Looking out from the pole barn area that covers the kilns and all the wood you would never have guessed that we started this day with snow. That's right gentle reader, SNOW. It came down in the morning for a couple hours...not just flurries but fat, fluffy, flakes. Thankfully, it did not last too long and by noon there was no trace of the strange weather from the morning....ahhhh, spring was back...sorta.
I made it up to the studio around 1:30 and by then it was shaping up to be a nice mild afternoon. Nancy started stoking the kiln slowly around 8 am. We brought up the temperature at a gradual pace due to the number of green pieces in the chamber. During my afternoon shift I kept the steady pace and slowly increased the stokes to begin a transition to higher temps.
Around 7 pm Nancy and friend Dan Boone took over and continued to crank her up...and by dusk we had heavy black smoke of reduction pouring out the chimney.
Cindy Rogers came for the night shift...She and Dan really got it rolling along.
We added the soda mix in between 2 and 3 am and by 4 am we had cone 11 bending...a little more work to even out the kiln and around 4:30 we were closing shop! Time for a shower and some sleep!
Nancy and I unbricked the door Friday night around 8pm. Things were looking good. We really made an effort to damper in more and create a heavier reduction atmosphere. I think it was successful because the clay bodies blushed more and our ash build up was considerably more than usual...in the fire box as well as through out the ware chamber.
Nancy and I were both pleased with the results from the firing...here are a couple shots of a large group of Nancy's pieces and a set of dessert plates that I made...
I also was so inspired by the Yunomi show that I looked at on the Akar website that I was compelled to make a bunch of cups myself!...I found out about this show by looking at Emily Murphy's potteryblog...which if you have not checked it out, you should...anyways, she was in the show along with so many very notable potters. So here are some of my cups, fresh from the fire and still a little sooty...a few will be getting decals. I recently shot a bunch of new images to make decals with...the plates will also be a recipient of the new images! Not bad for the first firing of Spring. This posting aslo served as a nice distraction from the impending opening of my show tonight...as much as a self promoting art whore as I am, I would rather the work be there without me!
Watch for some of these pieces to be for sale on my etsy shop site...homefry ceramics.
1 comment:
AWESOME!
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