2nd-Chance-Art

Wood Fired, Salt Glazed

2011-05-24T17:01:00.003-05:00

Here are few pots from the last wood firing.

Blue No Blue

2011-05-24T15:18:00.006-05:00

Glaze testing. Recipes for glazes are everywhere. Just goggle. Or buy a great book like John Britt's "The complete guide to High-Fired Glazes" and you find pretty pictures and the listing of materials that if combined and applied will lead to beautiful pots. And they often do. But, somewhere there is fine print which basically says: "Your results may vary..." There are multitudes of reasons for this. The materials differ from mine to mine or even different locations in the same mine. Your application isn't the same. You don't follow the exact same firing schedule. Etc. Etc. So you do tests. As I am in search of my "style" and body of "coherent work", I try to put glaze tests into the kiln when I fire.

Recently I had the opportunity to do back to back firings in my gas fired Soda Kiln and then in my friend, Rob Harvey's, wood fired Salt Kiln. So I made duplicate test tiles for each kiln. The clay used was a stoneware made by Highwater Clay of Ashville, NC called Orangestone. The results were interesting and are shown below.

Okay, so? Well, they are different from kiln to kiln. Surprise? No. They are different from Soda to Salt glazing. Surprise? No. They are different from gas to wood fired. Surprise? Again, no. The tests also failed to find a nice blue. Lots of green, but blue? No.

So was it worth doing? You bet. I got two glazes that are working in both kilns right out of the box, Emily's Purple and Gold Shino. Plus a couple more that may work with a little more... glaze testing.

Results

2011-05-11T16:39:00.000-05:00

"Dude, that was an extreme sauna!!!"

Here is how the face jugs turn out.

And a few other occupants of the kiln:

I try to put in glaze tests in each firing. I had 8 in this kiln. Out of those, two are definitely keepers.

Are here is what they look like on some pots.

Cool Waiting

2011-05-08T12:19:00.004-05:00

I was just out peeking in the spy holes. The pyrometer is reading 540 degrees still so it is going to be a while. The rule of thumb I was given was that if you could stick a roll of paper into the spy hole and it didn’t burn or smoke, you could open the kiln. [Fahrenheit 451 for Ray Bradbury fans] I have done this, but found the “Ting Ting Ting” sound of the glazes crazing just too nerve racking. So, I go a little slower…

The process of the firing seemed to go well. I did it a little different this time. I have been starting the pilot burners at 10 or 11:00 pm the night before and letting them burn until I get up the next day and light the main burners. The kiln would reach about 450 degrees. This time I just left it until the morning of the day of the firing. I lit the pilots let them burn an hour and then cracked on the mains and let them burn an hour. From there I boosted the pressure 1 psi and hour until I reached 4 psi. I set then damper at 5 inches open and it is in cruise control. When Cone 010 goes down, I pull the brick out of the passive damper and let the kiln go for an hour in body reduction. Usually Cone 080 goes down during this. Back in cruise control the kiln climbs towards Cone 10 (~2350 degrees). I finished up maybe an hour later and saved a few bucks.

It is then time for the fun. I mix 3 gallons of hot water with 3 lbs. soda ash, 1 lbs. salt and ¼ lb. borax. I put this in a sprayer, open ports in the kiln and spray.

When Cone 10 goes down, I shut the burners off and let the kiln cool until 1900 degrees. At this point, I relight the burners and hold that temperature for an hour to foster crystal growth in the glazes. This adds depth to their color if I can get it to happen. The whole firing process is like that. You try your best to control it, but in the end, the kiln Gods give you what they want.

FiringToday!

2011-05-06T11:27:00.002-05:00

I swear as I was bricking the door, I heard this voice: "Help, Help! I am claustrophobic!"

After many delays and lots and lots of rain, Cone 010 is down and the kiln is in body reduction. Yea! And I have stuff in the Rob's Wood kiln ready to fire next week. And I have half a ware cart full ready to glaze.

Biggest news is that I have actually sold some pots. ART a la Carte is showing my work and sold some pieces! Not making a profit as yet, don't get crazy, but I did make enough to pay for firing the kiln!

Face Jug Play

2011-02-25T17:08:00.006-06:00

My engineering side has been dominating of late and I have been throwing on the wheel. So to shake things up a bit. I decided to try my hand at some face jugs. This has been on my to-do list for about the last 5 years (don't want to rush things). The first one is in the kiln undergoing a very long preheat to dry it out.

While that is going on, I finished number two.

And another is under plastic waiting to be smoothed out tomorrow. Got to admit, I have been having fun.

For some pictures of the results of the last firing, you can see them on Facebook

Juiced!

2011-02-07T22:32:00.003-06:00

The electric kiln is loaded and waiting on a few bowls to dry enough to fire. The kiln is a Cress E27 which has about 7 cubic feet of space. Therefore, it takes roughly about 3 loads of bisque firings to fill my gas kiln. Plus or minus a bowl or two.

I threw some "juicers" yesterday and they dried enough to trim today. I got the idea for these from Elizabeth Priddy. She is a North Carolina potter who lives and works in Beaufort on the coast. She had a "how to" on her web site a couple of years ago that I adapted. She has put this along with other "how to" projects on a DVD which she sells. She also has one on doing brush painting that looks interesting. Take a look.

