This half of a year did have some good news such as this vase
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To steal a quote from your high school reading list: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times!"
This gap in the notes was due to a gap in results over the summer as we (1) fought with learning the new gas kiln; (2)had a lot of weather issues; and (3) were being very busy catching up with firing after class started in August. In the end, we had to enclose the new kiln in a covered porch but the class was very useful and I sold a nice bunch of pots come the school sale.
This pot here has some bottom cracks and was sold as a second but the crystals were eye-popping. It was thrown in parts, put together and modified to have the twist.
This pot survived better than the previous attempted ones. Eventually I will make a big twisted pot with no cracks. Notice the new background. Apparently, shaded backgrounds are "in" for pottery pictures now. I'm not into being "in" unless I happen to like it. Would love to hear your opinions, gentle reader.
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A multi-part vase that didn't crack but did have a gotcha
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This vase was almost as big as the previous twisted one and survived the firing. UNFORTUNATELY it had a chunk of iron in the clay and has an ugly iron stain on the other side. It shows the lovely hugh crystals a big surface can develop.
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An early multi-part pot from the class.
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This vase was thrown in parts. It refused to be nice and even so-- I said "your going to be faceted". The faceting with the curved bottom was much nicer than the original egg shape but retained the big surfaces for the crystals. The green tints are from a commercial dark brown glaze that lined the pot and was put in a single layer under the top edge. It sold quickly at the December sale.
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Another multi-part pot from the class.
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Unlike the previous pot, this did go into a nice egg shape, complete with the broken shell top. This green was an experiment with greater copper carbonate. The glaze was very popular and sold quickly. It probably could have been fired a bit higher to get more crystal growth. Adding more colorants can change the maturing temperature.
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Throwing larger, bit by bit
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Working on throwing larger amounts of clay. This pot is one of the good ones. Trying to duplicate some art nouveau forms. The sale in April that was driving my efforts got cancelled which was slightly(!) disappointing. As all of you fellow non-production potters know, a sale is a good goad to keep you working. |
Combining two new glazes
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In collaboration with my daughter, Louisa we created this effect. The top is a commercial red that takes cone 9 crystal firing. The bottom is a very dark glaze with iron in it. This produced lovely big crystals for such a small pot. It had to be refired due to some glaze crawling. The final result is a bunch of small crystals inside the outline of the original big crystals. It's somewhat gothic but it grows on you. The clay is srubek, lovely white, bitchy in larger pieces. |
THE NEW KILN
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April was quite a month. Our jack russell terrier had knee surgery and has been in confinement ever since. The next day my husband, Howard, drove up to Denver to get the new kiln which was finally ready. In spite of the almost constant wind, spring is happening. |
Barium blue #2
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Finally mixed another test batch of barium blue with cobalt as well as copper. Love the deep blue!
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Pot thrown in Quartzite, Az
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In January, to escape the cold we went RVing to Pacacho Peak Park and Quartzite Arizona. It was warmer than NM but colder than usual. Being all concerned about having a lot of pots done for the upcoming April school show I loaded my wheel into the back of our truck and threw some pots in Quartzite while dry camping, running the generator for power. We had sort of pleasant weather in the 50's instead of the expected 60's or 70's.
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Not too much else to say for January. Bought a used oxiprobe. Tried a reduction run in the gas kiln. It was difficult to keep it in moderate reduction. Wanted to be in oxidation or heavy reduction. Hopefully the new gas kiln will be more controllable. Tried a 5 part pot again-developed cracks in bottom after bisque firing.
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In February to escape the cold we went RVing to Dead Horse Park in Cottonwood and Quartzite Arizona. This time just took along pots in covered containers to trim and sand. Moving wheel last month was like too much work. Strangely enough just like last month, the weather was warmer than NM but colder than usual. We had more or less pleasant weather in the 60's instead of the expected 70's or 80's.
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