Potters??

[JudyOK]

Hi,

I am wondering if anyone here does pottery work, or makes small items from porcelain, bisque or ceramic? Would love to hear from someone who does.

Judy OK

[Zarah]

me again. ;D You already know a little about my work, so I won't bore you with more. I'm interested to see if there are others around here...

[JudyOK]

Hi again. ...Yes, I know of some of your work, but I don't recall if you said anything about making anything bisque. I am looking for someone who makes blank thimbles in just about any medium, porcelain, bisque, wooden, and would sell them by the oodles and gobs fairly cheap, (cheap being the key work, hehehe) I want them plain, not painted or colored. I know it probably wouldn't be cost effective for anyone to do that for just a few, unless they did a lot of business. But, I just had to ask.

JudyOK

[Zarah]

I do bisqueware for my own work, but not to sell. I would think it would be easy enough to make a little plaster press-mold and pop those things out by the dozens... do you have access to a kiln?

[JudyOK]

Nope, no kiln. I only use polymer clay and it bakes at a low temp, not over about 280 degrees. It can fire in my oven or a toaster oven. I do know how to make a mold out of silicone, but wanted it easier for me. I like EASY and quick, besides cheap. LOL

[CarolAnn]

Judy, what you need for quick polymer clay thimbols is a mold made from the flexible polymer clay. I got some from Dick Blick, and couldn't think what to do with it - until I got the idea of pressing fancy buttons into it. After it cures, it's like a rubber form that you can roll polymer clay into and dump out the formed piece.

You do need to use talc or some kind of powder on the mold so the fresh clay doesn't stick. I use some stinky bath powder that I refuse to use on myself! *:)

To make a thimble form, use the rubbery stuff for the outside of a metal thimble - just make a golf-ball sized gob and stuff a thimble into it and gently pull it out. Bake that. For the inside, press the clay into the inside, and I think you could also use the hardening kind for this, and stuff something like a popsicle stick into it for a permanent handle. Gently remove this plug from the thimble and bake it.

Now you've got both halves, and after you powder them well, a thin sheet of pre-formed polymer clay should be able to be wedged into the gap between the two mold halves.

I'm just guessing here, but I think if you chill the mold the formed thimbles will come out without getting bent up.

If you want to do scads, you could push several thimbles into a long log of the flexible clay and do this assembly line style.

Now, I've never done this - but after making some small molds, I believe it would work for you!

I've also seen some bisque suppliers on the net - I'll look them up and post a link.
C

OK, Nothing found with a net search for Bisque thimbles. But I did find this page:
http://www.pouraway.com/localdirectory.html

That might give you a ceramics shop in your area. If you find the right shop, they may order a mold and contract to make ceramic blanks for you. If you order enough, that is - these tiny things might be lots of putzing for very little return on investment, which could be why they're hard to find! ;)

[frostbite]

Just getting started. Our area is rich in deep red clay and I've about 100 lbs malming.

Don't have a wheel, but using the coil method to make simple stuff that dosen't require a lot of skill since I don't have any.

Also, I'm digging out a fruit celler, and the clay will be molded into adobe bricks to line the sides....looking forward to spring to get the project underway....

[Smoky]

Frostbite; Got pictures? I hope you will show us what you're doing, it sounds very interesting.

[annabella1]

before the forum changed there was a tutorial on how to get from clay in the ground to clay to use for pottery. I was just thinking about it today.

[Sarah]

Perhaps this will help:

Pottery: For Artists, Craftsmen, and Teachers. 1930.

Limited use free download available at the Librum. A good read, and you should be able to get all the 'goody' out of it before the limitation kicks in.

Sarah