This sucks
Nov. 6th, 2020 03:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
offcntrA recent Ceramics Monthly suggestions column featured what looked like a neat trick: Dipping pots in glaze using a suction cup.
Specifically, a high-pressure dealie used by auto body shops to pop out dents on car fenders. This sounded ideal for me, specifically for cookie jars. The medium and large size are too big and heavy to dip in the glaze bucket using tongs (the small ones are even right on the edge of too heavy to wrestle out when they're filled with glaze). So I pour glaze into the pot, swirl around, pour out.
Then I need to dip the outside somehow. (The other option, putting it up on some sort of riser in a pan and pouring glaze over it has never given an even, paintable coat.) I can either grab onto the base, dip in mouth first (trapped air keeps from letting more glaze inside), or grab by the rim and dip foot first into the bucket. Either way, I wind up with a 1-2 inch strip that needs to be dipped later (or big finger-marks that need touch-up). There's glaze overlaps and thin spots, and it's just not good.
But this looked like it might work, allowing me to dip the whole jar in mouth-first, holding on by suction to the waxed base. Harbor Freight had two different sizes, 2.5 and 4.5-inch diameters, for $2.99 and $3.99 respectively. At that price, it was worth a shot.
The 4.5-inch cup was too large, but the 2.5-inch seemed a strong contender. (Fortunately, I'd kept the receipt.)
Results were mixed. I had two small and two medium cookie jars. Suction didn't work at all on bare bisque, of course, too porous. With liquid wax resist to seal up the base, it held a little better. Moistening the rubber before using was better yet. I was able to dip all four jars, but two--one each size--let go coming out of the bucket, and I had to grab them and fix glaze scrapes later.
I'm still optimistic. I dipped another pot in hot paraffin, applied the suction cup. It made a really tight seal. I think the liquid wax coat is just too thin to make a proper smooth surface to seal.
Specifically, a high-pressure dealie used by auto body shops to pop out dents on car fenders. This sounded ideal for me, specifically for cookie jars. The medium and large size are too big and heavy to dip in the glaze bucket using tongs (the small ones are even right on the edge of too heavy to wrestle out when they're filled with glaze). So I pour glaze into the pot, swirl around, pour out.
Then I need to dip the outside somehow. (The other option, putting it up on some sort of riser in a pan and pouring glaze over it has never given an even, paintable coat.) I can either grab onto the base, dip in mouth first (trapped air keeps from letting more glaze inside), or grab by the rim and dip foot first into the bucket. Either way, I wind up with a 1-2 inch strip that needs to be dipped later (or big finger-marks that need touch-up). There's glaze overlaps and thin spots, and it's just not good.
But this looked like it might work, allowing me to dip the whole jar in mouth-first, holding on by suction to the waxed base. Harbor Freight had two different sizes, 2.5 and 4.5-inch diameters, for $2.99 and $3.99 respectively. At that price, it was worth a shot.
The 4.5-inch cup was too large, but the 2.5-inch seemed a strong contender. (Fortunately, I'd kept the receipt.)
Results were mixed. I had two small and two medium cookie jars. Suction didn't work at all on bare bisque, of course, too porous. With liquid wax resist to seal up the base, it held a little better. Moistening the rubber before using was better yet. I was able to dip all four jars, but two--one each size--let go coming out of the bucket, and I had to grab them and fix glaze scrapes later.
I'm still optimistic. I dipped another pot in hot paraffin, applied the suction cup. It made a really tight seal. I think the liquid wax coat is just too thin to make a proper smooth surface to seal.