a firing and the completion of new work

I have had a few month’s break from firing, though I have slowly made a new breakthrough with my work, and now most of it has been through the process of glazing and firing

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and I have had to get used to how it looks now rather than when I was making it. for this sort of work that is a big transition.

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so I opened the kiln with the usual trepidation …

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no accidental runs sticking pots fast to shelves. my first impression was a lack of drama

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no bidori droplets, no glaze half peeled off, no thundercloud black glaring from underneath the glaze

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I had put the oxides on with a very light touch apparently

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and in the case of these big pieces, the slip had gone on thickly, no visible oxide watery marks

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plus I had used fine-grained St Thomas white, and reduction St Thomas – where I didn’t, as in this little gourd shape, the clay sang through all the layers – this was pink grogged stoneware – like a red clay crank.

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where I have combed the wet clay and put less slip on, the oxides show through and the chun glaze becomes transparent blue

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I managed to balance the firing between overdoing and underdoing it quite nicely – this one would have developed elephant’s feet bidori if it had melted much more – it would have been bluer too.

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I double-dipped it in the glaze and then added a little extra at the top of the grooves – I wanted this watery flowing feeling – Lunan Water 2

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next time I will add some new to the slip – its crackle has completely gone.

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Lunan 1 I double dipped sideways, so that the centre section has a thicker layer

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and some almost bidori drips ….

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from above you can see the little bit of oxide bleeding through the slip

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to the headland 1 has a crack. this happened to two more pieces, but I didn’t glaze fire them – this one I didn’t notice it at all and it has just opened up a little.

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I think I boosted up the bisque firing too quickly. I actually think it doesn’t matter too much on this piece – the drawing I did on it is very similar, and that has got lost under the slip.

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another one of these, which came out absolutely fine, quite bluey on one side.

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this was left glazed but unfired in April, so I popped it in, you can see how much thinner the slip was, you can see the oxide through it

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I would have liked this one to have had more drama. I am going to work on the idea (the ploughed lands) in the next batch.

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to the headland 2 has more going on than you see at first. again, thinner slip would have brought it out more

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but on most of these pieces the thick flow of opaque pale blue across the white is very lovely, and exudes a calm feeling.

 

 

 

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