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ArtsEdNet - burnishing ceramics

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From: Leah Rachlis (leah_at_TeacherArtExchange)
Date: Tue Nov 16 2004 - 12:27:00 PST

Hello ArtsEdNet list,

I am new to this list, my name is Leah Rachlis, I am an art teacher at a (
k-12) charter school in Colorado. I found the list while researching
methods of burnishing ceramics.

I was happy to find the list but I have not found the guidance I was looking
for - for burnishing our coil pots. I have limited ceramic experience, but
we've gotten as far as making and slowly drying the coil pots.

I hear that with an agate stone, we can burnish them to a smooth finish, and
then it has been suggested that we fire them to cone: .022, wrapped in
newspaper and foil, to produce a back (raku style) finish.

So - it is the burnish stage that I need some direction on - the pots are
not yet "bone dry" they are still "cold."

My questions are:

how dry do I want the pots to be

what motion am I looking for with the burnishing

and what result will tell me we are doing it correctly.

I am about 2 days ahead of the kids with my sample/experiment piece - so, I
will try this out on my own first

any guidance you can offer will be helpful.

 - Leah Rachlis

PS: if you could please leave ArtsEdNet in your subject line, since I cannot
get the digest of this list, all of the list mail gets stuck in my Spam
catcher - but if the subject line includes artsednet, it gets past. thank
you. 

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