Jeff Lost in Texas

Saturday, October 13, 2018

Success with Barrel Firings

The last 2 barrel fires have taken color and the results are the best so far. Success! The failure rate as far as pieces cracking during the firing remains about 20-25%. A small trash can and medium size pieces do not allow for the most even heating. Plates seem to be the most suscibile which is no surprise.

Shown below are two vase and two plates. I am particularly pleased with the small plate where greens and blues developed.

Affects of Chrome oxide produce a green tinge in places, in other locations a green stain remains.

The rusty brown to orange is the result of ferric chloride.

The black stripe is the result of copper wire.

All pieces received a scrubbing after the fire and then a coat of tile sealer to prevent oxidation and fading of the colors.

Thursday, June 21, 2018

Bowled Over!

A couple of people ask for bowls - so I made almost a hundred. About half of them are shown above. Sitting in the sun to drive off the atmospheric moisture so that a bisque fire can start tomorrow night when the electrical rates are low.

In the past I thought that doing one shape, time after time, would be boring. Wrong! Not that all of these are the same, far from it, but there is a learning process trying to repeat the same form. The later bowls are a more pleasing shape to my eye and they took a lot less time to make. For a few days a pattern emerged where out of one 25 pound bag of clay I would make one 12 pound, one 8 pound and 4 pound bowl. Let's see how many crack in the kiln.

Update - -

No cracks in the kiln. Paid attention to compression and didn't try to get too thin on the bottom. Sorted into nesting and groups. Glazing this week and will try to fire this weekend.