Amazing Pottery

would pottery clay be a good material for making a pipe?

um, ya recently a friend of mine has gotten me into some stuff that involes using a pipe and its not tabbacco. If your still with me on what im talking about i was wondering if clay would make a godd pipe like they pay used in my high school pottery class, since im only 15 i want to know if i made one in class if it would work ok

Public Comments

1. Yes, but make sure you use a glaze that does not contain lead.
2. Yep, clay pipes are a historically common object. You'll probably have difficulty constructing a standard pipe, though. You can easily make a tobacco bowl and use another material as the pipe-stem, but most "real" clay pipes are slip-cast, not hand-built, since a slim stem is extremely hard to do by hand. (You can also skip the glazing step, unless you know exactly what you're doing.)
3. In the early settler days many old miners made clay pipes to smoke by the fire. They were made from clay dug from the creek banks and fired in the campfire. Chinese setlers used porcelain and did not glaze it, as it doesn't have to hold water you do not need to fire it. But remember that "not tobacco" stuff is dangerous to mental health.New studies prove that it causes brain damage. Some clay pipes have wonderful dragons carved along the pipestem and bowl so go for it and have fun.
4. Hi: I'm sure it would, and I think I've even seen pipes made before of various clays. Clay is an incredibly versatile media, and so many articles are made from it. You could probably just make a hand build one - depending on the shape, you could make the bowl part from a pinch pot, then you use a drinking straw to form a tube over - and let that get to a leather hard stage, and then attach the tube to the bowl. If you don't have much experience, you might look into some good ceramic book references to get ideas for construction. Not that you probably should be smoking anything, but you might have a lot of fun trying to make something that would work, and might find that you like ceramics really well. If you want some inspiration for ceramics, check out the Ceramics Monthly and Clay Times periodicals, and there is a wonderful local ceramics studio in KCMO that Stephen and Susan Hill own and operate. It is a great facility, and they have classes, and in addition to a high fire kiln, they have a smaller soda kiln. Another nice little studio here is BackDoorPottery, and I attended a raku firing once and it was one of the most fun things I have ever done. There was a small fiber kiln on a concrete slab that was heated by a propane torch. A few clay pieces at a time were fired in the kiln until they glowed, and then each piece was placed in a container like a metal garbage pail that had combustible material in it, and when the hot object went in, the contents immediately burst into flames, and the top was quickly put on, and then the contents were covered with a wet blanket material to seal in the smoke. The pots were left like this for a time, and when they were cool enough to touch, the kreosote was washed off to reveal the wonderful pattern of glaze and smoke patterns. If you go to the website and take a look at the classes, you can find some pictures about what a raku firing sort of looks like along with some pottery examples. I wound up smelling like smoke, but it was really fun. Another great site is the KC Clay Guild. Their studio facility is in the Waldo area. They also offer classes, and have many fine artists in their ranks. A regional source of a lot of good materials for ceramics is Brackers in Lawrence, KS. Hope this helps, and gives you more incentive.