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| - APPENDIX I THE EQUIPMENT THE divinity that presides over potting is an expensive as well as an exacting mistress. The equipment of even a small pottery is, unfortunately, a matter of considerable expense. Try it from whatever angle we may there is the cost of the kiln to be faced, besides a host of other small but cumulative expenses. The first essential is, of course, a roomy workshop with if possible a top as well as a side light. If the craftsman means business, he should remember that the initial cost of a kiln is often in inverse ratio to its upkeep. If he would aspire to big things, full- bellied pots, plaques, reliefs, and figures, and every crafts- man would, a brick kiln will be wanted. One holding a dozen saggars could be built, but where some experience has been obtained with materials and processes, a larger one would be more economical. With oil or gas kilns of the ordinary school size the cost of firing and the extra time is proportionately too great to permit of any but comparatively high-priced pots being turned out. This may serve in some cases, but usually it is not practical potting where a livelihood has to be obtained. Where only the painting is to be fired on, an oil or gas kiln is exactly what is wanted. In this appendix is given a plan of a workshop that has all the equipment necessary for the whole-hearted pursuit of the craft. In such an one a good craftsman, capable of N 177 178 modelling and painting decently a figure or a panel, a good thrower, and a handy boy could work wonders. They would be capable of turning out a surprisingly wide range of " pots " : jugs, mugs, pots, bottles, bowls, buttons, dishes, plaques, panels, vases, tiles, and statuettes, use- ful and beautiful things. Anything in fact worth doing can be done except fine tableware or those articles that by their nature demand more mechanical accuracy than is possible, or even desirable, for a craftsman to exhibit. Where much plaster turning for moujds was attempted, a lathe would be required ; ordinarily the hiring of one should be practicable and expedient. Where only built or cast shapes were attempted, the wheel and its long years of drill might be dispensed with, and it is possible, with strong individual work of high finish and fine quality and the consequently restricted output, that an oil or gas kiln would give economically practicable results. Between the kiln for firing decoration simply painted on the ready- made shape to the full equipment here described will be found several modifications, but to try the craft without a kiln of some sort is an imbecile proceeding. Small brick kiln supplied with sag- Clay : white, red, buff. gars. Small muffle kiln oil or gas Plaster. for over-glaze and lustres. Small enameller's kiln for firing Glaze materials. quick trials. Kick wheel, and tools for throwing. Oxides, lustres. Clay bin, zinc lined. Under- and over-glaze colours. Damp box. Modelling tools, callipers. Drying cupboard. Painter's outfit. Plaster bin. Brushes, straight-edges. Pot boards and brackets. Shellac, beeswax, French chalk. Table, strong and heavy. Gum arabic and tragacanth. 179 Sieves, glaze and slip, Nos. 80, 100, Spurs, props, fire tiles. 120. Tile boxes. Buckets. Disc (emery) for grinding. Bowls, enamelled and earthenware. Small pestle and mortar. Small porcelain ball mill, hand or Jugs and funnel. power. Spray and pump (respirator). Potter's knife, sponges. Small outfit for carpentry. Whirler. Files, sheet iron, and zinc, wire and Turning tools and lathe. cutters, cords, sandpaper. Benches and shelves ad lib., odd Temperature indicators. cupboards, chairs, etc., Shovels and slicer for firing, tongs Oil can, oil, waste. for trials. Two large tubs and rubber tubing. Callipers and compass, rulers. Most of this equipment has been previously described and needs no further comment. The pot boards and brackets are simple but indispensable devices. The boards are about six feet long, iron shod or cross battened to prevent warping, and six or nine inches in width. The brackets of any serviceable kind are fixed to the wall at convenient distances. When throwing, turning, or glazing, the pots are stood on one of these boards to dry, and each board as filled is slipped onto the brackets. Thus the pots may be carried about to the kiln, drying cupboard, or glaze tubs without loss of time or frequent handling. The table must be stout enough to withstand the heavy work of wedging and should have a top of hard wood. Teak or hard-wood glaze tubs have the advantage of not breaking either themselves or pots accidentally knocked against them . Further, some glazes stick badly to porcelain or enamel tubs. 180 EQUIPMENT FOR A SMALL POTTERY In the small pottery plotted here, the equipment and arrangement were as follows : An anthracite stove with the pipe running into the large room warmed the workshop in winter, but no wet or half-dry pots were left where the frost could get at them. The glaze materials, oxides, colours, painting paraphernalia, finished pots, trials, and trial kiln were in the small room. The wheel had a good top and side light. The drying cupboard, plaster bin, and moulds were at the end nearest the stove ; the clay bin, damp box, and sink farthest away. All the walls were copiously supplied with brackets and shelves and handy benches. Outside, in a well-built lean-to, was the muffle kiln for onglaze and lustre decoration. This was well bracketed and shelved for the biscuit, and here was done the glazing, handy for packing in the brick kiln just outside. This was protected from the weather and other lean-to's held the saggars, coke, and coal. EQUIPMENT FOR SCHOOLS The teacher with ample funds and a free hand will find the previous chapter all-sufficient, but in many cases the purchase of a kiln will nearly exhaust the allowance and the rest of the equipment becomes sketchy. The indispensable appliances are as follows : A kiln, with fire tiles or shelves, props, spurs, and stilts, etc., for packing. A good clay bin and sieve for slip (No. 80) with a tub and two pails. Scales and weights, pestle and mortar and glaze lawn (No. 100). shot for weights. Plaster, for drying bats and working discs. Large drip pan and three round pans. Several jugs and bowls. Spoons (wooden), knives, and big brushes. Oil, gum, boards, strips, rolling pin. Hammer, saw, iron straight-edge, sponges. Glass slab and muller, palette knife and brushes for painting. 