THE LEAKY VESSEL ๐
*Production Woes & Mysteries / The Leaking Vessel / Yes Scoob' you can teach an old dog new tricks / The Scooby Sale
*If this is too much to read, I get it. Scroll to the bottom to get a preview of the works that will hit the sale page on Sunday Oct 26th NOON EST
Production can be bitch and the Scooby kids know it.
The crazzzzy thing about clay is that problems often show their face only after the piece has been carefully made, slowly & lovingly dried, bisque-fired, painstakingly painted, and then fired again.
And when the livelihood of yourself and your team depend on it all to work and it doesn't, believe me, it is scary!
We made some sweet small vessels and filled them with water & flowers to take some photos. Same clay, same glaze I have used for over 10 years. Nothing changed but suddenly the water was sweating through! What!! This is not good.
Has this been happening for-ever and I did not know it? I tested all my vessels in inventory and no, they all held water. It was only the new ones. What the heck is going on?
This issue was definitely dumbfounding. The only thing I could think was that the glaze might not be fitting the clay anymore and crazing. Small cracks in the glaze, and the water seeping through. I borrowed some glaze from Brad Lail (we use a similar clay body, fire to the same temperature and his work holds liquids) but nope, mine still leaked!
A Wrench and a Clue
I also use a dark stoneware clay and we had a couple vessels destined for the studio sale that I had forgotten to glaze inside before I fired them.
I put water in these and THEY DIDN'T LEAK, EVEN WITHOUT GLAZE. I got a couple small bowls from Brad and fired them without glaze and THEY DIDN'T LEAK either.
Mystery Solved! This is what I learned and how could I not know this?
All along I thought the GLAZE held the water, but it is not just the glaze! The glaze helps but the clay needs to still be completely vitrified. I was firing my clay to the temperature it was supposed to vitrify at, I even tried it hotter...But it still didn't hold water.
Mystery solved! My custom-made clay body (and I had a ton of it, literally a ton as in 2000 pounds) was not made correctly. Rut-roh.
I also had a bunch of pre-made vessels on the bisque-fired shelf, ready to be painted and fired. Zoinks. So we pulled 'em all down and painted them with happy rings.
Some leak, some don't. They are beautiful and work for dry food, utensils, paint brushes, or drop a plastic vessel in for flowers.
Use your IMAGINATION! They will be priced to sell!
Which reminds me of this image that I must admit, has a permanent home in my brain ๐
COMING SOON TO THE SCOOBY SALE! MYSTERY INC IS BACK IN BUSINESS!
