Ceramic kilt pins/buckles anyone?

[skauwt]

im wondering if anyone has seen or owns any examples of ceramic kilt pins /buckles Ive been searching with no joy ,
im in the process of getting my kiln fixed after about a year of it being knackerd and i fancied making myself a new kilt pin so i was hoping to see any examples to base a design on im wondering also if a kilt buckle would work with the buckles being mainly for show i figure a ceramic one should be alright... who knows i might even be able to make ceramic sgain dubh handles and so on
so has anyone got examples they care to share ?

[bigdad1]

I'm thinking ceramic may tend to be a bit easily broken especially as a buckle with the stress and the tendency to lean against something hard. A ceramic kilt pin is another thing entirely.

[skauwt]

it would really depend on the type of clay used though and how high its fired some clays are alot stronger than you may think at the end of the day a wee prototype wouldn't go amiss i cant recall anytime Ive wore a buckle when kilted and lent over something either mind you plus the front of the buckle would merely be attached to a clasp of sorts with the basic design i have in mind

[Chas]

I am quite sure that it must be possible. I am thinking of ceramic knife blades. They supposedly keep an edge thee times longer than steel and they don't rust, or should we say oxidise. Whichever, they keep their surface and edge. How they are made on the other hand, I have no idea. I think, you should pursue this skauwt and report back to us with your findings. There aren't many innovations in 'traditional' kilting, but this could be one. Good Hunting.

Regards

Chas

[KFCarter]

This is an interesting idea. What about ceramic "bells" or cantles for sporrans, too?

[sydnie7]

I love ceramic and art glass jewelry. Back when I was dressing for work in the corporate world, I had several sets of lapel pins/earrings. I did break a few pins, mostly from carelessness -- tossing my jacket into the passenger seat at the end of the day -- but never while wearing the garment. Kilt pins might have it a bit tougher, getting banged against counters, bar stool legs and the like.

I just purchased a pendant from these folks at a local bead show. They had some lovely Celtic design pieces but nothing that would "compete" with what you are considering.

Good luck and keep us posted! I did just enough pottery in college to A) fall in love with it and B) realize that I'd need a lot more practice to produce anything worth showing off. . .

[skauwt]

hmmm some really interesting ideas folks thank you, a fair few ideas id never even thought about aswell (takes note) the sgain dubh is a great one and for those folk wanting a travel sgain it would be ideal and the ceramic cantle/bell one shouldnt be too difficult a sporran with ceramic would certainly be something new


thats what i love about this site you throw a few ideas around and other folk throw some more back at ya, as soon as i get the parts for my kiln these new ideas will be my first tasks
the thing i love about ceramics is the lifespan of the material if cared for well it'll last for thousands of years

as much as i like the traditional side of the Scots dress and the old methods of how things are made rather than look back i like to think us scots are forward thinkers too after all scots did invent alot of what we take for granted and i feel its our duty to add to the culture as much as we can in new ways with still retaining our heritage ,
with me doing so much family tree and my recent family tree dna results i just feel even more proud of my heritage and culture than i did say a year ago

[skauwt]

found a item to show folks the sort of thing i have in mind its a brass ceramic construction
its got a rustic artsy look to it i dont know whether id go with that ceramic effect but it is nice and those colours look well with a muted kilt i think it would go well

there is a fair few types and desgins on that persons ebay worth having a wee peek at


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.d...m=380145096050


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/SOLID-BRASS-CE...d=p3286.c0.m14

[bigdad1]

I am quite sure that it must be possible. I am thinking of ceramic knife blades. They supposedly keep an edge thee times longer than steel and they don't rust, or should we say oxidise. Whichever, they keep their surface and edge. How they are made on the other hand, I have no idea. I think, you should pursue this skauwt and report back to us with your findings. There aren't many innovations in 'traditional' kilting, but this could be one. Good Hunting.

Regards

Chas

The ceramic in knife blades is a totally different animal than traditional ceramics used in broaches and pins and cups and plates. It is a special mixture of clays and binders and is fired a very high temperatures in specialty kilns and then quench and treated and fired again. Even if you could set up to do all of that (expensive equipment) I'm not sure you could come up with items that were decorative along the lines of buckles and pins.

[Bugbear]

I was playing with the idea of making a ceramic sporran cantle, but it just doesn't quite seem right; everything is done with metal etc.
Possibly a cap badge or kilt pin might work out if the glaze is very carefully controled. I work with a bunch of people who dry brush ceramics, and that might also be another approach.

I don't know enough about the knife handles and blades to know if the ceramic would work for a whole handle. Others have used the polyceramic for handles and that type of thing, though.