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Getting the Lead Out

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I bought some commercial earthenware while in the city yesterday. Today I gave it a go and made some pitchers. I liked the way it threw, it was pretty tight and I was able to get the clay up and into the wall of the pots, getting the weight out of the bottoms. So these pitchers are much better than the ones from last week. I tried some fatter ones too, I've never been too great at making this shape but the one on the left is okay, and on the right too. That one in the center ...not so much. These will all get handles tomorrow. This clay is similar to the test batch I mixed up last week, so I am honing in on finding a clay I like. The first body I mixed had great qualities but it doesn't throw that well and it's just too short and course for me.
I decorated a few plates today and some bowls too. I am trying to leave some blank space.

These 16" dishes have lots of space. I guess I'm up to putting something on them. They will get slipped and drawn on tomorrow or Friday.

Treasures of The Earth

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We had a good turnout a the Treasures reception the other night. Here are a few shots of my booth and pots. My earthenware was well recieved and I sold a few plates, a square dish and a few small trays as well as some of my salt/soda work. The show is up for a month so I expect a few more things to go.

The Circle of Eight crew was well represented in the show. Here you see Greg Scott, me, Amy Sanders, Julie Wiggins, and Adrienne Dellinger. Jen Mecca was in the show too but couldn't attend the reception because she had a class to teach.

Spontanous Kiln Building

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Some spontaneous kiln building erupted today down in the shed. I got started after lunch and had all this done by 4:30 pm. I had to stop to come in and get supper going (more on that later).This is going to be my new bisque kiln and the kiln I fire my earthenware in. The walls are one brick thick which I think is fine for those temperatures. It is going to have a flat, ceramic fiber roof, and will be loaded from the front there. It will accommodate two 12"x 24" shelves. I think the stacking space will be about 10.5 cubic ft, depending on how far up I go with the walls.
I'm not sure of that flue dimension. It looks large but I went ahead with it. I can come in later and make it smaller, no problem.
I have been thinking about this kiln for a while so I should be able to knock it out in a few more sessions. You can see some plans for a similar kiln here. That kiln has 9" walls I believe and a brick flattop which looks like a total pain. If I were going to go to all that trouble I'd just build a sprung arch.
Okay gotta go for now

Morning Pots

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Ah, Monday morning. A fresh start in many ways. I am looking forward to getting out to the workshop. I don't think I'm gonna make pitchers today though. Maybe some bowls, a few bakers, and some plates. I did end up recycling all but one pitcher, they were just too heavy in the bottoms. I'll give it another shot later in the week.
These two pots have been my standards for quite a while now. The mug is by Doug Fitch. I use it daily. The bowl came out of my first earthenware firing. I also kept a plate with a bird drawing. I admit I was reluctant to begin using some of my earthenware pots. They were sort of like the new kids on the block, I had to accept them and see them as the good and meaningful additions to our home .

Sarah and I had a little talk about my red clay work this weekend. I am struggling with taking time to make new work and explore the firings and glaze. It is taking time away from the stoneware. I can't do both at the same time as my space doesn't allow for it. The stoneware is where I make my money, and I do have a couple shows coming up relatively soon. Sarah said she thinks I should pour myself into the earthenware if that's my desire and really just go for it. I can always work intensely in it for a few weeks and then hit the stoneware path again if I want. I admit I have trouble realizing that when I make a choice to do some thing that I can always change my mind or go back. Nothing has to be permanent. Nothing is in fact.

So I am going to stick with it for a while, make some pots, and rebuild my little updraft kiln so that's it loads from the front and convert it to a downdraft. I have all the materials to do this and it will probably take less than 2 days to complete.

Well I am off to work. Happy Monday!

House Work

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Sarah painted a bunch of quarter round moulding yesterday while I worked around in the kitchen getting things prepped to nail it down. I'll get up a shot of our new tile soon. We are very happy with it. Now we think we'd like to have some new cabinets.

More Tests

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I unloaded the test kiln Saturday morning and was happy to see my line blends came out well. I know these may look similar to some other tests from before, but this is a different base glaze with varying percentages of black iron (again). So I am learning new info each time. The first set it the glaze over white slip. (I didn't sieve the second to the right, so that's why it has the black specks, I sieved after that mistake).This second set is the same glazes but testing them over the white slip with a green pour.
My favorites from both sets are the two on the far right. This base glaze seems to be more stable and easier to apply than my previous test. I still have my amber that is working well. So I am honing in on what I want.

Regarding clay, I did mix up a small 10 # batch on Friday. I'm going to throw some small bowls and see how I like it. The clay I am using now is wonderful, but I think I may need to back off some of the course particles in it and have more of a variety of particle size throughout. I do love it's color though. The new batch is more of a brown, not that wonderful orange/red that comes from the Neuman brick clay.

