All Glossary

AI

We use AI for many tasks in creating and maintaining this website. To us, using AI is like writing code. Code is the whole reason Digitalfire.com exists and has existed. We write software and provision web servers that enable accomplishing tasks far beyond the number of people we have. Like code, AI enables us to do things we otherwise could not. Here are a few:
-Creation of certain pictures which are not practical to contract, take or make (where this is done, the prompt is given with the photo).
-Assistance in creating photos (the mug below is from a photo which only showed part of it against a cloth background; the AI completed the mug, put it in the hand and removed the background).
-Refinement of titles and text in posts and articles.
-Facebook posts (Meta itself is the world's leading investor in AI code and hardware).
-Writing better and more code in more languages for more platforms.
-Future uses of AI are impossible to predict.
-Answer certain technical questions in ceramics better.
At its extreme AI tools are going to enable the first solopreneur billionaire. We are not extreme users.

Related Information

ChatGPT photo recreation example

This picture has its own page with more detail, click here to see it.

My first car was a Mercury Montcalm S33, and the bottom is the best photo I have of it. I uploaded it to ChatGPT asking it to recreate this! Although not perfect, this is the worst this AI will ever be at this task.

Glazes Are Crazing on This Casting Porcelain

The casting process enables a unique and effective fix

This picture has its own page with more detail, click here to see it.

This potter almost has the casting process working, making these beautiful porcelain mugs. They are fired at cone 6 using a transparent glaze over underglaze decoration. But the devil is in the details. Look closer to see it: Crazing. Why? The reason is evident on the SDS for the body. Notice it has 10.5-15.8% crystalline quartz (or silica). This is not enough to prevent crazing in typical glazes.

Almost always, the solution is to find or formulate a clear glaze having a lower thermal expansion (in this case, a lot lower). But with casting bodies, we have another option: Mix our own. Unlike glazes, porcelain recipes are typically just three materials: kaolin, feldspar and silica. The starting percentages are simple for cone 6: 30% feldspar to vitrify. And 25% silica to fit the glaze. That leaves 45% kaolin. It is that easy! Start with the L3778G recipe. Its information page is also a launching pad for dozens of links, enabling you to dig as deep as desired into understanding casting slips (the materials are cheap, so losing a few batches while you learn deflocculation is not a problem). Still think it is too difficult to mix our own? Consider that you need a propeller mixer anyway to prepare and adjust the slip and reprocess scrap. By mixing your own you'll be a more effective, and flexible slip caster.

By Tony Hansen Follow me on

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