dhPotter

Blackthorn Yesterdays glaze loads
The 1st photo is the small updraft gas kiln the other three shots are the larger downdraft car kiln
packed up most of these pots for future wholesale order in gallery about 10 drive from here.I take them about 1/2 way down in next Month (late May ) if I'm allowed to go.
The fires turned out very well with only a few refires(3-4 pots with pits) It's pits that happen with so much rutile glaze used in a reduction atmosphere . I have learned very well how to get near 100% refires to work at this point-it all depends where in kiln they go. Working with most of the glazes for over 40 years now I can usually control how much they run. I had one runner in all these pots and it was a sponge holder fired to a hard cone 11 near burner.
Min the new Seafoam satin matt glaze came out super in the small kiln bottom (hot spot)Thanks again for that help
Glazes range from black to browns blues and greens to landscapes-shiny to matt.
I decided to work one week in clay and take the next week off and so forth to get my other projects done. Back to clay next Monday.
I unloaded on Friday  afternoon and by saturday mid day  they where all packed in boxes and accounted for.Some for wholesale otrder some for lacal supoermarkets some for a gallery when they reopen.
 

1 and 2 pound vases.
 

I used to make French butter dishes, and they are a royal pain for the first few. A regular pain once you get used to them. I found that due to the amount of work I put into them (it's like making two pots), and having to fire them separately (again, like making two pots), I had to charge a little more than most people wanted to pay. Personally, I don't think the water is necessary, as you can leave butter sit out for a really long time before it goes bad. Plus the water drips on the table/counter when you open it up, and it's hard to remember to change the water, and the water is more likely to breed bad stuff than the butter.

Yeah, wanted a specific detail that took me like an hour to do by hand, and didn't want to spend that kind of time on every one.  This is the detail:

Made a "bead popper" from an empty Chap Stick tube.  Automatically centers the hole in the bead.  

Unloaded glaze load #4 yesterday; overall, pleased I am.
Only two crazed, over a new clay - everything else, clays and glazes (except new green, Rutile Green, from Bill Van Gilder's book), had been done afore, hence better chance - four pieces got bits of clay stuck on from blown up cone pack (ah was in a hurry there, oops). Speaking of oops, forgot to put in alla test tiles, hence first report on lower expansion clear will be next time; it does look very good on the one red clay piece, (thanks Min!), nice gloss, lays flat, and cleared bubbles well.
Aforementioned Wollastonite Clear liner on all (but one) red clay pieces; some of the buff clay pieces have Kitten's Clear, which behaves well on the buff, but not the red - microbubble-icious. The colors are Lakeside Clear Blue (Lakeside Pottery); Variagated, Rutile Green and Teal Blue (Bill Van Gilder's book); and matte white (Aardvark Clay).
Have a nice holiday e'body! 
 
 

Swirls firming up for trimming.

Just been doing some experimenting since I have plenty of bowls, mugs, spoon rests, etc.  I'm thinking about entering our local guilds call for entry, it's the annual teapot show.   I had a dream about something like this so am trying to get it right.  This is the second prototype and it's getting closer.
Also been making taller two part vases, but the problem is my kiln is only 18 inches deep and 23 inches wide so i can't go too big.  This vase is 20 inches tall wet, hoping it fits and fires on its side ok.
 

Well I did my farmers market today, got out in the sun and got a lot of sketching done :/
Made 55 dollars, which was more than i was expecting since this was a 20 tent market and I was one of two Craftsmen there.  
luckily the booth fee was only 10 dollars!
man there are some really weird people out there...
Guy to the left of me was selling bleach water (FOR DRINKING!!!) and the booth across from me was selling essential oils... Don't these people know how dangerous those things are!? 

