Well, That Did Not Work So Hot

When you're experimenting not everything works. In fact very few things are successful the first second or even a third try. But there is useful information in every try. Recognizing it might be tricky. More important you find ways to refine your experiments for the next trial.

Reasoning that ancient Egyptians probably did not have nichrome wire to fire faience on and yet they turned out exquisite articles made from Egyptian paste; they must have some technique of keeping the glaze from sticking. Probably something very common in their environment. Perhaps it was fired on a reed or stick. A burn match will hold its shape, it may even support the weight of something as little as a bead. It may sound silly now but it was given a try.

A number of organics were tried, bamboo reeds, little wood twigs, leaf stems, hey even spaghetti was employed. The spaghetti failed miserably; it cracked the beads half lengthwise as you may clearly see in this image here. The bamboo reed burnt away leaving just the tiniest whisper of ash; however when the bead fell away it hardly stuck to the substrate it all. We may have discovered something here.

It's worth trying again for other reasons too. Some nice uniform bead holes were formed using this "technique". Also noticeable is when spanding the kiln furniture the beads stayed in place if they were long enough. Definitely worth trying again!

Bluetooth Beads!

Continuing with the excitement from the last kiln firing here's an image of something that went right. Turned out well both front and back. This is a rather simple bead to make just time consuming. An IBM Selectric typewriter element is used to give a sort of modern hieroglyphics; you can see the individual characters impressed on the beads if you look for them. Too bad there is not a Greek character ball in the studio texture toybox.

With a few spacer beads the Faience beads are strung on monofilament/fishing line temporarily, just to get an idea how they would look. They sure would be lovely strung with copper beads. We will call them “Bluetooth Beads”!

The bottom/backsides of these beads have no glaze on them, because there was no evaporation from that side, and therefore no salts could accumulate on the surface forming the glaze. That is the efflorescence in action that was mentioned in an earlier post. They were fired sitting flush against the kiln shelf. An aluminum hydrate shelf primer kept sticking to a minimum; sticking really wasn't a problem with this Egyptian paste recipe. The unglazed portion feels like a fine grain sandpaper or etched glass. The glaze side is a rather matte glaze smooth to the touch.

Silica Sand in the Mix: remarkable results

Anitra

I'm not sure that I can post a picture with a comment on your blog... but here are some my first fired attempts (size of small disc shapes 0.5" or 10mm). The three grey ones at the top are unfired, the blue ones fired up to 1000 C (1830 F) and held there for about 30 mins. Do feel free to use the picture yourself and comment on it in any way you like.

There are several obvious things to my mind:
1. the paste is almost unworkable, so these are the most sophisticated shapes I could make
2. I probably handled the dry pieces more than necessary so may have adversely affected the surface
3. The grains of sand have not really welded together, so the fired piece is not much stronger than the unfired - maybe a higher temp or longer soak would have made a difference, maybe not...

I'm looking forward to experimenting with the finer stuff.

There is certainly clay in one area of the salt marsh... another avenue to explore as you say...

Alan


Say Alan, it is truly remarkable that you were able to do anything at all with your “sandy mix” of Egyptian Paste. They have a nice surface texture. How you were able to hold it together is testimony to your skill. You are bound to turn out wonders with the finer mesh silica in the mix.
As you can see I've posted your letter. I read that I can make you part of this "Blog Team"; therefore you will receive an invite to be an author shortly. You may post as often as you like just keeping it about Egyptian Paste of course.
-----------Anitra

A Bead Making Technique For Egyptian Paste

May I present a one minute video showing how I fabricate a bead of Egyptian paste. As you recall, Egyptian paste is a self glazing clay, therefore you won't want to touch it while it is drying. This small video will show you the technique I use to let the bead dry and fire.