Thursday, July 16, 2009

firing results.... without the all the boring pictures

I'm afraid we have some kind of camera/firing jinx. Those of you who were around for our first firing will recall that our camera died during our first firing. This time our camera stopped working right before unloading. Luckily the camera is still fairly new and they should fix it under warranty.
The firing went very well. None of the major catastrophes you've all come to expect from our last two firing. Our first two firing were marked with wheelbarrow loads of pots making there way back behind our barn to join the shard pile. None of that this time around.
Overall the firing went very well. We have slowly been figuring out our kiln, temperatures continue to get more even, and reduction more predictable. That not to say that we've got it all figured out. I just finished raising the bagwall a little bit more in preparation for the firing this fall, as the second chamber still tends toward a cool floor. Also we slightly over reduced this time... nothing horrible. I really like the color of the pots when they flash to go all the way from a deep orange to just a slight bit of white on the back side. The pots up front went from the same orange to a dark tan on the back side. So just not as much contrast as I would like, but still nice. I think what threw us off was the new door lets so much less air in the front of the kiln as compared to the old door. No biggie though.
We also had a little bit of trouble with glaze fit on a couple of my larger bowls. The glaze crazed so much that you can pull at the glaze with your fingernail where the glaze pooled in the center of the bowl. Not that the glaze is falling off, but it's not something that I would be comfortable selling. Only happened in a couple of bowls, and should be fixable.
Well that's most what we ran into this firing. I won't go bragging about our pots, though I do think they came out pretty well. I'll wait for the camera to come back in working order to show you all what the pots look like. The red slip is quite nice and adds a nice change of scenery from the white slip. Hopefully we'll get our camera fixed soon, though I imagine it might be a week or so...
Joe

11 comments:

DirtKicker Pottery said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
DirtKicker Pottery said...

Sorry about your camera. My camera's on the blink too.

Tim Ayers said...

glad to hear it went well. looking forward to some pics.

Ron said...

A week! Okay I'll be patient. Glad it went well. Look forward to the pic post.

ang design said...

me too...i'll try to be patient..heheh

brandon phillips said...

yee haw! can't wait for the photos.

STARworksCeramics/Takuro said...

I am glad that the firing result was good! I am sorry for the camera. I am looking forward to seeing some photos of your works.

Collin said...

Hey Joe,

so audrey and I are finally getting around to building a kiln. What does a person have to do to get on the waiting list for some of those Kohler shelves. I fired with those shelves at Simon Levin's a few years back and they're awesome (and freaking heavy!

Dan Finnegan said...

My favorite thing about all the wonderful blogs I wander through is coming across a new idea; something I hadn't considered. I'll be curious to see your thoughts as you digest my post on Brandon's !

Joe and Christy said...

Dan,
Blogs do seem like a wonderful way for potters to exchange ideas, maybe I'll post my thoughts on amount of pots on hand (in stock?) after some mulling over....

Collin,
Long time... exciting your going to build a kiln. Are you still in the Cincinnati area? Drop me a line:
josesphjcole at yahoo dot com

Anonymous said...

damn cameras! glad it went well