Hi folks, 
I have been doing some thinking about the white liner glaze that I have been dipping the hazelnut and the white clays in before spray glazing. So I decided to try a piece without glazing the whole piece in the white glaze, just the inside and neck. I think you can see the difference. Seems like to me, the white is bleaching out the cream rust glaze here, pieces I had sprayed with the cream rust, the variegated blue and the rutile green would always be more blue and green. Interestingly enough, the hazelnut pieces would have more browns in them. 

 
best,
Pres

Some of 75 assorted mini vases for wedding favours, 60 done, 15 more to do.

 

These are waiting for glaze firing tomorrow or next.

Getting ready for my exhibition as one of 3 signature artists for our local Art Center Fundraiser; Art in the Beartooths. I have been firing and doing a few re-firings. Making interesting discoveries , at least for me regarding slight differences in temperature for soluble salts.

Couple soda jar re-fires, there were some wadding bits from the lids that fell inside the jars that needed to be dremelled out. Touched up the glaze in the bottoms and fired them to ^6 in electric kiln. Lost a bit of the flashing colour but came out okay. 

Moving on from glazing bisque to finishing the edges/surfaces of greenware. When I do this I pretend I have no eyesight so I can feel my pieces; if they feel satisfying, they get to live; if I am not enchanted or intrigued when holding them, they gotta go.  (Oh good grief--I have a cultural appropriation (incorrectly called a waving lucky cat -Google "maneki-neko") on my workbench!! And there it will stay.)

Organic and dirty vs. clean and clinical, they both serve a purpose I think.

Not so much on the workbench, but finished and on the wall.

As I mentioned in the Events section, I have a big show coming up soon. Lots of good stuff coming out of the kilns now.

Nice work!
I never post anything here so here is a sampling of the weekend reduction firing. There are many talented artists at the studio (Clayspace ceramic arts center) that now excel at getting their favorite reduction, Carbon trapping, even ice crackle!
cool stuff and a fun mask almost sans eyeballs. Great group firings, time after time in an old Alpine updraft with some fancy digital stuff hooked to it.
 
 
 
 

This is a finished one of the oil bottles I posted a greenware photo of a few pages back, flashing slips, cone 10 soda. 

I made some new stuff for spring. 

Was kind of busy last week with trying to bisque a lot of the stuff taking up space, I got a lot cleared out, some winners some losers.  Here are some of the winners, a new glaze combo I really like.  I call it rotten melon 
 
 

Unloaded second glaze firing Sunday last, looking forward to th' third!
From top left, clockwise
  Some bmix bowls, teal blue, light blue gloss, variegated glazes; chattering highlighted with underglaze and/or glaze, clear over. Clear glazes crazed on every bmix piece except one, ; the other glazes behaved well, except the light blue crazed some over bmix
  Some red clay pieces, teal blue, variegated, white, faux celadon and clear glazes, chattering highlighted with underglazes
  bmix  bowls, light gloss blue over bmix
  Closeup of variegated over red clay; looks bluer over white clay. I love this one - from Bill van Gilder's book (the blue teal is from his book as well*)
  Closeup of faux celadon over bmix, same highlighted chattering; this is variation of Marcia's recipe
 
The lessons, so far, fairly typical
  sieve them glazes
  adjust sg and jellyness of glazes to hit thickness without running and dripping
  cone pack on each level
  be able to see the cones when approaching target temp
  be careful loading and unloading
  toss flawed pieces into recycle pile - don't let them take up time, nor space
  don' expect glaze that fits this clay ok to also fit that clay :|
  test test, learn learn, repeat
 
*I'll post recipes if anyone's interested

Round 1
 

I throw forms to practice and to test crystalline: the bowls mostly go to family members- 0 profit margin. The shows and shops around here are stuffed with $10 mugs, no need to even attempt competing.
i still make geometric tile: I rarely sell jobs; but when I do $$$$$. It works for me at the moment. I am currently working on a geometric pattern consisting of 12, 8, and 4" interlocking circles. The added bonus of having a professional CAD system, with a 24 x 36 printer- I can create  precise cut sheets.  One of my favorite patterns - makes for a beautiful shower.