Open

[offcntr]

Got the kiln opened Friday morning early--had to get finished before Denise's 3 pm ultrasound--has been having new pains in her left hamstring tendon that needed to get looked at. So I levered the kiln car out at about 8:30 am to find another lovely firing. Had a little bubble of oxidation mid-back, and of course some around the door at the bottom, but not enough to affect the gallery order nor the eight-place table setting.

Not entirely sure what temperature we reached; definitely hit cone 9 at the bottom peep, but the cone 11 in the top cone pack cracked somehow, with the top sticking to the cone 10. Which means the 10 was prevented from bending normally, and although the tip never touched down, we could have been anywhere between 9-1/2 and 10-1/2. Pots at the very top didn't show much sign of glaze running or image blurring, so I think I called it about right.

Tea was glazing for his Showcase fire, so every flat surface and ware board in the studio was full up except for the table by the kiln. We had to pause unloading periodically to sort and box pots, clearing off the table, but we were still down to the empty bowls layer before 11 am. Took a few pics of my special orders, but mostly concentrated on getting them out of the kiln.


Annie came in to help unload the empty bowls, so she wrapped and boxed while I unloaded and sanded bottoms. As a result, we finished unloading the entire kiln by noon, cleared out of the room by 12:30 so Tea could come in and continue glazing. Got some really nice results, even got a successful copper red bowl--an incredibly fussy glaze-- by Don Clarke, and some nice dip'n'splash pots from Jon, Johnny and Tori.


Got everything sorted and organized so I was able to deliver the plate set on Sunday, pack and ship three orders Monday after lunch, and then deliver 170 Empty Bowls to Food for Lane County later in the afternoon. Tomorrow, I drive up to Olympic to deliver my thousand-dollar gallery order.

Comments

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

The lion and the chipmunk are my favorites. :D

Recently we attended a Small Business Fest which included several ceramic artists -- the local university is well known for its ceramic program. One person had interesting smushed bowl sculptures and another was doing little paintings, although nothing as elaborate as yours.