Monday, June 23, 2014

The Flip Side

I got a few pieces out of this last firing that exhibit a marked directionality, one of my favorite soda effects. They have distinct "windward" and "lee" sides, indicating which side faced the burner channel.

The flame, carrying soda vapor, passes over the piece from one direction to the other; specifically, from the walls toward the center. It also passes from the center top toward the bottom, and from back to front and then front to back, but those effects are less marked; buy the time all that happens much of the soda glass has been deposited on the pieces it struck first. Here's another:

This one also got a nice kiln kiss, smooth and glassy with no crusty spots, on the lee side.

In each case you can see the design work I did, and in each case that is somewhat obscured just by glaze fluidity on the lee sides. But on the windward sides, woooo! It's a molten blur.

This is why I do what I do: to have the flame come along and undo it. Is that weird?

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