Monday 10 October 2011

unpacking the kiln

Before and after
I photograph each shelf as I unpack. This time from the bottom upwards, as I was a little impatient!!


One glaze has dripped and spattered a little, looking at those yet to be fired , it doesn't wipe off the wax resist too well. Their feet will have to be re-wiped, possibly with a little liquid detergent in the water.
I'm not looking forward to grinding the glaze off the shelf, but at least it isn't a huge amount.
Here he is!! You can see how the wax resist hasn't worked so well on the rim, despite being wiped thoroughly and left for a day between waxing and glazing.
At least the platters look fine.

Glaze tests
and more!
Some that are showing potential I'll try again.
The blue/green cup in the foreground is my usual soft green glaze, put through a 200 mesh lawn instead of a 120s. It is still speckled, as I'm using Copper Carbonate, but like ball milling a glaze finer, seems to have brought the maturation temperature down a little, enough to make it easier to clean, without it being glossy.

The green glaze also showed touches of pink, but not excessively so, so obviously when the breeze is strong I need to have the damper open a little further to prevent a reducing atmosphere. The kiln fired well, I took it easy for the first 700+ degrees,(but not slowly after 300) so that I would not freeze the gas bottle! I then swapped over to a half-full bottle to finish the firing.

Now I need to get another kiln load glazed and through, before a fair on the 22nd of October.

There is so much to do, so much to learn. I could do without the pressure of keeping ahead of all the everyday paperwork and housework. This is why potters are usually men, with either wives that don't make pots or with a housekeeper!
Gardening helps, both paid and unpaid.

10 comments:

Gary's third pottery blog said...

Oh MY, is that a SWEET looking piggy cup up there in the middle? :)

kjsutcliffe said...

Wow - the before and after really shows the change after firing - amazing. Your platters - as ever - look wonderful and yes, I find that a lot of the things I would like to do/need to do get put aside for children/housework/cooking etc. When I was gardening full time I had to give up during the summer school holidays which just happens to coincide with the busiest gardening time.....

smartcat said...

Hi...this is my first visit to your blog; I came over from Ang Design. Very nice indeed! I am a big fan of before and after pics. Yours are clear and informative.

gz said...

Hi, smartcat, nice to meet you-I'll go and see your blog in a minute!

Gary, that is indeed a piggy! never thought of it as a cup, more a saltpot...but you could use it as a cup, so long as you didn't set it down until it was empty!!

Michèle Hastings said...

i too really enjoy the before and after pictures. You have some nice looking pots from that firing.
you may already know this but... if your propane tank starts to freeze, pour cold water over it. we have to do that all the time when raku firing with small tanks.

Andrea Ingram said...

Now that is some wonderful work!

gz said...

Thankyou Andrea and Meesh.

Steve Mills taught me the cold water trick. However this time I didn't want the hassle and just took it easy!

Chris said...

Awesome Gwynneth. Love the colours.

Your technical skill is amazing to see. Wish I could do this...

Sandy Miller said...

Love the pictures! Also love the idea of a shelf at time to keep track of hot spots and cool areas in the kiln.

Nice pots!

Anonymous said...

I just love how the ceramics look different in the before and after. I still have that sense of wonder when my stuff comes out of the kiln.