LESSONS LEARNED
In an effort to fire several special plates, I put a shelf at the top of the kiln with an inch of space between the pieces and the lid.
RESULT: apparently the air was prevented from circulating correctly, and the heat was trapped inside the kiln getting the pieces too hot.
Several pieces bubbled, and two pieces warped.
This bowl warped and tipped a bit on its stilts. I wonder if the warping is because the white clay is a different strength than the brown? There are some cracks between the base and the wall also. A discard.
This bowl is Pansy Purple and the white over it is mottled. I thought the glaze was too thick so I put it on stilts to keep any runny glaze from sticking to the shelf. The wires of the stilts bent, the tips stuck in the clay, and the base of the bowl warped. Another discard!
This is the smaller of the the two baskets Karlee and I made. Too much heat caused the glaze to bubble. Hate to discard one made by Karlee, but...
The handle cracked on this pitcher and I prefer the flower motif done in purple as seen in an earlier post.
When the white glaze is very thick, as it was here, it has a tendency to "crawl", or separate leaving bare spots. In this case it is also over a layer of peachy shino. The effect might have been awesome on the side of a big vase, but not on the mouth of this one. Oh well.
The green on this vase is from copper carbonate slip painted on the leather hard stage. At the bisque firing it was an icky brown, but with the higher temps of the glaze firing it comes out a nice green! See the plate below.
This daffodil was in an earlier post when it was still bisque ware. Testing the Coyote Cone Six Buttercup glaze.
These are the three of the five plates I wanted to fire and which caused me to decide to put in a last shelf at the top of the kiln. Glad they came out ok. Too rough on the bottoms but I will reglaze them and fix that. Still getting used to how thick to paint the glazes.
Other than that it was an ok firing (I haven't shown you the acceptable pieces), except that the colors seemed to me to be quite ordinary—like a yard sale where nothing belongs to anything else and can’t quite stand alone.
There are several pots I’d like to refire, but will do that after all the bisque has been glazed, then go back for a final re-do load. Going to a fair in Smithburg the weekend of October 29-30 and want as many pieces finished as can get.
Back to the glazing table.
