Potential Suplier for Coral Frag Plugs

[NateDawg]

Hi guys, just joined the PNWMAS a couple weeks ago. Wish I'd know about this two years ago... Anyway, I have my own kiln/forge and have been making ceramic frag plugs for quite a while now and was thinking about starting to sell them I would probably be selling around 50 or so standard plugs for around 10 ish dollars depending on color and size and such. My main point is that I was curious if anyone would be interested in buying them. I would need to have quite a few people interested or at least a big order being that it costs a lot to run a big kiln and for that price, I wouldn't be making really anything, but I enjoy making them and having a reason to play with mud and fire. So let me know if you'd be interested or not. Also let me know if this is the right place to post this or not haha.

[milesmiles902]

I am glad to hear you joined PNWMAS. There are some pretty nice people here, that know way more than me.

That's cool that you make your own frags. I personally have never made any, but it wouldn't be a bad idea for how much I use them. You should post some photos about the process. I am kind of curious.

[R-3]

That would be awesome! Do you have different molds? I know some people have even done black plugs that look sweet. Here’s an example of a guy up in the Seattle area 

https://www.inlandcorals.com/ceramics

Edited April 18, 2018 by R-3

[jtarmitage]

Heck yes. I'll need to pick some up before long anyhow

[NateDawg]

Awesome well I'm in the Albany Oregon area but I'm up for driving and meeting halfway, I can theoetically make any color possible any any shape too, right now I have the standard 7/8th inch and 1 1/2 inch size plugs in a splothy light brown. I'l post pics tomorrow when I have better light.

[albertareef]

This is a cool idea - especially with the possibility of doing some different colors. Will definitely be be following along to see how this goes. 

Welcome Nate!

[Emerald525]

I would be interested as well!

[lewisriverfisherman]

I am interested too! 

[Ron]

I'm local here in Albany, I'll have to snag some from ya.

[youcallmenny]

 Man you make those purple or grey to match cured rock and I'd take some! 

[NateDawg]

These are some from my fist batch, I was playing around with color to make them splotchy brown grey and light brown to match dry rock that' been seeded with LR and been in a tank for under 1 year.

[Optimusprime3605]

I'm definitely down for some custom frag plugs!
I've been looking for the half-dome shape, kinda like if you were to cut a baseball or tennis ball in half. Growing zoas on them, as I've seen, would look awesome, especially when they're all covered, kinda resembles rolling hills. Also, flat squares ranging from 2 to 4" for grow outs.
If the price is right, I'll definitely grab some! Fire up that kiln!

Sent from my man cave while drinking Coronas at Holly's [emoji481]

[badxgillen]

Yeah, count me in for some of the off colored ones for sure, and keep me in the loop for some other shapes as well.

[NateDawg]

Here' a couple of pics on how the plugs get made. Once they come out of the mold, they will need to be dried for a week then heated to 185°F to get any retaining moisture out, then they are fired at 1800°F to 1900°F for a few hours depending on batch size. More pics to come of firing process.

[Salted_Waffles]

This is pretty cool. I’d be down to pick up some. I’d also be interest in bigger flat discs/squares for grow outs. 

[youcallmenny]

Hey, thanks for sharing!  That's awesome to see how you make them.  Would love to see more of your kiln and that part of the process too!  Definitely interested in the off-color plugs, those are really nice.  Is there any difference in the material you use compared to other commercial plugs?  

[albertareef]

1 hour ago, youcallmenny said:

Hey, thanks for sharing!  That's awesome to see how you make them.  Would love to see more of your kiln and that part of the process too!  Definitely interested in the off-color plugs, those are really nice.  Is there any difference in the material you use compared to other commercial plugs?  

I was actually curious about the material as well but you (just) beat me to it!  Seems like this could be another advantage to "small batch" manufacturing of this item as you could tweak the composition if you needed/wanted to - within the parameters of a fired ceramic of course 

[NateDawg]

6 hours ago, youcallmenny said:

Hey, thanks for sharing!  That's awesome to see how you make them.  Would love to see more of your kiln and that part of the process too!  Definitely interested in the off-color plugs, those are really nice.  Is there any difference in the material you use compared to other commercial plugs?  

So I use naturally dug, non copper containing clay that came from I think Missouri. I had a thought about maybe adding small amounts of calcium carbonate, magnesium carbonate, and strontium carbonate to the plug material. These are already used in some ceramics for specific purposes but I'm wondering if by adding those to the plug itself, you could give a frag a supply of those mineral supplements right at it' own feet! But I'd want to test this and make sure it would leech out to much all at once. As for ingredients of ceramic clay, they start out as kaolinite which is a hydrated alumina silicate (I think) then as it is fired, the hydrogen is released and replaced with oxygen. Basically it' the mineral feltspar and calcium carbonate. I' not sure about the dyes added though, I haven' found any that describe what' in them so I'm a little worried to put it in a tank and risk it leaching who knows what.

[youcallmenny]

Yea, I hate to say it man because I don't in any way want to discourage you from doing this but it's the dyes I was concerned most about.  I'm sure it's probably fine and if not there's surely a replacement but that was my first thought about everything.  As for your explanation, it required a little side riding but from what I'm reading it's perfectly safe.  I appreciate you taking the time to explain that, it's really interesting!

[CuttleFishandCoral]

Always looking for frag plugs. Ask holly. 

[NateDawg]

2 hours ago, youcallmenny said:

Yea, I hate to say it man because I don't in any way want to discourage you from doing this but it's the dyes I was concerned most about.  I'm sure it's probably fine and if not there's surely a replacement but that was my first thought about everything.  As for your explanation, it required a little side riding but from what I'm reading it's perfectly safe.  I appreciate you taking the time to explain that, it's really interesting!

Yah no problem! I'm not using any dyes currently, I'm still looking for a good safe dye, but the splotchy look that I make those frags in the picture earlier are actually from putting the clay through tempurature variations while firing, which I thought was really cool.

[albertareef]

6 minutes ago, NateDawg said:

Yah no problem! I'm not using any dyes currently, I'm still looking for a good safe dye, but the splotchy look that I make those frags in the picture earlier are actually from putting the clay through tempurature variations while firing, which I thought was really cool.

Great information!  Really appreciate the thought you are putting into this. Thanks for sharing. 👍