Woodfiring on Parade

Experiments in Tradition, an exhibit of woodfired pottery by Martha Brianna, Tim Cichocki, and John Morrill Read will be on display at the Harlow Gallery until June 29. Here are some images from the opening:

The work on display was fired in Tim's groundhog kiln, in Norridgewock, Maine.

Migration

When the days get long and the weather gets warm, it's really hard for me to be inside, in my dark studio whose sole window faces north. The solution? A summer studio, of course! Hubby built this out of recycled materials rescued from a demolition site across the street from our house. He built it mostly because he had the lumber, and he wanted to build something, but as soon as I saw it constructed, I knew what its purpose was. We carried my wheel outside today, and I spent the afternoon happily making pots.
This seasonal transition is deeply satisfying in some way, perhaps harking back to an ancestral memory of traveling to summer hunting grounds in the Paleolithic era. The structure itself reminds me of summer camp -- not that I ever went to summer camp, but if I did I might have slept in a cabin not unlike this one.

New in the Studio

Leatherhard casseroles with slip trailing & dropped handles. After firing and the attendant shinkage, these will hold about 2 quarts. Dropped handles wil be our next turtorial!

Firing Results

We fired the soda kiln at the Watershed Center on May 2, and just unloaded it today. This was our second firng in this kiln, and we definitely improved on the first:


As usual, I find the bottoms of bowls almost more handsome than the rest.

One great addition this firing was the use of Bauer Orange Flashing Slip:

41.9 EPK
41.9 OM 4
5.7 Borax
10.5 Zircopax

Apply very thinly to bisque. Works on greenware, too. Do not apply over glaze.

This week:
Monday -- Beginner's Class, Portland Pottery
Tuesday -- Fiona getting spayed! Find sub for Intermediate class.
Wednesday -- Trim lids & finish casseroles
Thursday -- Car to Lewiston for new head gasket. Glaze cat urns.
Friday -- Glaze & load
Saturday -- Firing; photograph new pots.
Sunday -- Mother's Day in So Po; unload kiln.

May 3 Firing

The last time we fired this kiln, we had a tough time keeping it in a sufficiently strong reduction. This I blamed on a very loose door of castable bricks, so we took steps after we loaded to address the problem. Using door mud (50% fire clay, 50% alumina) we filled in the gaps, then papered over the door with newspaper dipped in a slurry of recycled clay:




Relaxing while waiting for cones to fall:

Adding the soda mix:

We had no trouble reducing this time! Unloading Sunday. In the pouring rain, probably. I'll keep you "posted."

Photo Tutorial: Thrown Oval Butter Dish

I start with a pound and a half of clay, and throw a thick plate, about 6 inches in diameter. It's best to have a well-defined rim, as the rim will be softened a bit by the stretching in later steps.


Then, using about a one-pound ball of clay, I throw a bottomless cylinder also about six inches in diameter, and about 2 1/2 to 3 inches tall.


When removing the cylinder from the wheel, I gently press it into an oval shape.











I then peel up the thick plate and gently slap it down on the table surface, alternating sides until it is oval shaped. Next, i place toilet paper on the oval plate, and place the oval cylinder on top of it, stretching if necessary.

To make the "roof" of the butter dish, I roll out a slab and cut it into an oval a little larger than the cylinder. After letting this breathe for ten or fifteen minutes (handbuilding is all about timing!) I place it on top of the partially constructed butter dish, and stretch it downwards into the cylinder. I let it rest until early leatherhard in this postion, and then remove it, scratch & slurry the top of the cylinder, and flip it over so it creates a domed top. I trim off the excess and then, using a paddle and a gummy rib (the really bendy red ones are the best), I smooth out the seam. All it needs is something to grip, and we're done!

Back at it

Just when I think I am done with glaze, that the thrill is gone, I get a couple of nice pieces that remind me how good it can be.



To do this week:
Friday
• Load Bisque
• KRA
• Email Compliments & Maine Gathering
Saturday
• Fire bisque
• Check glaze -- Mix any low
• Mix glaze tests
Sunday
• Unload bisque
• Glaze Interiors
• Throwing day
• Photo Tutorial -- Butter Dishes

God said, "HA!"

All of that stuff in the to-do list in the last post? Didn't happen. Well, some of it did: I taught my classes, I did manage to finish the mugs. But on Wednesday my ten-year-old Kia Sephia, which I had long referred to as "my so-called 'car,'" went to meet its maker. It is an ex-car. It stranded me not quite in East Gish -- more like Central Gish.
This plays havok with my ability to get anything done on two levels. Obviously anything I need a car for is out, but also, it's very difficult for me to concentrate on anything else with such a huge problem looming. The subtitle of this blog is "A Potter's Life," so I am including this event: this is part of being a potter for me, always driving an elderly vehicle and always on the edge of stranded. Next time it might not be Central Gish. It might be East Overshoe, or Bumfuck, Egypt.

Nevermind me. I'm just cranky. In a few days, I'll have this resolved, and it will be back to our regularly scheduled programming. We're still on track for a May 2nd firing.

What's Happening This Week

Monday:
• Beginning Students at Portland Pottery: Glazing
• Call Cry of the loon

Tuesday:
• Intermediate Students, Portland Pottery

Wednesday
• Finish Mugs

Thursday
• Last chance to throw for April 25 bisque!
• Price & Pack Pots for Scottish Lion

Friday, Saturday, Sunday: KRA

New Pieces

Vases & Butter Dishes. These are leatherhard, and will be finished in the May 2 glaze firing.

The Atmospheric Bug

My interest in atmospheric firing is not new, although it has been on hold for quite a while. I caught the fever watching Paul Dresang firing the witty, sybaritic teapots and loving cups he was making in the early nineties. Paul's work has changed greatly in the intervening years, and the new pieces are fascinating in their own way, but this is where it started for me, and I still hope to capture some of the voluptuous qualities that these earlier pieces embodied. (See Paul's new work here.) The work pictured here was fired with residual salt, not soda, of course, and I am learning that soda is not Salt Lite, but they are still a powerful inspriation for me.

What's Happening in the Studio

Next Bisque:
Friday, April 25
Next Glaze:
Soda, May 2nd

Wednesday:
• KRA Meeting
• Trim Cat Urns

Thursday:
• Throw Mugs & Butter Dishes
• Call potential outlets

Friday:
• Finish leatherhard ware
• Scouting trip to Camden

Saturday:
• Throwing day
• Mix tests for soda
• Make cone packs:Two each: 012,05,3,6; & 8,9,10,11

Sunday;
• Finish Saturday's pots
• Mix low glazes