12 best ceramic fries

Ceramic fries sound like a quirky addition to the literary world! If we had to imagine them, I'd say they're probably a metaphor for something unexpected and delightful in the realm of fiction. Maybe a character in a Kindle eBook stumbles upon a mysterious diner where they serve ceramic fries—something that defies the norm and adds an element of surprise to the story. we can picture it now: the clink of ceramic against the plate, the protagonist's puzzled expression, and the ensuing adventure sparked by this unusual discovery. What do you think?

Below you can find our editor's choice of the best ceramic fries on the market

Amazing Glaze: Techniques, Recipes, Finishing, and Firing (Mastering Ceramics)

Based on 416 reviews Check latest price

Product features

Get ready to glaze

I often refer to the glaze area of our studio as “the glaze kitchen.” While you should never bring food and drink into the glazing area, there’s a good reason for the name. The glazing area in any studio should be set up much like a commercial kitchen. You want clear staging areas and a flow that lets multiple people work without getting in one another’s way. The area should be designed with safety and efficiency in mind. In this chapter, we’ll cover how to set up a glaze area so that your workflow can be natural, with a focus on safety and minimal physical strain. We’ll also cover the tools necessary for glazing—and some fun extras!

Applying glaze (aka the dance)

You may have encountered people who badmouth glazing. You may have even met people who hate glazing. You know the type: they would rather do just about anything (even clean the studio!) other than glaze their work. These people often see glazing as a necessary step to finishing a piece. They must check it off the to-do list to get back to the more enjoyable process of working with wet clay. It is true that glazing can be intimidating, especially when you have fear of ruining a good pot with bad—or perhaps worse, boring—glaze. If you or your studio mates are in the “hate it” camp, chances are there’s more you can fix than the recipes you use.

Going further with glaze

It may take a kiln load or three to master those basic dance steps of glazing taught in Chapter 2. Having put in the time to master a set of glazes and glaze combinations, you may feel a sense of satisfaction—as well you should! Mastering glaze techniques, even the fundamentals, is no small feat. While it might be tempting to rest at the first feeling of contentment, I encourage you to continue the glaze journey with me. Examine the techniques in this chapter with an eye toward bringing additional variation and layers of expression to your work.

Special topics

The Japanese say it takes ten years to master the skill of centering clay. Not just to center at its most basic, but to do it masterfully, with grace. All master craftspeople follow similar yet individual paths. First, as students of a craft, they copied the masters who came before them. They became completely absorbed in their craft, developing competence in the basic techniques. They then began to improvise, and in so doing discovered their own voices. With repetition, dedication, and passion, they created something new, memorable, and of undeniable artistic merit. In this chapter, we will explore several special topics with masterful glaze artists who have established themselves within modern American ceramics.

Firing, finishing, and fixing

About thirty thousand years ago, humans began making and firing figurines in fire pits. With experience, these early ceramic artists were able to increase the temperature of their fires, eventually constructing the first primitive kilns within small caves by digging into the mountainside. Around seven thousand years ago, Egyptians discovered a clay body amenable to firing composed predominantly of glass and fluxes. The advent of Egyptian paste represents the beginning of glaze history, as potters began to experiment with the use of these materials on top of clay vessels to create a skin—a less permeable surface on the pot.

The recipes

The Odyssey ClayWorks glaze kitchen has built an impressive array of glazes, slips, and washes over the years. The recipes have come from a number of sources: instructors, resident artists, and students have all left their mark. Some of these recipes are popular, reliable classics found in many communal studios. Others are obscure gems found through mining old texts. Still others are the result of experimentation and tweaking. No matter the source, these glazes represent a living history, culled from dozens of workshops, hundreds of firings, and an innumerable number of tests. Credit is given to the source of the glaze whenever it is known. Thousands of color and texture combinations are possible using these recipes.