The thing she didn't explain was how to trim them once they were thrown. The juicing cone makes working on them difficult. The first ones I did, I just carved off the extra clay with a fettling knife freehand. It worked, but I then thought up this system were I use a tin can, a coil of clay and my griffin grip.

The can is put in the griffin grip and the top edge is softened with the coil of clay.

There is a lot of extra clay around the bottom of the cone that needs to be removed. Below is the before.

And a couple of minutes later, here is the after.

The trim tool is one of Philip Poburka's Tungsten Carbide Cutters. I have had it about 3 years now and I still cut myself on it yesterday. Ouch! But it is a joy to use once you get used to it.

Trying to listen

2011-02-06T09:03:00.005-06:00

I know I am not very punctual about posting, but then again no one is waiting there with bated breath to hear what I have to say. It is my intention to do more... What is that quote about the road to hell?

The pictures of the pots from the last firing have been taken and are converted to "dng" awaiting my processing them. I just upgraded to Adobe CS5 so I am working through it slowly trying to catch up to the new software. Do I spend way too much time playing around with software? Aaah, yeah. Latest round has me lusting for a 64-bit box and operating system and the latest Cintiq tablet. Did I mention a Camcorder? Anyway, I will post some of the refined images soon.

I stumbled onto the following video. It was a couple of clicks away from one a friend pointed me to. That one was good, but this one really struck a note with me. It is by Evelyn Glennie. To quote "In this soaring demonstration, deaf percussionist Evelyn Glennie illustrates how listening to music involves much more than simply letting sound waves hit your eardrums." She talks about music and listening, but it applies so well to art and life. Listen.

And for a little comic relief, my cousin posted this on Facebook. A good chuckle for us who are exploring aging in real time.

Old Rock Star Songs from comedian Tim Hawkins. Classic Rock Songs updated for the singer’s age.

Hijacked

2011-01-19T08:31:00.002-06:00

The pots that were going to be fired from the last post were hijacked over to Rob's wood kiln and fired there. I got hijacked to do some engineering work so the kiln - and the blog - has sat waiting. Yesterday, I finally fired the kiln.

This was the kiln's first cone 10 firing. I have been thinking about moving to the cone 6 to 7 range (lower temperature) to save fuel and wear and tear on the kiln. It has been a debate going on in my head for quite some time. On the plus side is the savings in time, money and being slightly more "green" (if potters can be considered at all green in their processes). On the minus side is the change in glazes, experimentation required, and adjustments to aesthetics that are needed to shift from what I have been doing at cone 10. I think in the end I will make the shift, but in true Jody fashion, I will ponder it for a while longer.

However, I did want to prove that the kiln could fire to cone 10. That was the design temperature I set. The guy who sold me the burners for the kiln, advised that the kiln might not be able to make it to temperature and suggested bigger burners. I redid my numbers, checked them twice and stuck with the smaller burners (which are pretty damn big to begin with). But... I used to stand on the deck of the launch barge offshore, ready to push the structure off the barge into the water after 9 months of engineering and wonder, will it realy float like I calculated it would? They always did, but until it was out there bobbing in the sea, I kept running through the numbers in my head. So, at least once, I had to go to the design temperature of cone 10.

It made it no problem. In fact, I had to hold the burners back.

Kiln opening will be Friday. My youngest daughter is coming for a visit on her way back to Texas so I will wait until she is here.

Glaze and Load

2010-08-24T19:04:00.002-05:00

Slowly getting ready to fire the kiln in between house projects and yard work. Some quick shots to show the process. Cone packs tell you how much heat you have in the ware.

My friend Rob Harvey gave me a supply of wood ash from his wood stove. It has to be sieved through a series of screens to remove the large junks and make sure it is well mixed. The resulting ash is combined with a clay to make a glaze.

The shelves have all been cleaned and coated with a "wash" that helps prevent any glazes that drip from becoming a permanent part of the shelves.

For the bigger pots, the glaze is sprayed on.

Here are a few of the smaller pots waiting to be loaded.

More to come soon.

Life on the Ridge

2010-08-13T17:05:00.004-05:00

To do some more catch up, here is some of what I have been doing. The house renovation is coming along and I should be done in, oh, say maybe another 20 years! It does seem to go slow, but I am making progress. With the exception of a few retouches of paint, the downstairs bathroom is complete. It entailed building a removable wall to cover the mechanical equipment, installing a new shower, tiling the floor, installing a suspended ceiling and designing and building a custom vanity and medicine cabinet. Here is a picture of the vanity and cabinet.

Underway also is the redo of one of the guest bedroom. This required opening up the drywall, sealing the cinder-block foundation wall and then reinstalling the drywall. Have I mentioned that I hate drywall? I am also putting a sliding door on the closet, putting in new flooring and installing a suspended ceiling. Below is a picture of the ceiling in progress. On this one, I have a deadline. We have guests coming next month!

Here is a picture of the ceiling sitting on the floor which is resting on the dresser. Seems like there should be a country western song in there somewhere.

In the studio, glazing is the focus. The ware on the cart is about half done. I should be able to knock it out pretty quick...if I could just decide what I want to do.

The stuff in the bucket is wood ash. It is ready to process into a glaze. It always amazes me that burnt wood can make a glaze.

