ceramic tools?

[steiconi]

I'm taking a pottery class and was thinking of making some tools--bead roller, stamps, presses--for making beads (glass beads, that is).

I don't think I've ever seen ceramic tools; is there a problem?
Should they be glazed or unglazed?

in case it matters, I'm using low-fire clay.

thanks!

[ESC]

I've used clay molds for fused glass where the temp came up slowly, but I would be worried about the moisture level in low fired clay when you hit it with hot glass. Either make sure it's completely dry, or soak it before use so the glass is riding on a layer of steam.

[CheriB]

I've made a few molds with paper clay that air dried. They worked, but scorched the molds at the same time, so I only used them a couple of times.

I've also made a few molds with regular clay fired at cone 10 -- shell shapes mostly. They were bisque fired only, not glazed or fired twice. I soaked them in water before using. They still leave some clay specks on the glass. My next step was to double fire the high-fire clay twice to see if that helped, but I haven't gotten around to it yet.

From my experience, I would say you could use molds made from low-fire clay, but they likely would not be very durable. If you're planning on tools instead of molds, it may work. I've used thin strips of porcelain and ceramic tiles as marvers, and they were ok.

Let us know how your experimentation works out.

[steiconi]

well duh. On me, not you--I use tiles for marvers all the time. Glaze would seal in any moisture resident in the clay and prevent bits of clay from getting loose.

Thanks

(and still happy to hear other comments!)

I've used thin strips of porcelain and ceramic tiles as marvers,