Heidi's ceramic venture/fermentation vats

[Guest guest]

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> >Well, the good news is I talked to a professional and she can make

them

> >en masse for a lot less than I thought, and a lot quicker. I made

some, but I

> >have to wait for the next firing, so it's going to be SLOW ... but

she fires

> >every weekend, it seems. So she's making some testers.

> >

> >Personally I'm really getting excited myself ... if these work, it

will

> >be darned easy, maybe easier than the Harsch.

> >

> >-- Heidi Jean

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Hmm, Heidi, your investigations have planted a whole new seed of

thought for me--the possibility of making a ceramic fermentation

vessel myself or getting a local ceramicist to make some cheap, rough

and raw ones. Since I would be just as happy to have " ugly " ,

misshapen vessels--and might even find them charming or aesthetically

preferable--perhaps the cost would be nominally above raw materials?

Does anyone know if I could just buy some clay and muck around one

day with my bare hands to make my own special objects that would only

need to meet the criterion of not falling apart? Keep in mind that

the only thing I know about ceramics is that they're made out of

clay, and I'm not really even sure about that to be honest... I guess

I never took that class in high school... Hmm, maybe if I befriend

the right person in the art dept at my uni... Also, I have in mind

the idea of making two or three quite large vats that would be

suitable for a full batch of winter-kimchi and spring/summer-

sauerkraut (maybe 30-40 gallons total), perhaps permanently burying

them somewhere and being unconcerned about their mobility. Or at

least something along the lines of the huge Korean vessels. Would

this be easy? Hard? Does anyone know the cost of the clay? I

wouldn't even know what type would be suitable or where to start, so

any hints are welcomed... My half-gallon mason jar system is working

pretty well, so I'm not inclined to dump too much money into this...

And I'd have to consider a tradeoff between having Heidi's person

ship some across the country and finding a local person to do the

same thing to avoid the shipping expense... It's quite interesting

to ponder the notion of having Heidi's person being able to offer a

good rate by getting a busload of us Egroupers to order the same

thing...

So let me get this straight--is it that the crocks commercially

available are all glazed, and unglazed would be better for continual

fermentation and cheaper? I wonder if the traditional Korean

thingies were glazed?

So many possbilities blooming forth, just like some the plants at

this time of year (as I enjoy the first 70 degree day of the year!)...

Mike

SE Pennsylvania

The best way to predict the future is to invent it. --Alan Kay