Hijacked

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

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

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?