And what glaze(s) should go on these?

Back

2010-08-12T21:39:00.006-05:00

Okay, this is the post where I say I haven’t been posting for a while, give a bunch of lame excuses and promise to do better. So…haven’t posted…poo-poo occurs and I will more than likely be as random in my postings as before. There now that is done.

I have fired the kiln twice and I am still figuring it out. Once was a glaze firing and once was a bisque firing. Both went OK, but being an engineer I am always going to “improve” things. Thus far I have reduced the height of the bag wall and moved the set up by using a half brick under the first shelves instead of a quarter. I have also discovered that I can overpower the kiln with the burners at pressures above about 4 psi. You can’t open the damper far enough to keep it out of reduction at above 5 psi. The burners are just pushing too much gas in. So I am going to try a different firing schedule this next time. Here are some pictures from the glaze firing.

So we are caught up. I will be firing the kiln again soon and will post some on how it goes. No, really. I mean it, I will. OK, I will try hard to…

Squatter

2010-01-13T16:59:00.004-06:00

A neighbor decided, seeing as I wasn’t using my kiln, he would move in. It has finally gotten warm enough to get outside and I un-bricked the door of the kiln after having run test firings before Christmas and the cold spell. When I got the door down, I found all sorts of leaves and grass.

When I took out the last pair of shelves, I found a very upset rat. (and I do mean rat, not mouse) He was quite ticked off that I was disturbing the excellent nest he had finished building in the last two weeks.

He got evicted without any notice at all. Hopefully the weather will stay warm enough so I can finish off throwing pots, glaze and load the kiln for its first “real” firing.

Got to watch them neighbors here in Tennessee. Just before Christmas, we had a mountain lion (and I do mean eastern cougar, not Bobcat) walk across the edge of our yard. Maybe I could introduce them...

The pressure is on!

2009-12-10T07:51:00.003-06:00

Middle Tennessee Gas Company came out in the rain and put pressure gauges into the system at several places. One before the regulator, one after the regulator before the meter, one right after the meter and another where the line change to 1/2 inch piping. Now with the two gages I have at the burners, that makes 6 gages in total. What fun for an engineer!

Took just a minute of running the system to determine that the orifice in the regulator was too small. It took just another minute for them to replace it. The pressure at the burners is where it was designed for.

Now, it is time to make some ware and see if it will reach temperature. [It also has to get warm enough so all my clay isn't frozen solid]

Close, but no cigar

2009-12-02T11:15:00.003-06:00

The gas company's contractor and installed the new flow suppression device. I was banging away on my computer when I heard the backhoe.

The device is really nothing more than a spring and a ball. In the small one that was in there, you can blow into the end and make it close.

The scale of the photos distorts the difference in size. The new one is about 4 times as large. You can blow yourself blue; you won't get this one to close.

I was curious about how they connect the pipe. It is welded using "irons" that they heat to about 450 degrees.

They have mechanical guides the bring the pipe together once they apply the heat to it. Makes sense, just never seen it done before.

The whole process of changing out the device took less than an hour.

After they had the new device installed, I fired up the burners for another test. No shut down, but it still is not developing they pressure I want. My guess is that we have the kiln piping undersized and are not getting the flow needed. The gas company is coming out next week with pressure gages and we are going to troubleshoot the system. I think I will run some numbers and give Ward Burners a call.

That's why you do tests

2009-12-01T08:05:00.002-06:00

Been off on a trip to Florida to help my daughter move and attend a family Thanksgiving reunion. It was fun, but now its back to kilns and pots. I was inspired by a stop to the Clay & Paper gallery in Dunedin, FL. I got to see a number of potter's work including McKenzie Smith's. I took a workshop of his acouple of years ago and I really enjoy both him and his ware.

The test went well up to the point where I tried turned the burners up to full operating pressure. I turned up one burner and was only able to get 5 psi. I tried to turn the other up and the pressure on the whole system dropped to less than 0.5 psi. I shut the system in and went away for about 30 minutes and then tried relighting pilots and burners. They worked as before the drop. I slowly turned both burners up and when I got to 4.0 psi on both burners, it shut in again. Had to be a safety device on the line. I checked with the engineer at the gas company and he said it could be the regulator or a federally mandated flow suppression device that was under sized. They are due here in a little while to dig up the line at the connection to the town supply main to replace the flow suppression device with a larger one. Then they want to run the burners at maximum pressure to verify that was it. I am warming the kiln just because I am a little nervous about throwing that much heat at a cold kiln.

Hopefully, this will get me my 6 psi design operating pressure.

Kiln done, commisioning underway!

2009-11-14T09:55:00.005-06:00

I lit the remora burners (pilots) this morning and the kiln is drying out. I am holding it at about 225 degrees for a few hours. Then I am going to ease it up to red heat to get a feel for it. Then, I really need to start making pots.

One of the last tasks was to put a "wash" on the hard brick to help them withstand the effects of the soda/salt. The product I am using was recommended by Larkin Refractory Solutions. It is a high alumina refractory plastic (Econoram 90 TR by Pryor Giggey Co.)

I also added the IFB floor to the firebox and floor flue. The IFB was dipped in the Econoram wash before placing. Hopefully, these will help protect the hard brick in these high heat, corrosive areas. I had a couple of Super Duty hard bricks to use as target bricks.

