rice decoration

[chriss1001]

I'm thinking of adding rice grains as texture and decoration on the exterior of my pots. I'm wondering, however, whether the rice will negatively impact on the elements of my electric kiln when it burns off. Any comments?

Chris

[potpartner]

I have never used rice to decorate pots but any organic matter burnt in a kiln will change the kiln atmosphere somewhat.

Firstly, and rather obviously, if you had a kiln full of rice decorated pots the oxygen in the kiln would be reduced more than if you had only a few pots like that in there.

Venting the kiln as much as possible up to the end of the firing would allow fumes to escape the kiln and fresh oxygen in. Under these conditions you are less likely to damage the elements.

We use as lot of wood ash in our glazes and we have to vent the kiln up to 1200 to minimise the potential for reduction effects occuring on other glazes in the firing. The larger kiln has never suffered in any way but this kiln had fairly hefty elements that seem to last for about 4-5 years.

However be warned that if you have a smaller , say like a 5kw hobby kiln, the thinner elements in these kilns will be damaged far more easily. We have a small kiln also and i fired some wood ash glazes in this a few times last year. After about 4 firings the kiln failed to reach tempereture on one firing . After it had cooled i found that the elements had collapsed and needed replacing. They were fine before the firing so you can damage elements doing things like that.

Just do a few pots per kiln firing, put them at the top of the kiln and vent till the maximum temperature is reached and see how thing go.

[Critchley]

I wondered if the rice would explode?????

[chriss1001]

Thanks for the helpful reply potpartner: I think I'll take this one step at a time!

Chris

[monkopots]

I'm thinking of adding rice grains as texture and decoration on the exterior of my pots. I'm wondering, however, whether the rice will negatively impact on the elements of my electric kiln when it burns off. Any comments?

Chris

Hi Chris
i dont think the rice grains will have any effect on your kiln as any organic matter will have burnt off easily by 400c, it may be worth waiting to around 600 before putting in the bung to make sure any chemical change in the glaze and clay would have taken place. however i wouldnt recommend firing your kiln to 1200c without the bung in as this is a sure way to burn out element quickly, a little like trying to fill a bath without the plug in.
stoneware temperatures will shorten the life of the elements more so than earthenware but thats just the way it is, however new elements is a relativly easy job
after all the chinese have been using rice for thousands of years, in short give it a test but really dont think it will hurt

hope this helps and good luck:)

[Daesul]

I wondered if the rice would explode?????

No, it just burns away and leaves nice indentations in the clay.

[potpartner]

however i wouldnt recommend firing your kiln to 1200c without the bung in as this is a sure way to burn out element quickly, a little like trying to fill a bath without the plug in.
:)

Yes i should have made it clearer that WE do this with 'our firings' ...certainly not a good idea to fully vent the kiln up to 1200 for the reason stated above. We leave the 'top lid vent' out till 1200 c but only that one , not the side vent !!.

In a biscuit firing sulphur and carbon are burnt out at higher temps than 600 c so personally i leave the top bung ( the one in the lid ) out on biscuit firings 'till around 850.

[zombiecazz]

I'm looking forward to playing with rice in clay.
thanks or the info too. We've got a kiln that needs some work to get it up and running. I'm trying to soak in loads of info about firing.

[toppotter]

if in doubt why not bulid yourself a saggar to fir your rice coated pots in. It would probably improve the reduction efffects,

regards

Robin

[C Hupfield Ceramics]

Rice sounds like an interesting texture, hope it turned out well for you!

[Potter Jo]

Hello everyone,

I've been reading this thread with interest after spotting a pot on Etsy that had been grogged with rice: http://www.etsy.com/listing/52533749/wood-fired-pot

It's something I plan on trying myself this week, but was wondering if anyone had anything to report back on their experiments?

I'll be sure to let you know how mine go :)

Jo

[Potter Jo]

I made a start on my own rice decoration project today and thought I'd share a photo with anyone that's interested. I thought it would be good to share images at each stage of the process so we have a record of what happens.

21205

I was pleased with the initial texture on this pot, until I shared the photo with my dad and he was quick to compare the surface to a writhing mass of maggots! Here's hoping it looks a bit more appealing once the rice has burnt off in the kiln!

[terrorcotta]

I recently tried all kinds of rices, seeds and pulses etc...just rolled into the surface of the clay and then biscuit fired the test tiles.No problems with smoke / fumes on such a small scale. Moving house (and kiln at the moment!) No time to glaze and report back. I was inspired by some work at the Devon Guild of Craftsmen centre at Bovey Tracey. I can't remember the name of the potter. However, he or she had wedged large seeds (probably sunflower) into the clay and then fired the finishedpiece, resulting in a quite stunning open pierced and textured structure.

Terrorcotta

[hazelnice]

why not? I think it would be cool as a decor.