Electric Mid&Hi Fired Ceramics
Potters & Sculptors - Making Rock from Mud
Alexandre Bigot
Alexandre Bigot 1862-1927 was a professor of chemistry and physics who became interested in ceramics at the Exposition Universelle of 1889 at the age of 27.
Bigot's ceramic studios in Rue des Petites Ecuries, Paris and Mer operated from 1889 to 1914 employing 150 people at its peak.
Bigot obtained a 1906 patent for making thick once-fire glazed structural ceramic pieces.
http://www.google.com/patents/US838496
Damp glaze was applied to the mold and dry gres flammé clay placed on top, or the reverse order, before applying a pressure with a hydraulic press followed by a kiln firing.
He produced the designs of many artists and architects of the French Art Nouveau movement; including: Jules Lavirotte, Hector Guimard, Louis Majorelle, Henri Sauvage, Henry van de Velde, Auguste Perret, Andre Arfidson, Anatole de Baudot and others.
He obtained a second patent in 1924 for a drying kiln.
http://www.freepatentsonline.com/1497084.pdf
Albums: Alexandre Bigot - Grès Flammé
Location: 1907 Rue des Petites Ecuries, Paris (Show Map)
Comment
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Comment by Norm Stuart on October 24, 2013 at 3:28pm
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Small-scale Alexandre Bigot, dated 1900, Sitzender Bär (Sitting Bear). Appears to be a mix of the same glazes he used on his massive thick architectural pieces.
Hetjens German Ceramics Museum, Dusseldorf.
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The secret of making very thick structural ceramic pieces was using dry clay, damp glaze, and a hydraulic press.
The dry gres flammé clay body could not have contained raw kaolin or clay, which releases water between 850 F and 1,200 F, making such thick pieces explode.
Gres flammé was likely calcined clay, silica and a ceramic flux mixed with binders. The unglazed surface of gres flammé is very fine, revealing little presence or sand or coarse grog.
My first attempt at making Gres Flammé will be Kyanite mixed with Talc, partly due to their properties and partly because they're both grey color. Then I'll press it in a mold with whatever pressure I can devise.
http://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/kyanite_951.html
http://digitalfire.com/4sight/material/talc_1620.html
The properties of gres flammé seems to coincide with my recent interest in flameware. But using Talc as a flux may not be the best place to start, as Digitalfire states:
Talc is truly a curious material. By itself it is a refractory powder; yet in amounts of only 1-5% in stoneware or porcelain bodies it can drastically improve vitrification!
Yet cone 06-04 ceramic slips containing up to 60% talc can often be fired to cone 6 without melting or even deforming!
Notwithstanding this, other 50:50 talc:ball clay bodies will completely melt and boil at cone 6!
In glazes at middle temperature raw talc is refractory, its presence tends to create opaque and matte surfaces. Yet if supplied as part of a frit it can create wonderfully transparent glossy glazes.
At cone 10 it is a powerful flux but also can be used in combination with calcium carbonate to create very tactile magnesia matte glazes (the MgO forms magnesium silicate crystals on cooling to give both opacity and a matte silky surface).
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