I cut 9" sections of a kiln shelf to use as the interior flue roof. When I am using soda/salt I will use coils of wadding to keep these from glazing to the floor.

This is how the shelves layout. As you can see the hot gases are forced to the center under the set to leave the kiln. Hopefully, this will give uniformity in heat top to bottom, front to back.

When I start up this morning, I used a weed burner through the passive damper hole to heat the chimney and start the draw. I don't think this is going to be necessary except in really cold weather and maybe not even then.

Well , the first step in making pots is cleaning up the studio. It has really gotten trashed the last couple of weeks.

Topping out!

2009-11-11T15:56:00.006-06:00

When they finish the framing of a tall building they "top" it by erecting a Christmas tree on the highest steel. I didn't feel the Christmas tree thing, but thought a salt/ash glazed jug might do the job. The kiln is about 99% done.

Here are some pictures of the cutting through the roof and flashing out the opening.

I didn't quite get it. One side held water out fine, but the other leaked badly.

Looking at it, I can see where the caulking needs to go. I am thinking of using a "tar" to fill the pools that form up slope from the chimney. The other option is to fabricate some metal flashing to do the same thing. As I don't have metal forming tools this might be a little challenging.

I also had a problem with some of the silcon caulk I used. It didn't set and washed out in the rain. I wiped it off and will replace it with a better brand of caulk.

I have all my shelves loaded into the kiln to dry out in a test firing. They had been kept in a wood box under tarps, but moisture got in. It seem to cause the coating that the shelves are covered with when shipped into an acid which etched itself into the shelf. Below is a picture of the most damaged. Not the best.

I will cut the bricks for the door and then slowly get it hot!

I've got gas!

2009-11-06T09:11:00.003-06:00

Middle Tennessee Natural Gas came, set the meter and hooked the piping. I decided to have them do the plumbing. They have the tools, the materials, etc. and it seemed to make them more comfortable. As the kiln operates at a pressure way above normal house pressure, they raised an eye brow or two when I started talking to them about the kiln. They did a good job and I have to admit I would have taken far, far longer to do it. I have even lit the burners - sweet.

Here are a few shots of the arch construction. I changed the design a bit. I had enough "extra" IFB to add a layer. So the make up is, hard brick arch, two layers of kaowool, a layer of IFB, another layer of kaowool, chicken wire and finally a covering of Insulating castable. Hopefully that will keep the heat in.

I cut the hole through the roof yesterday and flashed it. Today, it is time to stack chimney brick.

Fuzzy Bricks

2009-11-05T08:37:00.003-06:00

When I went out to the kiln to work the other day, I found fuzzy bricks on the chimney!

I suspected that it had something to do with moisture and sodium silicate, but I called Jim and Pam down at Larkin to make sure - they said don't panic, just shave them and go on. They confirmed my suspicions. Now how do you shave a brick? Does Gillette have a special blade for that?

It may be Fall, but its Sprung!

2009-10-30T11:08:00.004-05:00

The last couple of days have been long anticipated. The burner supports were fabricated by my friend Steve and I installed them. The burners are waiting now for Middle Tennessee Natural Gas to come set the meter and pipe them. The engineer called to size the meter, so I know I am in the queue.

After all the worrying, fussing and general just plain thinking about it, it took less than two hours to set the support form, add the bricks and then remove the support.

So here is the arch in-place.

If I am not careful, I might actually have a kiln soon and get back to making pots instead of kilns.

Don't pay the ransom!

2009-10-27T10:18:00.007-05:00

I have escaped from the kidnappers! Okay, maybe I wasn't kidnapped. I just haven't been posting.

First, congratulations to "Hoosier Mama" and her first firing of her new salt kiln. It was also her first firing of a gas kiln! Way to go - be sure to check out her blog Hoosier Mama Now to see her results

Despite the lack of posts, progress is being made and I am getting a hazy view of the end. I completed the arch support and my friend Steve took my drawings and fabricated the kiln's steel work.

The arch support is rather simple construction, just some OSB and 2x4 cross members.

I found some fiberboard at Loews that was $7 for a 4'x8' sheet.

I clamped it on, traced the shape and cut it with my trusty jig saw.

This is the finished support ready to put in the kiln.

Here is the steel work fitted onto the kiln.

This is an outside view of the arch constraints.

And here is an end view of the skew bricks, the backing bricks and the steel constraints.

Steve also did a great job of fabricating the burner supports. I will install these and post pictures as soon as its stops raining.

Passive Damper and Arch Support

2009-10-10T13:14:00.003-05:00

This week has slipped by and it seems like I have been a slacker. I guess I am slowing down as I approach the 60 years on this planet milestone. It may be just the age or it may be that the city frenzies are fading into the past. I did get a bunch of bowls glazed and fired for the Cookeville Cooking on the Square event. This benefits Habitat for Humanity. Below are the hand built bowls that I whined about not caring for earlier. I still am not fond of them, but the glazing almost saved them. They were fired in oxidation to cone 7 with a Mid-South Opulence glaze called antique iron.

I have brought the chimney up and constructed the passive damper. This is basically a hole to open to decrease the "draw" up the chimney. It is used to make small adjustments as compared to the active damper. The next task on the stack is to cut a hole in the roof and continue up to its full height.