Check Your Bearings

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I spent the better part of the morning tearing down my pugmill to replace a bearing. I had noticed it was completely worn out about 3 weeks ago. It took longer than I had anticipated; I ended up having to unbolt the motor so I could drive the shaft through till it was free. As you can see the old bearing was completely worn out and fell apart when I took it out. (I got my moneys worth out of that one for sure).
All fixed up and reassembled. I should have probably went ahead and replaced that back bearing too but I was too cheap to buy two new ones at the same time. It seemed to be in good condition so maybe it'll go another year or so.
So since I had the machine apart I decided to clean out the stoneware and pug some red clay. It was really wet but I went ahead and made a couple boards of soup bowls. I pugged out more clay to leave to toughen up for tomorrow. Maybe I'll make a few pitchers. I also mixed up a bigger batch of black slip so I can use it in the next go round.
All for now.

Last Ones

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I like drawing through the slip with my finger. It's very spontaneous and direct. The timing is important.I could apply this drawing through slip to my salt/soda glazed ware. I would probably darken up my body a little and switch to a palette of lighter slips, a whitish one and maybe a yellow. I am going to give it a try in my next firing (which I have put off for a week or so). I also know of some iron glazes that I could use in that high fire range that would be a honey or amber color. I would want to try some greens too.
I do like the shine of these pots. After doing sort of a muted surface for so long it's fun to have some shiney things.

Another reason that this earthenware work has appealed to me is that my fuel costs have gone up considerably in the last few years. Firing to a lower temp would be a good economical decision. However, the pots are what matters most, I must like them and be excited about the whole process. There are alternatives to propane for high temp firings. Wood, oil, and cooking grease/oil are all possibilities. For lower temps I could still use propane (but less of it per firing) or electricity, or again wood (which would be cool).
I have always kept my prices pretty low so locals could afford my work and so that folks would be more inclined to use the pots. Maybe I should re-evaluate this. I know it's kind of a dogma with me.
I had these two cups left over from a class demo. They got dry and I had no idea how to decorate them so they got dots. Easy.

More Pots

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Again the amber glaze. I liked the variation on these pots.
These trays ended up being tests in some ways. My black looks pretty good. I had made some corrections on the chicken and they showed up as whiter areas. So it's a bit blotched but okay. The white over the black was good. That tealy green is kinda weird.
I want to make more of these hump molded bowls.
Okay that's it for now. I have one or two more to show later. I guess out of the whole load I had about 10 rejects, 20 keepers and 5 or 6 that may be good enough to sell as seconds.
My goal is to have three slips: white, black and green and one or two variations on the amber, a dark and a light. I could do tons of things with these few materials. Also I am going to get Leon to help me with my glaze calculations.

I'll have a post later about how this all may translate to my salt/soda work.

Disappointed but Excited

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Well I may as well show you the rejects first. I have made this mistake before. I'll do a test and it will come out okay on a little tile. Then I'll mix up a small batch and proceed to glaze about 1/3 of the load with it. And of course they always never come out right. So here they are. I'm bummed they didn't make it but it's not a big deal really. I am still excited about the ones that did come out. So from here on out you can see I had pretty good luck with the glaze I had originally used in the last firing. It was darker this time. I fired hotter and longer. Of course I still have the crazing and some minor seepage but not like before.



I like these a lot. I am going to focus on this glaze that works and try some variations on the iron content as well.
I had a good conversation with Michael Kline over the weekend and he gave me the idea of maybe firing up to cone 1 or 3. That may be something I consider after weighing the pros and cons.

Unload, Glaze, Reload,Fire!

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I unloaded my earthenware from the kiln at the Arts Council today. I didn't blow anything up this time! Yea. It was a bisque firing and you can see I had some bigger bowls and some slab dishes. I also had some luncheon plates (which are off camera), a few tankards and pitchers.

I managed to get all this glazed and back into the kiln. I had to employ some creative stacking, but thanks to my years of packing my salt kiln I have lots of good knowledge. I recently bought some plate setters too and they came in really handy. Everything made it in except one small soup bowl.

The firing will be complete tomorrow afternoon and I hope to unload on Sunday.

Professional

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Earlier this week Sarah received a very special envelope in the mail. It contained her license accrediting her as a Licensed Professional Counselor, LPC. This is the icing on the cake for many years of hard work for her and she was beside herself when she opened the envelope. I am so proud of her. It was quite an adventure when she went off to graduate school for two years. We got through it and she graduated with a 4.0 grade point average.
She's been working in the field for a year and a half and is enjoying what she does. Being a therapist is what Sarah is meant to do. She will help many people along the road of life. I know she has enriched my life for the last 8 years. Congratulations my sweet wife.


On a side note re. therapy, HBO has a new series that aired this week. In Treatment. I caught two episodes this week so far. I'm hooked. I've had years of therapy, so this kind of thing appeals to me. It's well cast and the concept is really cool. You can find out more by following that link above.