181 An atomizer or spray pump. Glaze materials: Kaolin, China stone, flint, silver sand, whiting, felspar, borax. A supply of ground pitchers and grog, cones. Metallic oxides : Tin, white, oxide of, iron, copper, manganese, cobalt, etc. Under-glaze colours to taste. Glass jars with lids to contain materials. Gummed labels, India ink. For a school in the country or where ground is available, a kiln like the one shown at p. 164 should be practicable. It costs very little to build or to fire. Next comes the question of the clay. This is one of the most abundant of nature's materials, and almost any river bank or creek will supply clay of some kind. Any sort of clay near to hand should be thoroughly tested before going to other or distant sources. The clay should be dried, then broken up with a hammer, and mixed with water, and the resultant " slurry " passed through a sieve (No. 80). The slip is allowed to settled and the water siphoned off. The thick slip is then dried on the plaster bats until stiff enough to work up between the hands. From this clay a tile, a plate, and a vase should be made and fired. If the pieces stand a fire of about 1100 (cone .03) without buckling, splitting, or crum- bling, the clay should do quite well for school work. Possibly when screened fine enough for working, the clay may be too rich or long and will split at a moderate fire. Then the screenings might be pounded in the mortar, passed through the sieve, and added to the slip. Again, ground pitchers, fine grog, kaolin, or calcined flint could be tried as stiffening agents. In the unlikely event of the clay being too refractory or short, a portion of rich, fusible, or fat clay might be added, or the addition of powdered spar tested. (See chapter on Clays.) The colour of the body will hardly matter for schools ; indeed 182 a brown, red, or cane-coloured clay will give better results than a staring white paste, when working out simple school problems. Where necessary, tin glaze could be used for a white ground, or an engobe ; that is, a dip of white clay slip over the coloured body. For glazing, a leadless glaze is strongly to be advised. Lead is often indispensable to the crafts- man, and with care need not become a danger; but in schools a lead glaze is positively harmful. A glaze with a borax base, if ground dry and mixed with water and reground before sieving, will give little trouble if used immediately. It will answer for all grade work and may be used for spraying, dipping, pouring, or painting, with absolute safety. The ground pitchers and grog mayv be obtained by pounding up broken biscuit and pieces of fire tile, respec- tively. This, and the glaze grinding, is, of course, laborious work, and suggests correlation with the Physical Education Department. The drip pan and the round tins make ex- cellent moulds for casting drying bats and working bats. For casting purposes plates and shallow bowls may be moulded in one piece as described, p. 26. If no lathe be handy, glazed vases may be used as substitutes, the " waste " being added in plasticine to the neck and base. For tile making, strips nailed on a stout board will serve in place of tile boxes. The clay is rolled out on cheesecloth with a rolling pin. Various other expedients for drying cupboards, damp box, etc., will suggest them- selves as the course develops. The above equipment need not be very costly. With it the students should be capable of producing all kinds of tiles, built, pressed, and cast shapes, decorated in relief, with inlays or in colours or glaze. 183 SIMPLE RAW GLAZES. COLOURLESS No. MATERIALS PARTS SIEVE No. CONE METHOD OF USING I Lead oxide, red 50 100. Mesh .03 Applied evenly Glossy China stone . Flint . . . . 30 10 with a brush to the green shapes. Fired very slowly. E arthenwar e body. II Borax .... 70 80. Mesh 2 Green shapes China clay . . 10 dipped thick Glossy Felspar . . . 75 and slowly fired. Flint .... 20 Stoneware body. Whiting . . . 25 III Borax .... 360 100. Mesh .03 Ground dry for Silver sand . . 160 hour. Wet for Glossy China clay . . 120 l. Used when Whiting . . 20 fresh on biscuit Flint .... 10 (earthenware body) for under- glaze painting. IV Lead carbonate 130 80. Mesh .04 Used with me- Calcined kaolin 150 tallic oxides for Glossy Flint .... Felspar . . . 50 50 simple colours on earthenware Whiting . . . 10 body ; both green Zinc oxide . . 10 and biscuit. V Lead carbonate 375 120. Mesh .04 Used thick on Kaolin . . . 210 hard white earth- Matt Felspar . . . Flint .... 175 120 enware (CC) body. Whiting . . . 105 Zinc .... 25 184 SIMPLE RAW GLAZES. COLOURLESS. Continued No. MATERIALS PARTS SIEVE No. COKE METHOD or USING VI Lead carbonate 120 100. Mesh .02 Used thick on China clay . . 50 stoneware body. Matt Felspar . . . 80 Coloured with 3 Flint .... 15 to 7 per cent of Whiting . . . 45 glaze stains or U. G. colours. The proportion of lead and whit- ing may be va- ried as found expedient. vn Borax .... 70 Used with va- Lead carbonate 800 rious combina- Enamel China clay . . Felspar . . . 50 120 80. Mesh .07-.05 tions of cobalt oxide, copper Lynn sand . . 50 oxide, and iron Tin .... 40 oxide and copper carbonate, giving wide range of blues and greens. On stoneware body. All the above colourless glaze masses may be coloured with combi- nations of the various metallic oxides, or from 3 to 7 or even 10 per cent of glaze stains or underglaze colours. categorÃa:Pottery, for artists, craftsmen & teachers
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