MAKE » Tag: ceramicsmat

Ceramic Techniques: 3D Printed Prototypes and Lithophanes

Laura Cochrane — Sat, 30 Jun 2012 00:15:41 +0000

Artist Fonda Yoshimoto talks about two different ways of creating ceramic art: one modern — 3D modeling and printing a prototype in order to make a mold; and one old — etching very thin porcelain to take advantage of the translucency once fired.

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How-To: Trashcan Raku Kiln

Sean Michael Ragan — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 16:00:05 +0000

Without risking oversimplifying the matter, I think I can safely say that one of the many appealing aspects of raku pottery is its accessibility, especially in terms of equipment. A raku firing need only achieve 1000°C, which is at the low end of the potter's temperature scale, and easily achieved in a homemade kiln fueled, for instance, by a propane bottle. The raku kiln pictured here...

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The Leach Treadle Wheel

Sean Michael Ragan — Thu, 28 Jun 2012 04:00:16 +0000

Though electrically-powered wheels are of course common, today, many potters still prefer to throw on a human-powered wheel. Whether chosen for aesthetic purposes, out of a sense of traditionalism, or simply for exercise, these human-powered designs usually incorporate a heavy flywheel which is brought up to speed, and kept there, by the operator's leg muscles. .A step up from the simple "kickwheel" design is the "treadle" wheel, which adds a crank and reciprocating pedal for greater mechanical advantage and smoother operation. And among designs for treadle wheels, the "Leach" type stands out as a popular favorite.

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How-To: Extract and Process Natural Clay

Sean Michael Ragan — Wed, 27 Jun 2012 05:10:24 +0000

This two-part series from Eddie Starnater of Practical Primitive shows you how to extract the clay from raw soil and process it into a material that can be used for pottery. In the first part, Eddie teaches a simple water extraction process that uses a series of mixing and decanting steps to remove sand and silt, followed by pouch filtration to remove excess water. In part two...

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How-To: $100 Kickwheel

Sean Michael Ragan — Mon, 25 Jun 2012 13:04:53 +0000

This DIY design from Instructables user Moose Gueydan is mostly built from dimensional lumber and plywood. The flywheel is a sandwich of bricks glued between plywood circles with construction adhesive. It's connected to the headwheel by an arrangement of common galvanized pipe and fittings, and the whole thing spins on a pair of $15 bearings from The Big Bearing Store.

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How Ceramic Knives are Resharpened at the Factory

Sean Michael Ragan — Fri, 22 Jun 2012 16:29:18 +0000

If you've ever bought a ceramic knife, it probably came with instructions, in the package, to return it to the manufacturer for resharpening instead of trying to do it yourself. This video is kind of a giant Kyocera commercial, but it does include some cool footage of what this process actually looks like, in case you've ever wondered.

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How-To: One Piece Slipcasting

Sean Michael Ragan — Thu, 21 Jun 2012 16:12:01 +0000

Slipcasting is a molding process for ceramics that can be used to produce hollow forms having a relatively thin shell. It is an ancient, elegant, ingenious technique, consisting of six basic steps...

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Two Turntables and a Firing Cone

Sean Michael Ragan — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 16:00:42 +0000

From artist Fabien Clerc, this fully-functional set of two ceramic turntables (and a ceramic mixer) called back in the good old days. The work is dated 2009, and appeared in an exhibit at Geneva's Rath museum.

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Silk Screened Circuits on Ceramic Ware

Sean Michael Ragan — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 13:00:26 +0000

This concept from designers Ami Drach and Dov Ganchrow is called "+/- hot plate." The plates are silkscreened with conductive inks to create circuit traces, in this case simple resistive heating elements arranged in artful patterns. If the traces will hold up to soldering...

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Kintsugi and the Art of Beautiful Repair

Sean Michael Ragan — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 13:31:23 +0000

Often, we try to repair broken things in such a way as to conceal the repair and make it "good as new." But the alternative "better than new" aesthetic—that a conspicuous, artful repair actually adds value—has obvious symbolic appeal for the DIY community. Here's an authoritative definition of kintsugi from Charly Iten, a noted expert on Japanese art...

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