Fire and Brimstone: The North Butte Mining Disaster of 1917

Based on 132 reviews Check latest price

Carve Your Clay: Techniques to Bring the Ceramics Surface to Life

Based on 103 reviews Check latest price

The Kamado Smoker and Grill Cookbook: Recipes and Techniques for the World's Best Barbecue

Based on 921 reviews Check latest price

KNIFEMAKING FOR BEGINNERS: Step-by-Step Guide for Forging and Customizing Your First Knife to Perfection (Bladesmithing, Sheath and Handle Crafting, Sharpening)

Based on 31 reviews Check latest price

Mastering Kilns and Firing: Raku, Pit and Barrel, Wood Firing, and More (Mastering Ceramics)

Based on 125 reviews Check latest price

Product features

GETTING STARTED

BEFORE WE EXPLORE KILNS AND FIRINGS, THERE are a few important basics to cover. After all, when you’re starting out even the terminology can be confusing! Raku, pit, and barrel are all firing types. While wood firing is a firing type, it also references the fuel source. If a raku, pit, or barrel firing is fueled with wood, it can also be considered wood firing. Why does this matter? I wanted to mention this up front because in this chapter I’ll cover wood sourcing and storage. This information is useful for those considering any alternative methods in this book, not only for those looking to explore wood firing (as in chapter 5). Wood is a fuel source you can easily experiment with for other firing types as well.

KILN FUNDAMENTALS

THE KILN IS ONE OF THE MOST INTEGRAL TOOLS of the ceramic artist. In order to change the physical state of clay, it must be fired. As you progress and continue your ceramics practice, you will no doubt become increasingly curious about what happens inside the kiln. This chapter will help you understand more about the kilns we’ll use in the chapters that follow and give you a basic understanding of how all combusting kilns work. It might be tempting to jump to another chapter and get started, but by understanding these fundamentals, you will be able to make better decisions during the loading and firing, and experiment more in general.

RAKU

THE FIRST RAKU KILN I EVER USED WAS LOCATED just outside the back entrance of my ceramics classroom in college. It was in a small kiln yard sequestered by the red brick building and a chain-link fence. I can still remember the clear spring afternoon when our class of about twelve students was gathered around the kiln as our professor explained how to safely use these unwieldy tongs to pull out a hot pot. Raku kilns introduced me to the firing process, so perhaps it’s no surprise that my memory of pulling those first pots out of the reduction chamber is as clear as if it happened yesterday. There was such a sense of wow!

PIT & BARREL

WHEN I THINK OF PIT FIRING, I IMMEDIATELY think of the wares of San Ildefonso Pueblo potters Maria and Julian Martinez. Countless times I watched a video documentary of Maria’s process of harvesting her own clay, burnishing her beautifully coiled pots with a shiny and rounded stone, and firing her pieces. They started with a soft bed of twigs, stacked on top of metal grates to help balance the pottery. They placed the pots on the metal grates and then they added a layer of twigs, sticks, and wood to fully cover the pots. The outer layer was metal lunch trays and on top of those, cow patties.

WOOD FIRING

WOOD FIRING IS ENDLESSLY REWARDING. EVERY firing is slightly different, and you must employ critical thought, problem-solving, ingenuity, teamwork, time management, and physical labor. I’ve found that even the worst firings tend to offer a gem of a pot that keeps you motivated enough to make work for the next firing. Plus, for those used to the solo practice of making pottery, there is nothing quite like coming together with friends and fellow potters to fire a kiln and celebrate the moment. In this chapter, we’ll learn about wood firing from the reference point of a train kiln.

FURTHER EXPLORATIONS

I AM CONTINUALLY INSPIRED BY THE resourcefulness and inventiveness in our field. As a community of makers working within a traditional craft, we are always looking for ways to express and discover something new while working with what is in front of us. We utilize local resources, dig our own clay, reuse found materials, upcycle old materials, repurpose tools, and continually welcome new information, adjusting our process and firing. All the while, we invite others to participate and freely share failures and successes along the way. As permanent as clay becomes when we fire it, this does not seem to hinder how adventurous we are in approaching the process of getting to that final object.