Cone 6...second attempt.

 Throwing more high fire cone 10 for the wood fire workshop...this piece collapsed near the bottom so I hung it upside down to dry and expose the foot.

 Opening the kiln last night it was immediately evident that thinning the glazes has been a double edged sword. The principal brown glaze I applied to most of the pots is thin enough to feature the black spoting from manganese in the clay body but the accent  colors are weak and will be better with additional coats.

 These were glazed for the last firing but I couldn't fit them. I actually scrubbed off quite a bit of the glaze before firing them having learned something from the previous firing. Nonetheless,  I could have taken even more.

Cone 6 Update

 My first earthenware glaze firing went smoothly and has been instructive. 

 I put some shelves and a table for a glazing area.

 Loading stoneware for bisque fire.

 The stoneware is bisqued to cone 05. It will go to cone 6 with the glaze fire.

 A bucket of glaze. I have some loose instructions for mixing the dry powdered glaze ingredient with water..about a pound to 16 oz of water. Having seen the earthenware I know that's about right but that each color (mix) behaves differently.

 I've been applying the glaze by dipping pieces and pouring and brushing glaze onto pieces.

 After a couple of hours I have a batch for the kiln.

 

So this batch of Glazed stoneware was sort of a disaster. A couple of the glazes are shedding off or are full of air bubbles. I suspect I applied them too thick but it may have also been a problem of temperature.

The exterior of this piece is ok but the 'cracle' glaze I put on the interior looks like glass foam.

 Although the interior of the cup is not good I like the glaze on the exterior. The larger pot is the only piece that came through without major problems.

Another clay body...this is a high fire (cone 10) clay body that is suitable for wood fire.

I will have an opportunity to fire some pieces at a workshop in Newcastle,  Maine next month.

First rounds of heat work...so far so good

Over last weekend I began a test fire of the kiln. It reached around 800 degrees and I decided that I would shut it down because of a running concern I've had for the radiant tubing in the concrete floor. The floor was warm, not hot but I expect repeated ramping to over 2000 deg. F could have a negative effect on the in-floor heating. The $13 patio paver is an almost perfect solution. If I were two inches taller I could still pull the bottom kiln shelf out of the kiln without leaning on the side of the kiln. I have to stand on a thick board now. 

My first load of bisque ware fired to cone 05 1888 deg. F. 

Cone refers to a temperature measured by use of Pyrometric Cones strategically placed in the kiln. The spectrum of Cones start at 022 ( 1087 deg. f) steps up 021, 020 etc. to 01 (2046 deg. F), 1, 2 and up to Cone 10 (2345deg. F) Cone 05 is in the middle of the spectrum but is considered a low fire temperature. 

I think the handle was to thin and too long. It shrank in the firing at a different rate than the main body of the vessel.

 The bottom of this form was too thick and blew out.

 This handle survived.

 A pyrometric cone. It should be bent all the way over. As this is a bisque fire and not the final glaze firing I don't really care.  

The second load went without a hitch.

 The third load had some trouble. Maybe these were not properly dried out, and maybe it was the result of inconsistent  wall thicknesses.

 Thrown yesterday. Some more planters.

and some other things

A few test pieces with glazes

I mixed up some glazes for my low fire Earthenware.

So here are my first Glazed pieces...!!

They are not really pushed to a temperature that would take the colors to maturity..Cone 04 so I will put them in for one more go with a glaze fire load. The tests are helpful and indicate I should layer on more glaze.