Good Morning all y'all.. Welcome to KosKraft, Issue 17. This Group is for all those creative kossack artisans, plying away at their benches. If you make things, please join, and maybe give us a look at your work.
Meagert is taking the week off and is looking forward to seeing the work other Kossacks are producing. You don't have to showcase your business, but if you have one, you are welcome. This is for anyone to share their successful work..and, in my case, your not-so-successful results! So please join in and share.
So after the orange doodle.
Hi, I am Temmoku...( taken after a brown glaze) I sometimes show off my work on WAYWO. My work is a hobby potter. I really enjoy working on the wheel...but my glazing often leaves a lot to be desired. Because of space and economics, I really only fire my work during the summer and fall. Afterwards, I store my second-hand(third-hand) kiln in the garage. It was used as a craft kiln by a lady who taught ceramics....which in those days consisted of objects from molds bisque-fired and then painted. From what I gathered it was more of a weekly social gathering. She decided to get out of the activity...interest was waning. I had mentioned that I was taking a pottery class at the local junior college so she jumped at the opportunity to sell me her kiln for $300. Now all I needed was some clay, a wheel, and glaze.
Now, almost 20 years later as a part-time potter, I am finally having good years throwing! I can't say the same for the glazing...sometimes the glaze turns out well and sometimes it doesn't. I only brush on my glazes. I don't have a large bucket for dipping, nor do I have a spray booth or a sprayer....I was going to invest, but my pots were never all that great and as a part-timer, they may never turn out as great, but they make me happy...even the mistakes.
Last year my pots turned out really nice and I was able to give friends a nice gift of a teapot and a mug!
They were really well-received! That is, my friends said all kinds of nice things and since we are all tea-drinkers, they use them often!
This year, I read an article about throwing goblets in one step off the wheel..so I tried it.
However the goblets were too chunky for my taste and decided to put the clay back into my clay bucket and try again later.
Last week I was finally able to finish glazing my bisque ware and fired up my kiln...there was a window of no rain!
I drew the birds on my vases. The one on the left is a purchased bisque ware that I have had around for years and never did anything with. The texture of the ware is quite different from the porcelain that I use....it was a mistake buy it and the 3 other pieces, they just don't seem to work with my style or glaze and, of course they have been sitting around drying up for 10 years.
After coloring, I fired and there were mistakes. Bubbles and sloughing and crazing and one cracked bottom.
My glaze was too thick or not mixed thoroughly enough or the pot was dusty or I fired too quickly or it was too humid..or many things.
So I re glazed, hoping to fix the mistakes...they improved but were still not great.
I really regret buying the mold-formed bisque ware...it just doesn't like my glazes.
So today I am bisque firing a new batch...I tried last night but it decided to sprinkle so I had to stop and cover my electric parts. I didn't want to short out my kiln...(I looked up new kilns and the prices are !!!!!! not for the faint-hearted!)
And the second shelf:
So share your projects...and don't worry about the botched results...it is all a learning experience and the mistakes help up to improve, otherwise we get over-confident and try to rush. The serendipity is always there but so is kismet...it comes with the attempt.
Don't forget to check out WAYWO on Sunday around 5 pm Central time...there are crafters there who share their latest projects. Meanwhile, I will be working on my jars.