use bottled water. I'm my
area you can buy 1-gallon jugs
of distilled or drinking water for about .60 so it is reasonably
cheap "insurance" from water-based problems. ~-~-~ "It's
all your fault! I was up all night reading "Raku Secrets".
I have been Rakuing for about ten years, and still
so much to learn. Your Raku Secrets gave me a lot of new
insight. Thanks so much". - Elaine S. ~-~-~ . |
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Gary R. Ferguson - Raku Artist (c) Copyright 2006, Gary R. Ferguson |
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