Trip to RI and results from fire #3.

I took a trip to RI to drop off some work that needed a soda vapor fire and spend some time with my buddy Jay Lacouture (in a glaze and decal-athalon stage right). 3.5 hour drive down, made cone packs, wadded my pieces, reminisce about my time in RI, and 3 hours back ( faster at night).  Before leaving we hit up Flo’s Clamshack looking over a drizzly First Beach (where Marylena and I got married)and enjoyed a beer and fried clams. Good stuff!!   

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Glazed for the RI commute.

I do love clay but am just as enamored by the community that supports it. Contrary to what most get into it for… the BIG money!! I’ve been lucky to work with some great people in the ceramics community. As Jay said "We all have NCECA to thank for this community."  Although, NCECA is becoming a bit predictable and I’m starting to wonder when some organizational change is going to happen. I’m concerned changes won’t happen.

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So here are  some of the tests out of Bertha’s 3rd fire. I’ve got a solid liner glaze, an interesting terra sig that crackles and flashes, and a copper red glaze. If I remember correctly at cone 06 you can get surface sheen and flashing from soda. This clay is SO vitreous at this temp and a nice chocolate color. I’ve put grog in this body because in most of my work people are surprised it is clay. I want people to be able to see the tooth in the clay and want the surface to speak more to the material it comes from.

Lessons from this fire:

·         I need better flame travel around kiln shelves. The bottom reached temp but the top              wasn’t close.  Good that I have a supply of shelves in storage and found four 17”                          square shelves.
·         Spray more soda solution in the kiln.
·         Get wood scraps to add BTUs and more reduction at the end of the fire.

 And now off to mow the lawn…joy. Mowing is like shaving; tedious but the brain gets to rest and allow ideas to percolate. Mowing and shaving are both mechanized but mowing takes longer and is more effort…and as Michael Scott from The Office would say….

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