I started the arch support for springing the arch into place. Below you can see it laid out on OSB.

I traced the curve onto the OSB and then used a compass to offset the curve by the thickness of the plywood that I will use to cover the support.

Here are the support ends cut out by my trusty-rusty Sears jig saw. This was my father's. He had it a few years and I have had it about 20 years. Still going strong (but I have my eye on a DeWalt 18v cordless).

Steve, who is going to do the metal work for me, called and if things go as planned, that should get done next weekend.

Active Damper

2009-10-02T04:56:00.004-05:00

I built the damper yesterday. After a lot of back and forth in my mind about how to do it, I settled on slicing the brick lengthwise and using a piece of angle iron. The pictures pretty much tell the story.

I am using Alsey Motar on the chimney to better seal it and hopeful promote a good draw. I will go another few layers with the high duty bricks and then change over to the medium duty to complete. I also intend to add at least one passive damper.

Skewed!

2009-09-25T15:00:00.005-05:00

Layer 18 is in and it is time for the arch once I get the metal work fabricated and installed. I also need to make an arch support. But this is a milestone.

I was pleased that the tops of the skew bricks are level and even.

The plane of layer 18 seems to be within 1/8 inch, which also pleases me. Of course, this will all change when the bricks start moving around during firing, but it is a good start.

Back to work

2009-09-22T08:26:00.006-05:00

I finally gave up waiting on the rain and started working on the kiln between showers. Row 14 is done leaving only 4 more rows to go before the arch goes in. I am going to do some electric kiln testing today, with some test tiles thrown in, but should be able to dodge the showers and get a layer or two more completed. I have a friend who is going to do the metal work for me. I need to get him a material list so he can order the angle iron and square tubing. I briefly thought about buying a welding machine and learning how to weld, but my mother's voice still rings in my ears about risking my one good eye (I lost an eye to an accident when I was about 3 years old).

After several years I finally got around to trying Wes Smith's suggestion of "marks of addition". He noted during a critique, that my work was all "marks of subtraction". He was right - but it takes me a while to get around to things (just ask my wife, Elise). Here is the vase I was coil-throwing. It is about 23 inches tall. The medallions and dragons are from a sprig mold that I bought.

Here is a shot of the sprigs.

Not all experiments are successful. These are the extruded hand built bowls that I was working on. I am not happy with the results, but will fire them and glazed them for the Habitat for Humanity Bowlathon in Cookeville. They may be bad bowls, but they will help in a good cause.

As you can see, I have been playing around with the HTML and CSS. I still need to fuss some more, so expect things to change a bit more - when I get around to it.

Rain

2009-09-17T00:03:00.003-05:00

Middle Tennessee got a good dose of rain today. There was some flooding over in Cookeville which is about 30 miles away. So I decided to work in the studio and actually do pottery. I extruded some square tube that I am going to try and make bowls out of. And I did some coil-throwing as you can see below. I tried using a fan and a light blub to stiffen up the clay instead of my usual weed burner. It seems to be a gentler way. The weed burner brutalizes the clay.

The other task was to check the kiln's temperature readings versus my pyrometer. As expected it showed that the kiln is reading cooler than it should. It was colder by 20 to 30 degrees. So it over fires by about a cone at cone 6. So now I can calibrate the controller. I made up some cone packs for that.

Craft Fair Done, whew!

2009-09-14T13:39:00.004-05:00

Craft fairs are tiring. I survived without my ego being completely brutalized and met my goal of coming home with fewer pots. People admired the big churns, jugs and art pieces, but they bought small bowls, tumblers, tiles and business card holders. Actually, it was the other vendors that bought the business card holders. So, do you change what you make? Another question I face is that I fire in a number of different kilns and atmospheres: from oxidation in an electric kiln to wood, fired salt kiln. Should you try to tell the customer how it was produced? Is it a matter of disclosure? Or should you go into the spiel just if they ask? Or do I limit myself? Or would that be better said as to focus myself?

Things that worked:

1. Presorting, pricing and placing the ware into plastic tubs.

2. Not cramming the display with all the ware at once. The tubs were placed under the tables where things could be pulled out to replace something that sold.

3. The TrimLine Craft Tent. While it does take longer to put up, it seems to be real solid and might have a chance in a stiff wind.

4. Relaxing and just chatting with people.

Things that sort of worked:

1. Paper bags that I bought at Sam's club. People really want something to carry away their stuff in. I got the 25# bag, which worked well for small stuff, but started to be a problem as the stuff got bigger. I need to find a cheap solution for a larger bag with handles.

2. Table layout. It is just adequate. Need to improve with pedestals and shelves.

3. Money handling. The first day I just used an envelope in my pocket. The second I used a money belt we had bought when traveling to Europe. Neither worked well. Most of the vendors used a “cash box”, but one had his stolen out of his booth while he stepped out for just a moment.