Homemade pizza

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I made a couple pizzas last night using the pizza/flatbread dough recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. They were very tasty. I can't wait to have some fresh tomatoes and basil this summer. I also made up some homemade ginger beer/ale. It was pretty good too, but my recipe could use some tweaking.I'll be heading over to the Arts Council to unload the electric kiln later day. I'll glaze those pots and get it firing overnight. So I should have some pictures of earthenware no later than Monday I hope.



My friend Doug has started a blog on Blogger. He has had a blog for quite a while linked up to his website but you can find him here now, click on images, and leave him comments.

Welcome Thursday

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I started out with a post going on and on about how crazy yesterday was. But I'll just spare you the details and say "Welcome, Thursday!"

The workmen laid the tile in the kitchen yesterday. It looks good and will look even better when it's grouted and all the stuff is back in there.

I finished reading Danny Gregory's book Everyday Matters last night. I want to approach my drawing in a more relaxed way. Just have fun. I sometimes put off doing a drawing because of some lame excuse like, "there's nothing here interesting to draw", "it will take too long", " I have to get up off the couch". Lame, lame, lame. Danny once again has inspired me.

Hopefully I'll have some glazed earthenware to post by Monday!

I downloaded a trial version of Insight glaze software the other night. This could get addictive. It's one of those things that would keep me up till 2 am.

Time for breakfast, a drawing, and off to the Arts Council to check on my bisque kiln. Thanks for checking in. I promise to post some pottery images soon.

Tuesday Pottery Post

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Okay so today is basically a day to get ready to fire. I have to work out my schedule so I can fire a bisque and glaze load of earthenware at the Arts Council and a bisque and salt kiln load here. Both bisques will probably happen tomorrow and the salt kiln on Saturday (I think).

I have a workman coming tomorrow to lay ceramic tile in the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry hall. We have moved everything out of those areas so the house is in total disarray. Hopefully we'll be back to normal by Saturday.

Well I must get to work. I have to teach tonight so it's gonna be a long day ahead.

Get This Book

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My copy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day arrived yesterday. I am so excited to finally get it. I've been making the basic bread using their recipe for about 3 or 4 weeks now after hearing about the book on NPR. Now I can expand my repertoire.

If you want to make homemade bread I highly recommend this book. The method is easy to learn and truly takes only minutes a day of hands on time to bake a fresh loaf of bread ( and much more). As a matter of fact I baked a loaf this morning right after I got up. The house smells great.

I'll be trying out their pizza dough this weekend and I can't wait to make a loaf of rye.

Thanks to the authors, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois for a wonderful book.

Having Fun

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I decorated these earthenware trays today. They are around 4" x 6". I have a group of pots drying on the wood stove tonight including these. I'll be bisquing on Wednesday and want to get everything good and dry.

I had fun trying out a couple new deco methods here. The top right is white slip with some green slip 'hills' and a little incised bird. Below that I dipped the tray in white slip and then drew the chicken form in latex resist. After that dried I covered that in black slip and later peeled off the latex and incised some details. Lastly a few white slip dots over the black slip. The others are pretty self explanatory. That chicken is pretty cool, eh?
They will all get the amber glaze.
Cheers. Ron

New Tests

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I unloaded the test kiln this morning. Sorry that these pics are somewhat blurry. Hopefully you'll get the general idea.
This first image is an amber glaze. I tested a fritted clear glaze with 2, 4 and 6 % black iron oxide. (left to right) All over a white slip. My original amber was fluxed with Gerstley Borate and I thought I'd try a fritted glaze instead. It seems to have crazed less, although I wonder if I'll get some delayed crazing. Anyhow I like the 4% the best for most purposes, but the other two are perfectly acceptable also.
Next I tried these same glazes over a new green slip. These tiles were dipped in white slip and then the new green slip, part way down. Then the new fritted amber glazes 2, 4, 6 % left to right. I like the one with the 4% over this new green slip. The orginial green had 5% oxide so I decreased this down to 3% after looking at Clive Bowen's recipe for green slip. I do think I could put this new slip on a tad thicker and get more of a contrast with the white. (Notice that little thicker drip on the upper right corner of the middle tile).
Here is the fritted amber with 4% on the left, and the original gerstley amber with 8%. Both are nice and I will use both in this next load of pots to see what I like. I should have tested the fritted amber with 8% but it didn't occur to me at the time.
Some things to think about as I look at these...maybe I could have kept the original green at 5% oxide and it would look okay with the 4% amber. Also, my friend Leon suggested I try a white slip that is more vitreous. So I will work on that for future firings. He thought that may help reduce the crazing and I think maybe seal the body more.

Okay that's it for now. I have a few hours in town today...dentist, barber, library, post office and a trip to the hardware store. So I better get to work. I am getting ready to fire the salt kiln and a load of earthenware, so lots to do to prepare.