Last Kiln Opening Before Penland

I opened the kiln on Friday morning and was greeted by this tea pot. This is only my third tea pot. The first one sold and the second is awaiting an opportunity for a cone 10 firing. I like making tea pots, I just need to focus on making more.

 I have a new glaze called June Perry red. Here it is on a brittle star bowl. I am pretty happy with it.

 Another new glaze on the shelf is this Tripplett chameleon glaze with 2% copper carbonate.

 Here is the same glaze on a red clay body with the same glossy base 4% rutile as you see above. The red clay body lends itself to a nice blue rutile.

 Here are the Homer Brewing Company tankards. There are three glaze lines, each on the red and white clay bodies. So, far the only draw back is the middle left tankard on the red clay body. It bubbled and is rough. After consulting with John Britt on a Facebook site about Exploring Mid Range Glazes he stated, "There are more gasses in the clay and so if you bisque longer it can help (100 per hour from 1100 - 1900 F ). That is an extreme example but it can help. Some people just go 100 F per hour from 1300 - 1700 F." So, that is where I am headed and will refire these four tankards and see what happens this spring upon my return from Penland.

Finally, I wanted to try something different with bowls. Here is some wax resist on the red clay body with some dots (June Perry red glaze) and bull kelp (weathered bronze). The application of the glazes need to be thicker.

I will continue to blog when I get the opportunity at Penland. Thanks for reading.

Barrel Firing Second Time Around

Yesterday, I lit the down draft barrel kiln for a second time this winter. I threw in four small pots sprayed with ferric chloride, sprinkled with salt and sugar, wrapped in aluminum saggar and one large pot similarly prepped. Inside of the large pot I put in a couple of pieces with yellow ocher, red iron oxide, and copper sulfate.

Here are the results. My intention with the large pot was to make it look like fossilized dessert sandstone. I have brittle stars and trilobites slip trailed.

 The other pots came out nice. The lower right pot was in the big pot. The only issue I have now is the with the terra sigilatta. After it dries it cracks, which is an interesting effect, however, if I buff it as soon as it dries, then I can eliminate the cracks. A couple of the pots were burnished before the terra sigilatta application. I don't know if this makes a difference yet.

Trials and Try Again

It has been warm in Homer this February. Sure, we had a week of cold, but the warmth is back. Presently, it is blowing 30 mph out with gusts at 45 mph. Yikes.

 I loaded the kiln last week with the hopes of seeing some great results. Everything was a prototype for future lines and projects, so I kind of set myself up for high expectations. Don't do it.

 Out of six boat trays the two below came out with no structural cracks and some nice glaze combos. The two below are the survivors. I sprayed the glazes on using a low volume high pressure spray gun on the outside of the boats. I really like the results.

 The above boat tray sank unfortunately. It had several areas were the bottom opened up and the handles were too fragile. The other three the bottoms completely opened up. It seems porcelain works better that the stoneware, but it has more memory, so it is prone to distorting. I may have to lay these on their tops as the dry, to prevent cracking. I don't want to abandon the design, so I will try another half dozen.

On a positive note, the Homer Brewery tankard prototypes came out with some nice results. I will be running the two lines below. More to come.

Meanwhile, I had a wonderful weekend playing drums with Tyson James and the Hot Strangs on Friday and North Country Cajun Club on Saturday night at Alice's Campaign Palace. I am very fortunate to play with some great musicians.

On a final note, I have to share the menu for our weekly Downton Abbey dinner. This week Nicky was the chef. She had fun preparing the menu, based on the fact we live out East End Road and current events. A great meal was had by all who attended.

Supplies and January Thaw

Check out this picture from early January. The driveway is complete ice and there is no snow in the yard. For Alaska, that is crazy. Driving this trailer on the driveway was a bit crazy as well. I received a ton of clay and supplies in January. Freight service up here means picking up your supplies in town. Having the old snow machine trailer is nice. I am thankful the roads were wet and not icy. This is 1500 pounds of clay and 500 pounds of glazing supplies. It should hold me over until the summer. 

 

Meanwhile I have been working on filling the kiln with some bowls to finish out my orders for the Kickstarter project. 

 Also, experimenting with texture on medium size containers for Cone 10 firings.

Prototypes for the Homer Brewing Company tankards.

Finishing more cone 10 containers and boat trays in the bisque firing.

Creating some decanters for the decanter sets.

More cereal bowls for summer market.

Finally, trying new glaze recipes with John Britt's new book.

Down Draft Barrel Firing a Simple Set-up for a Cool Effect

This week I made a down draft barrel kiln, as per Alternative Kilns and Firing Techniques: Raku, Saggar, Pit, Barrel (A Lark Ceramics Book). A pretty easy design, considering I had everything I needed lying around the yard. I had planned on taking more pictures of the process, but the cold weather kept me occupied with getting it built.

 After building the kiln I loaded it by placing the ceramic wares three inches above the bottom metal grate in a sawdust nest. Next, I sprinkled red iron oxide, yellow ocher, and copper carbonate on three pots that were not wrapped in aluminum foil for a saggar firing. These pieces had ferric chloride (used to clean electronics) poured over them, then they were each sprinkled with 1 tsp of sugar and salt.

 I added more sawdust and some lighter fluid soaked kindling along with scrap paper. Building up more sawdust I topped the barrel with kindling and let the fire. It took several hours to get the convection going. I eventually heated the elbow with a weed burner. After that, the down draft started in earnest. I let the fire go over night. In the morning I was rewarded with some great colors.

 The pot on the far right was in the aluminum saggar. These colors remind me of the southwest sandstone in the United States. With that idea I am going for a similar firing with the pot below, which is coil built. I hope the Ordovician brittle stars and trilobites slip trails come through after I apply a slip to the piece after it is bisqued. If I apply it now, I think it would only streak the red iron oxide color in the slip trail. I will keep you posted.