4. Firing@CreekBendPottery blog. There was a lot of interest in this. Need to clean up the concept and integrate it into a total marketing plan. Yeah, that is going to happen ;-)

Three moments for me to smile about. One was a young lady, maybe 19 or 20. She came in and spent a long time looking at a little faceted bowl. It was the size you might use for paper clips maybe a little bigger. It was salt glazed. I had it priced really cheap as it took no time at all to do. You could tell just by the way she looked at it, it had found a home. It makes me happy to know that. Next, a wood sculptor and his wife, a fiber artist came in. At the last show, I had traded with them and they had ended up with, among other things, a small cereal sized bowl. Well, it seems this bowl had been causing marital strife. Each morning it was a conflict on who was going to use the bowl. So, they bought another. He came in on day two and said that things had gone better at breakfast. Made me chuckle. And last, a lady spotted a tile I had done with a pig sculpted on the face. She bought it. Her friend asked her what in the world she was going to do with that? She said, I don't know, it just makes me smile. And that makes me smile.

Now, back to kiln building. Tomorrow, today I rest.

Off to White Oaks Craft Fair

2009-09-11T21:30:00.003-05:00

The tent is up and the ware is unloaded. Tomorrow morning it is off early to finish the set up. Hopefully , the weather will be good and the people will come.

We opened the wood kiln this morning. See Firing@CreekBendPottery.

Waiting on the kiln opening.

2009-09-09T20:35:00.004-05:00

Even though I only have one pot and 9 test tiles in the kiln, I can't wait to un-brick the door and see what the Kiln God gave us. I posted some pictures of the firing on Firing@CreekBendPottery.

I had some sad news this weekend. The small catenary arch, test kiln named "Kitten" that I built at the Appalachian Center for Craft is no more. Owing to a problem with the soda kiln, the bureaucrats in TTU's administration decided that the kilns had to be moved from where they have been for the last 20 years. Kitten just wasn't made to be portable. Oh well, she served well for a while.

I am anxious to get back to building my kiln.

Done firing

2009-09-09T04:08:00.002-05:00

We finished salting the kiln at 3:45 AM and I just got home at 4:00 AM. Will post pictures and details on firng@CreekBend Pottery after I catch some sleep. It seemed to go well.

All Loaded and fring!

2009-09-08T10:58:00.003-05:00

The kiln is all loaded and firing started this morning at 5:45 Am. I will be off to do some shifts at stoking (and eating the pizza that has become a traditional dinner during firing). I made out my to do list this morning and I can see I will not get back to kiln building until next week. One of the things I have to do is sort all my ware and price it for the craft show. I hate putting prices on stuff. I just don't know what to charge. I know that I am building up an inventory, so I need to get it out the door - one way or another.

If you want to follow the firing see firing@creekbendpottery.

Wood Firing at Creek Bend Pottery

2009-09-07T09:58:00.004-05:00

Last week it was DIY, this week it is a firing of the wood kiln tomorrow and the White Oak Craft Fair in Woodbury, TN at the end of the week. If you are interested in following the firing I will be posting on the blog Firing@CreekBendPottery over the next couple of days. If the craft fair is successful, I may post some about it here. If it is not, I may be hiding under a basket somewhere...

DIY Attack

2009-08-31T08:15:00.002-05:00

The kiln has been put on hold for a few days. We have a visitor coming so I decided to tear out the disgusting carpet in the guest bedroom and put down new flooring. No problem, one day job. This, of course, lead to the discovery that moisture had seeped through the cinder-block and caused damage to the drywall. So...out came the drywall and I am sealing the block and rehanging the dry wall, taping and floating it, painting the room...and then putting down the new flooring. All with a deadline. Where's HGTV?

Porch Thoughts

2009-08-28T09:10:00.002-05:00

My eyes scanned the green wall of trees this morning as I sat drinking my coffee this morning. I was looking for hints of the coming fall. They were there; very subtle, but they were there. A few leafs gone to orange, yellow and brown with a worn, tired look to the rest. We had a cold front slide through a few days ago and it signaled to the hummingbirds that it was time to take their long journey south again. A few still hang on, like the last guests at a party unwilling to call it a night. I love the celebration of fall with its bright colors and invigorating weather. The time of year makes mindful the cycles of life that the seasons unfold. The birth of spring, youth of summer, the full bodied maturity of fall and the quiet passing of winter. My mind scans myself, fully seeing the autumn within.

Devil in the Details

2009-08-27T07:52:00.005-05:00

What they don't mention is that bricks, Super, High, Medium and Insulated Fire Brick (IFB) are not the exact same size. I am using the 3" x 4 1/2 x9 inch series of brick and have mixed the various grades of bricks in the kiln. I used Super duty around the firebox, High duty for the inner shell and medium duty for the door and upper chimney. The outer shell is made from IFB. As you can see from the photos below, these bricks differ just a bit in height. If you are using a mortar, then the difference is taken care of. I am doing a bit of mortar in critical areas, but for the most part I am dry stacking the bricks with just a skim coat of fire clay and sand to seal and level a bit.

So at the header course, I have to deal with cutting the IFB back level to the hard brick. A pain, but not too bad as the IFB easily cuts with a hand saw. Unfortunately, my brick saw will not handle the brick on edge without making a double cut. The 4 1/2" is just too tall to make the cut in a single pass. Only two more header layers to go, layers 14 and 18. Layer 18 is the base for the arch.

Sunrise over the Highland Rim

2009-08-26T09:54:00.004-05:00

Greeting me this morning as I stumbled my way to go for my jog was the sun coming up over the Highland Rim here in Tennessee. It is one of my joys.

