Cone 10 Gas Fire Workshop at Watershed

 This last weekend I attended a workshop at Watershed. We kindled the kiln overnight Friday and ran a firing cycle over about 10-11 hours on Saturday. We cracked the kiln open Sunday afternoon. 

 Storage jar with Celadon glaze.

 Bowl with Red Art Shino glaze.

 Jug with Malcom Davis (R.I.P.) Shino. The glaze was quite thick and went into the kiln quite wet. The white bumps are likely soda coming to the surface. The black tone is the result of carbon trapping.

 Jar with Tenmoku glaze

 Jar also with Tenmoku.

 Jar with Black 'Tea Dust' glaze.

Below are from my electric kiln this last weekend (it was a productive weekend).

Cone 5 fired with commercial glazes.

 The Tagine came out fine with an "Oatmeal glaze over the copper carbonate banding.

I made the mistake of firing the lid on three supports, I was worried the glaze was going to run. The lid warped a bit so that it doesn't flush with the base. I'll make another but I'm going to try to use this one anyway.

 Some Bowls...

 Yunomi..

Getting it spinning again.

Back to the wheel after about a month off.

  I've been wanting to try making a Tagine for a while. I have to admit I borrowed the decoration idea from Dan Unsworth of Ingleton Pottery. He has a video on youtube so I guess it's not a trade secret. I used stoneware clay and a slip with the same clay and cobalt carbonate for the decoration...I have no idea how that will come out. This Bmix-5  is a mid-range stoneware and I need to look for some glaze recipes for this next batch of work. I have been frustrated by the commercial glazes. I think the Tagine is usually made of unglazed earthenware which is seasoned in similar fashion to cast iron pans, oiled and heated.

Survivors of my last minute pre christmas Raku demolition firing.

 If you click on the picture it will enlarge and you can see the black specs in the bottom of this bowl. That's bits of crud that are falling off the kiln lid when I open it. It's why I'm not firing Raku until I reconfigure the kiln.

Biddeford Art Walk

Was a fun success.  Thanks to Tammy Ackerman, Biddeford Art Walk and Engine for organizing and a nice exhibition space on Main Street Biddeford.

This morning...

Raku too..

Hitting the bottle again...

... propane bottle that is.

Some more attempts at Raku today.

Yesterday I mixed some color into my base White Crackle glaze, cobalt carbonate for blue and copper carbonate for copper luster. The pink glaze is the cobalt carbonate. 

It was a nice day for November..

These little cups went first...a couple of them blew up..but I didn't perceive a problem so I continued with more..

 ..with any luck the videos will get better..

I have learned some lessons today and lost some work but I'm excited by the effects that I am starting to get. The tall vessels are all broken..i reconstructed them for the picture. The came apart as I pulled them from the kiln. 

The last four pieces came out better with a much slower ramp to temperature.

The knob on the left blew off in the kiln. That's probably due to the differential expansion where there is a change in thickness of clay (coupled with the fast heating).

I'm going public...ha ha!

I will be putting some of my pots on the block in Biddeford December 2nd. Come on down and be entertained.
http://biddefordartwalk.com/special-events/