Thursday, February 9, 2012

Clay cooking for a potter 鈥?thermal shock?

I saw a lot of articles about cooking in clay pots



My hobby is pottery so I wanted to make a few pieces to use myself.



I made a tagine and had it fired to cone 10 using the regular class clay that has a lot of recycled clay in the studio



Using a very low fame the pot popped into 4 big pieces and a few small fragments within 30 seconds



Next time I am thinking about using a heat diffuser and maybe a piece that was only low fired to cone 05



Requesting advice to try simple clay pot cooking for a potter.Clay cooking for a potter 鈥?thermal shock?
Do you realize that a pottery kiln is not the same thing as your household oven, don't you?



A kiln heats up very gradually, obtains a very high temperature, and cools down very gradually. Clay is very delicate and if the temperature changes are not slow, then it will break, crack, or even explode. You can not cook your pottery in a regular household oven.



Edit: Ok, the next time that you try to cook in one, you need to put it in a COLD oven, and gradually increase the heat to the desired temperature. When you take it out of the oven, keep it wrapped in a dish towel to avoid contact with the room air. It is the sudden change in temperatures that creates the fractures. The outside of the pot changes faster than the inside of the pot and the pottery cant expand or contract fast enough. I am going to guess that the one you originally used probably had hidden crack in it and EEWWW! I bet that was one ugly mess to clean up.Clay cooking for a potter 鈥?thermal shock?
You are welcome. I am more of a greenware person when it comes to my from scratch ceramic experiences but I have used purchased stoneware for cooking and it can be tempermental.

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