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making patterns bars

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 4:39 pm
by bkfoltz
I searched the archive and did not find what I was looking for.

I want to make some small patterns bars 1x1x4 or smaller, I do not have any old shelves that I can cut up for damns. Can I enclose them in thin fire and wrap with hi-temp wire and fire?

:roll:
Kris

Re: making patterns bars

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 4:43 pm
by charlie
bkfoltz wrote:I searched the archive and did not find what I was looking for.

I want to make some small patterns bars 1x1x4 or smaller, I do not have any old shelves that I can cut up for damns. Can I enclose them in thin fire and wrap with hi-temp wire and fire?

:roll:
Kris
yes. they of course won't be square or have good edges as they'll flow all over the place. don't forget the ends.

you can also use anything that can withstand the heat. sheet steel, floor tile, bisqued clay tiles, kiln posts, etc.

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 5:52 pm
by Brad Walker
I'd be reluctant to use thin fire, for fear that it would curl and cause problems. I'd use a thicker fiber paper.

Has anyone tried this with thin fire?

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 6:34 pm
by Cynthia
Brad Walker wrote:I'd be reluctant to use thin fire, for fear that it would curl and cause problems. I'd use a thicker fiber paper.

Has anyone tried this with thin fire?
No I haven't tried to use thinfire as dams, but I agree Brad that it probably wouldn't hold up like thicker fiberpaper would. I kinda think it would fail as a dam.

Charlie had some other materials that are readily available and useful that I have tried. I have used old tile (have the glaze blasted off or get unglazed tile) that I got for free from a tile place. They just toss their broken tiles. Make sure you use primer on the tile or anything you use for a dam. Fiberboard works especially well, there is a material I discovered at Firehouse 12 (okay, I didn't discover it, they exposed me to it) called millboard that would be perfect for dams...It's a rigid refractory (fiber), about 1/4" thick that you can cut with an exacto. I just haven't taken the time to hunt any down, but should be available from a refractory place.

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 8:31 pm
by Greg Rawls
I used Thinfire paper once for a dam. I doubled it up and held it in place with kiln posts. It curled over and left an awful haze on the glass. Would not recommend!

Posted: Tue Mar 18, 2003 8:51 pm
by Tess Farley
I doubt the thin-fire will work. I tried it with 1/32, but that didn't work well either. Then I tried wrapping pre-fired 1/8 paper, sealing the ends with some white glue. As the paper softened during firing, two bars slipped a little and are very interesting looking, and two of them came out pretty good. I think I didn't wrap tightly enough on the couple that slipped.

My bars were long - since you are trying to make short bars, could you dam with some long kiln posts or fire brick?

Tess Farley

Posted: Wed Mar 19, 2003 2:28 am
by tommyt2
If you know a potter who uses a slab roller, have him make a slab and cut it into strips. If the slab is 1/2" thick you can slice them to the hieght you want to build your pattern bars. Care must be taken to keep them from twisting as they dry. I made mine by rolling the clay between two fixed strips of wood. Fired them to 1800 and have been using them for years. The clay used for nine ten" bars was about $1.50.

tommyt2[/b]