The MOMA in NYC put out a facebook post yesterday that I enjoyed. It was a video on MIT TechTV called Metropath. Being an engineer/artist or is that artist/engineer or maybe enginartisteer, I really enjoyed the concept. It is worth a look see.

As to being a very anal retentive engineer, here is a new use for a banding wheel: a transit. I use it to find the high corner.

Change Order

2009-08-25T05:41:00.005-05:00

I decided to make a change to the design, I wasn't happy with the way the door was going in. I was fussing a bit of the hard brick sitting on the IFB with it being put up and taken down with each firing. So.. I did the following:

I got layers 7 and 9 in. Now it time for a header layer - and mow the lawn,

Burn, baby burn!

2009-08-24T08:54:00.003-05:00

I mentioned the burners yesterday so I thought I would show a picture of one of them. I bought two from Ward Burner Systems. They are a Ransome B4 Venturi burner with a BASO safety system and a Piggyback Venturi pilot. They are ported for natural gas and I intend to operate at up to 6 psi. I had to work with the gas company to make sure they would supply gas at this pressure. They were extremely helpful and actually ran me a dedicated line for the kiln at no cost to me. They hope to make their money back in the usage. I hope they do, too.

Yesterday, as promised I pretty much took the day off. I did unload the cone packs from the test firing of my electric Cress kiln and found as suspected that the controller is firing it too hot. I set it for cone 5 and when I pulled the packs cone 7 was down on all three packs that I put in. Good news is that they were even from the bottom of the kiln to the top. Now, I will have to see if I can get it calibrated.

My friend Ellen accused me of talking engineer speak yesterday. This is more potter speak, but a couple of terms that people might not know. Venturi burners use the release of gas at pressure to cause a vacuum to pull air into the burner to mix with the gas and then burn. The effect is named after Giovanni Battista Venturi (1746-1822)

Cones or more correctly, pyrometric cones are means of judging the temperature of and amount of heat that has been added to the pots. In the new computer controlled kilns, the internal program tries to match the way these physical cones work. Sometimes the computer gets off and you have to wack it a couple of times to get it back on track - just like me.

The Goal

2009-08-23T09:02:00.010-05:00

Here are a couple of views from my Rhinoceros 3D model of the kiln. This is what I am trying to take from virtual space into studio space. This is revision B as it originally was about 30% larger, but John Britt convinced me that a smaller kiln and cycling more was a better learning tool. And that is where I am definitely at - just beginning to learn. It has about 22 cf of stacking space which I can fill in a couple days of throwing so turn around time on firings, considering a bisque fire, glazing, firing and clean up could be as short as two weeks.

As you can see it is a downdraft with a below the floor flue exit. I like to make tall pots so I made the kiln taller than usually would be recommended for its width. I am hoping with the floor flue I can get a uniform temperature top to bottom. I know I am going to have to empirically play with the bag wall once the kiln is done. That is unless someone wants to donate a huge amount of money so I can do a thermodynamic finite element analysis of the forced convection system. There are going to be two Ransome B4 venturi burners on the chimney side.

Yesterday I completed layer 7, today - I am taking the day off.

2009-08-22T10:17:00.006-05:00

I am picking up the building of the kiln in mid-process. I hope to show the design and construction from the start, but if I try to do that here and now...well, it just won't get done. So we start at layer 5 for now and the rest will come...really.

Layer 5 is a header course where the bricks go cross ways. The purpose of doing this is to add stability to the wall. I struggled to get this level as the hard brick on the inside isn't exactly the same height as the Insulating Fire Brick on the outside. I am also fighting a bit of a sag in the middle of the left side wall. It is not big, but enough to bug me.

The next layer, 6, has the ports for adding the soda/salt. I am planning on using a sprayer and with the soda ash and/or salt dissolved. The ports are 3" x 3". The original design had ports only on one side of the firebox, but I decided to add them to both sides to give me a little more ability to get the glazing uniform.

2009-08-21T09:10:00.003-05:00

Here in the country, we do not have the hustle and bustle of the city. I do not miss the traffic jams on I59 or I10 in Houston at all. Or the pace of always having to be on the move and doing something that the urban life seems to foster.

But we do have severe air traffic control problems! The landings and take offs from the "airport" on the porch are frequent and chaotic. We have two feeders and get gatherings of 18 to 20 birds in the dawn and sunset hours - rush hour traffic! The birds are fearless. I can stand out by the feeders and they will come within arms reach, hover and look at me like "and what do you think you are doing here?"

2009-08-20T20:24:00.007-05:00

This blog has been sleeping for a long, long time. No excuses. Just haven't been posting. However, I think that it is time to wake up the sleepy head and reconnect with the world. I guess my river buddy and glass artist Ellen has inspired me. I will try to post more often.

A good deal has changed since the last post. I am no longer studying at the Appalachian Center for Craft and have been building my own studio. The studio is located at our home on Puckett Point Road in Smithville, TN. It has taken a while, but the studio is operational and I have been throwing, firing bisque and glazing. For glaze firing I have been working with my friends at Creek Bend Pottery and doing wood-fire, salt glazed ware. If you are interested in the process of wood firing and salt glazing, please see the blog Firing@CreekBend Pottery.

