Technical Info
Pottery and Shop Activity
1. Capabilities and Flaws
Safe Use
All Spitzmade pottery is intended to be dishwasher safe, food safe, and microwave safe. Any exception to this will be clearly indicated.
Any conductive glaze that will be hazardous with the microwave will be labeled on the product. If such a glaze is desired there will be a preference to not apply it to any dining or drinking wares to avoid possible confusion.
What is the food safety concern? Some glaze formulas contain toxic materials that will transfer to the substance of food or water. This concern is addressed by the manufacturers who will test and appropriately label their product. Any mixing or layering done in the pottery studio is however not verified for safety by those manufactures. For that reason the edible-contact surface area of relevant Spitzmade wares will be preferentially glazed without mixing or layering.
DIY tests can be done by leaving an acidic substance like lemon or vinegar on a pottery surface to see if it is discolored. A reduction of color is sign that the glaze is not perfectly stable and materials, possibly only benign, may leach into foods or water.
Additionally the repeated use through a dishwasher will expose the ware to heat and detergent which may dull colors if any of the glaze material is leaching.
Breaking or dulling from the dishwasher is an unforeseen risk. Please report any sign that the glaze is color leaching so that it can be investigated and taken seriously.
Flaws
There is one flaw with beautiful features worth examining. Crazing will occur to a glaze which appears to have cracked across the pottery surface. This is a common fault of a poor match between glaze and clay composition, causing them to expand at different rates in the kiln. Primarily in concern with crazing is the potential for bacteria to grow in the hairline glaze fractures. Check your home pottery to see if there’s crazing you never noticed before. It is a common occurrence and the food concern is likely remedied by temperatures within a dishwasher or by bleach soaking.
2. Inventory List & Timelines
Project schedule - season projections.
3. How it’s done
Pottery start to finish.