[HELP]Making a bonsai pot

[Levuccio]

Hey guys

I bought today some air drying clay and been trying to bake it in the oven but keeps cracking. I know I should bake it at around 1000 degrees but I dont
have access to an oven like this.

Is there any other way I could make a bonsai pot without using a kiln?

Cheers guys

(if so which clay to use...a link maybe? )

[MattA]

With normal clays one of the reasons for cracking can be if the clay isnt fully dry before firing. I am not sure what you mean by air drying clay, is it one of the hobby modelling clays which are usually 'plasticine' type products & often available in lots of colours or an actual clay?

[Levuccio]

Hey MattA

Its actual clay and not plasticine. Does anyone make pots out of plasticine?
So in terms of actual clay,is it possible to fire it in the oven or it absolutely has to be fired at 1000+ degrees?
If so, what else could I use? Ive seen that you can use polymer clay which you can fire in the oven but its like
plastic, and it doesnt give that nice clay look.

Any suggestions?

[MattA]

Hey MattA

Its actual clay and not plasticine. Does anyone make pots out of plasticine?
So in terms of actual clay,is it possible to fire it in the oven or it absolutely has to be fired at 1000+ degrees?
If so, what else could I use? Ive seen that you can use polymer clay which you can fire in the oven but its like
plastic, and it doesnt give that nice clay look.

Any suggestions?

Polymer clays... now thats the stuff I was trying to think of yesterday. I dont think cooking normal clay would do much to make them last as permanent objects.

There are lots of ways to fire pottery besides using a typical kiln. The earliest pots were fired by putting in a pit & filling with dry grass/straw etc.. the whole lot is then covered to leave just a small gap at the top, it is lit & left to burn. These are very low fired and would be just raw pots without glaze. Do a google search & it should bring up lots of other ways that can be employed. The pit/grass method was shown on 'Time Team' (a UK archeology series).

As for proper firing in a kiln, in most city's there are pottery clubs etc that would fire your pots for you for a minimal fee.

Matt

[Mitchell]

Levuccio, you seem to know the answer to your question already, just perhaps looking for support?

In answer to your question, yes there are ways to make vessels which shall hold bonsai at home in the oven. These I believe do not qualify as "pots" as it needs to be fired. Like Matt said, you can indeed make your own kiln at home, which I shall indeed do in the near future... Feel free to join along with me and I'll give you detail how to make a nice little kiln at home. Check google out and "Home made forges" The forging community seems to be a little more open minded, about home DIY than the potting. A home made kiln can be done in ground with forced induction, or in an upright glass matting kiln also with forced induction.



What you may be after at the moment is the cure for cracking whilst in the oven. Remember you are only going to get a brittle vessel without 1000 degree firing. I cure/harden clay to form vessels by putting it in the oven. The reason it is cracking is because you are bringing up the temp in the oven too quickly without air drying the clay first. Put it out in the sun for the day to remove moisture, then put it in the oven on 200 with the door slightly ajar for 2 hours, then close the door and bring it up to full temp.

I just put it straight in without drying in the sun with the door ajar on high for an hour then close it and bring to full temp.
Your clay will still not be fired and may absorb moisture still. I coat mine with clear acrylic gloss to stop the water permeating the unfired clay...
This method is similar to the making paper pots.

This thread of mine shows all unfired oven baked vessels. So it is possible, just don't call them pots because they are not, merely vessels... Don't drop them either because they might crack... but then again so may a pot if dropped.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4000 viewtopic.php?f=29&t=3981

I'm actually about to go mix up some clay and make some lil' shohin pots, Matt's recent efforts have inspired me.