Just recently I did an oxidation firing in my Cress E27. While this firing range isn't my first love, I think I will do some ware this way. Below is a picture of a pitcher from that firing.

2007-01-12T12:25:00.000-06:00

Laughter and Tears: Ralph Wilber Windus June 1, 1920 - January 28, 1987

2006-10-27T20:29:00.000-05:00

The next load ready for their first firing.

2006-10-27T20:26:00.000-05:00

The latest Salt firing results are shown below. Here is the kiln hard at work. The firing took 27 hours.

2006-10-27T20:25:00.000-05:00

2006-10-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

2006-10-27T20:22:00.000-05:00

2006-10-27T20:21:00.000-05:00

2006-10-27T20:19:00.000-05:00

2006-10-27T20:18:00.000-05:00

2006-10-27T20:15:00.000-05:00

2006-10-27T19:08:00.000-05:00

As a note to my avid blog followers (yeah, right), I had some good fortune. While I was in Norway doing some engineering, Elise got a knock on the door. It was a lady from Nashville who had seen my pots sitting on the porch and she wanted to meet the potter. Elise told her I was in Norway and showed her about. Turns out she was the Director of External Affairs for the Tennessee State Museum and liked my big pots. She left an email address and after my return from Norway I took a number of pots to Nashville to the Museum. The Museum Director and Curator also like them. The Museum acquired 3 for their collection and the curator bought one for his private collection. I had brought in some of the smaller ware and the gift shop took that in on commission. I am still a bit in shock.

2006-06-09T18:06:00.000-05:00

You heard of the Art Deco Style, well here is a stair case in the "Art DeKalb" style. (We live in Dekalb county, TN)

2006-04-29T19:48:00.000-05:00

Below are a few pictures of the ware from the last salt firing. This firing process uses rock salt to glaze the pots. When the kiln reached about 2350 deg. I put 20 lbs of salt into the kiln over about a hour and a half period. The kiln was really cranky this time so it did not reach temp until 5:ooam in the morning after having fired for almost 24 hours. The process of putting the salt in the kiln is a little like a dance. There are four ports that you can open. You pour the salt along a piece of angle iron with a long handle, open a port, shove it in and then flip it over into the fire box where it vapourizes. It snaps and crakles and the heat is intense. After waiting for 5 to 10 minutes, you then go to the other corner on the other side of the kiln and repeat the process. And then you waltz to another corner, repeat and then on to last corner and repeat. You dance with fire and vapor.

2006-04-29T19:46:00.000-05:00

Extruded Vase

2006-04-29T19:43:00.001-05:00

Extruded Vase

2006-04-29T19:43:00.000-05:00

Gold Shino Vase

2006-04-29T19:41:00.000-05:00

4 Cow Butter Churn (28" tall by 9" Dia.)

2006-04-29T19:38:00.000-05:00

Jar / Vase

2006-04-29T19:37:00.000-05:00

Extruded and Hand Built Pitcher

2006-04-29T19:36:00.000-05:00

Wine Glasses

2006-04-29T19:33:00.000-05:00

April 2006 Salt Firing

2006-03-27T10:20:00.000-06:00

Jug with Helmur slip

2006-03-27T10:13:00.000-06:00

Vase/Crock with Carmel Yellow Glaze and Ash Glaze outside plus Apple Green galze inside.

2006-03-27T10:11:00.000-06:00

Bowl with Carmel Yellow Glaze and Ash Glaxe

2006-03-27T10:09:00.000-06:00

Jugs with Ash Glaze

2006-03-27T10:08:00.000-06:00

Salt Kiln Firng March 2006

2006-03-27T10:03:00.000-06:00

Happiness is sleeping in the sun!

2005-12-07T19:06:00.000-06:00

This bottle stands about 32 inches tall. The diameter is about the same as the other one. The salt firing took 34 hours after 12 hours of preheat. Sleeping by a kiln on a cold December night was interesting.

2005-12-07T18:59:00.000-06:00

My first firing of the salt kiln - The vessel in front was 40 inches tall when hand built from slabs. It shrank to 39 inches when dry and I guess it is about 38 inches now. Diameter started at about 15 inches.

2005-11-02T19:49:00.000-06:00

Ok - it was an experiment! Wheel thrown base, extruded middle section and hand built top and handle.

2005-11-02T19:47:00.000-06:00

Strap Detail

2005-11-02T19:45:00.000-06:00

Yard Sale

2005-11-02T19:43:00.000-06:00

The latest set of Big Boys 11/2/05

2005-10-19T18:55:00.000-05:00

First try at "Naked Raku." And I thought it was pottery performance art by brave nudists!

2005-10-19T18:49:00.000-05:00

Winnie Blue

2005-10-19T18:47:00.000-05:00

Last glaze firing - big boys

2005-10-18T18:27:00.000-05:00

The Cookie Monster at large!

2005-10-18T18:22:00.000-05:00

Just finished a glaze firing - will have pictures soon.

2005-10-18T18:20:00.000-05:00

This work was a crock! (This bubba cracked during bisque firing)

2005-10-18T18:18:00.000-05:00

Work in progress. (Unfortunately, the 3 foot high vase to the left fell off the cart and was destroyed)

2005-10-18T18:04:00.000-05:00

To this... The ongoing big design project.

2005-10-18T18:02:00.000-05:00

From this...