Back Again! I am this week's host for WAYWO (What Are You Working On) a community diary for crafters, hobbyist, Jacks and Jills of all trades, Artists and anyone who just wants to share whats happening! You may volunteer to guest host by signing up at this yahoo group ( http://groups.yahoo.com/....), which is checked from time to time. Also by joining this group, you will receive one email a week when the diary is posted. If you wish to write a WAYWO and would like directions go here: (http://www.dailykos.com/....)
I have not been able to get my act in gear ever since I bisque fired my pots way back in April. The weather was so nice with no rain for so long, you'd think I would be inspired....but, alas...no inspiration...not even a trickle.
So my pots languished in the basement, waiting for inspiration and glaze. And my kiln languished on the back patio, dissolving the screws that held the hinges.
When I finally decided to glaze my bisque ware....the hinges fell off my little kiln! The screws had melted/dissolved. Well, it is an old kiln, an 8-sided electric Vulcan that I purchased used in 1987 from someone who purchased it used and had it for 20 years or so.
So we took off the hinges and googled but didn't find what we wanted. My husband went to the hardware store and picked up two door hinges that are the right size and will probably work. We will use steel screws this time. He was thinking of a piano hinge.....but the kiln is not 6 feet long.
So I loaded the kiln and we set the lid on top, hinge-less. And I fired up my glazed pots and...they didn't exactly come out the way I wanted. The glaze was a little dark.
I was using "Potter's Choice" glazes....Midnight Blue and Saturation Gold or metallic or platinum or blue rutile....the midnight blue is what made them so dark.
The kiln when it is firing.
Anyway, since it takes 6 to 8 hours to fire up to cone 6....and then one has to wait till the kiln and the pots cool...(I love my Oveglove!), I didn't get to really see them until the next day. Like I said, the result was very dark....you couldn't even tell that there was a second layer of another color except that the result was not quite blue.
I decided to slap another layer of the second glaze on the pots and refire them... the result was a little better but only just a little.
The blue in the Blue Rutile really stands out...but not the red at all!
You can almost see the gold in the Saturation Gold.
Then, it decided to rain!!!!!
My kiln is still hot and outside!!!! so I took a chance, with the water sizzling as it hit the kiln....I threw the "PLASTIC" tarp over it. Hey, it did keep the water off the kiln...but the next morning....the plastic had melted on to the kiln....I figured it would, but I didn't want the electric circuitry to be ruined...today I went and bought new tarps.
I am in the process of painting designs on my bisque cups....which I will fire this week...I have some green ware that also needs bisque firing which I also hope to do. Maybe I'll be done with something a little more successful to share with you next Sunday.
Green ware is the bone dry clay pot that needs to be low fired so it can be decorated and glazed. If one is in a hurry...Green ware can be high fired after it is glazed(painted with a glaze). I usually bisque fire at cone 05 (1870-1900 degrees F) and glaze fire at cone 5 or 6 (2165-2269 degrees F).
So, what are you working on this fall?