#MaterialMeltTests

#MaterialMeltTest is a long term project I’m starting. Eventually I’ll write a script on this blog to automatically collect these posts from Instagram and FB, pin them to a map, and put the information into a database. Rocks, clays, dirt, ash, mudpuddles, anything else gathered and melted! How cool would it be to open up a Google world map and see pins from across the planet with stuff that potters have collected and fired in kilns?

🔥🔥🔥

More than anything, I want to encourage collaboration between rockhounds/geologists/potters/scientists/alchemists/anyone else who is interested in this kinda thing. I want to get this research out of our studios and onto a free and open website. I want to involve other people. I only have so much time, energy, and motivation. We can set it up to start building itself – in the meantime I’ll start collecting and organizing them. If you make your own glaze materials or know a potter who does you can contribute in any number of ways: Help Identify Stuff(geologists we need your help!), Share, Comment, or Post your own.

Don’t have a good camera? Don’t do highfire? Don’t make little melt dishes? Don’t have a system for testing? Don’t know anything about minerals? Don’t have an Instagram square maker thingy?

Doesn’t matter! If you want to participate, use the hashtag and post what you got!

Here’s another sample format:

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1.Location: 📍Harbor Mountain Road, Baranof Island, Alaska, USA

2.Material: Mud Puddle. Eroded Volcanic Ash/Soil

3. Formation/Geology: Roadcut

4. Miscellaneous info: Clay-like. High % fine clay and silt particles. High % organic material. Behaves like bentonite and gels in glaze bucket. Collected and melted by @bluepotter, 2018

5.Melt:
Bottom Left – 1260°C (Cone 10) Reduction
Bottom Right – Detail
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.
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#clay #glaze #pottery #ceramic #research #geology #science#whatisthisrock #kilnpeople #studio #craft #montana #material#ceramicglaze #ceramicaction #ceramics #pottersofinstagram #nerd#materialscience #reduction #glazetesting #testtiles #glazetests #rocks#rockhound #contemporaryceramics

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1.Location: 📍Harbor Mountain Road, Baranof Island, Alaska, USA 2.Material: Mud Puddle. Eroded Volcanic Ash/Soil 3. Formation/Geology: Roadcut 4. Miscellaneous info: Clay-like. High % fine clay and silt particles. High % organic material. Behaves like bentonite and gels in glaze bucket. Collected and melted by @bluepotter, 2018 5.Melt: Bottom Left – 1260°C (Cone 10) Reduction Bottom Right – Detail

1.Location: 📍Rock Creek, Near Red Lodge, Montana 2.Material: Unidentified River Rock ( I’m guessing a very coarse grained porphyrittic granite or rhyolite. Contains Quartz, Plagioclase Feldspar, Biotite, …?) #whatisthisrock 3. Formation/Geology: Bearooth Mountain Range, Rock Creek River Rock 4. Miscellaneous info: Hard, Dense Rock. Difficult to break. Suitable for further glaze development. Collected and melted by @bluepotter, 2017. 5.Melt: Bottom Left – 1280°C (Cone 11) Oxidation. Bottom Right – 1260°C (Reduction)