Home Made Clay Bowl.

[Kalutika]

So this is my first post and it's going to be a fun one.

I have been working on making my own hookah from the ground up. I have made everything and have come to the final step, which happens to be the bowl. I was wondering if there were any suggestions beyond sculpting techniques. I'm pretty good.

Dimensions? Materials? Glazes? Designs?

I have sculpted a bowl from clay that has a good size and design to it. Somewhat of a combination of the funnel and the traditional five hole clay bowls. I will post pictures once I take some.

What glazes can I use that will be food safe and heat resistant enough?

[louman3333]

welcome to the forum! be sure to post up pics of the completed hookah

[hday]

How did you make it? As long as it fits on the hookah and has a good seal, it will work. You could make them out a variety of materials. Some are made from pyrex or some other glass, but most are made from earthenware clay. I'm guessing you got the clay from either a craft store or from a school. Some modelling clays, like Sculpy, have a low fire temp, and I would bet would be bad to use for a bowl. It'll get too hot, and it'll probably have that weird Sculpy taste to it forever.

Hopefully, you made your bowl from some earthenware clay. Other types of clay will work, but earthenware is the most common and the cheapest, not to mention the easiest to work with. The bowl will have to be fired in a kiln, and if you're at school or university and they fire your piece, they will definitely have glazes.

As far as glazes go, there seems to be some concern over their use. Glazes "solidify" and get that nice glassy finish at a temperature higher than the bowl should ever get. You don't really even need a glaze. The shisha will stain an unglazed bowl which is why most are glazed, that and that they look better. Underglazes will probably need an overglaze to be food safe, but there's no real reason to use an underglaze instead of an overglaze. Just ask the person who fired/will fire your bowl how to glaze your bowl and what types of glazes should be used, and they will definitely help you.

[mj_b90]

Since you said that you're good with the technique of making your bowl would you mind posting a tutorial on the process? I'd love to make a bowl and hve orked with clay before but I'm unsure how to make the bowl.

[kahnowerh]

glazes (and underglazes, if they're not just colored slip) can be foodsafe or not.

obviously, you would want to use a foodsafe glaze &/or underglaze.

and you might want to find out how much the clay you're using shrinks.
either ask someone (though it's going to be different for every batch, they'll know approx., especially if it's fresh bagged clay)
or fire a flat piece 6 inches long (when it was wet) and as thick as you'd like the bowl. score it every inch, fire it, and see how much the clay has shrunk. Edited March 9, 2008 by kahnowerh

[Kalutika]

Well I already made the bowl. I did use an earthenware clay, as I am always concerned with contamination from smells etc. I could not completely make a ruling on the food safe factors for any of the glazes I had available to me so it remains unglazed.

Smokes great. Kind of a combination five hole classic and funnel. I will make some minor alterations to the next one but otherwise I love it. A little too shallow. The rise I worked into the middle should be a bit higher. Need to make a cap mod for it now.

My only real concern is flavor retention. It is pretty much a guarantee that what ever I smoke in the bowl (so far Mixed fruit and Jasmine Layalina, which mix nicely by the way) is going to leave some flavor behind. Eventually that flavors could get too muddled.

I am thinking of making a bowl for every flavor I smoke Lol.

[n0s]

pictures? This sounds really cool.

[SimplexCoda]

sounds like a super chief. Lets see it when your done

[Voski]

few years ago when I took ceramics the teacher said the clear glaze we were using was food safe. Too bad I didn't smoke hookah then or I would have tons of phunnel bowls.

The clear glaze was this blue shit that we had to stir around and then submerse our creations into and then set it out to dry. Then the teacher would fire it and it would come out clear and shiny.

[thecoalition]

personally i think the potter's wheel is the best way to go. it makes for a much smoother transition and you can always go back with carving tools for intricacies in the designs. i think bright colored glazes will be best or even multiple colors transition like blue to black. just remember to put on coats evenly and do multiples so its not patchy.i would keep height down a bit. one thing i dont like about the phunnels is how tall they are. it makes my coal push right against my wind covers.