Topsy Wishes

When Doug & I got married in 2006, I sort of got my heart set on a topsy cake for our wedding. He didn't care much -- his wish was that our ceremony include a dip in the river, in our wedding finery, which he got. Also, he's not much of a one for sweets, although a bite of the wedding cake was all he did have to eat that day, as I recall. Anyway, the topsy cake turned out to be crazy expensive, considering our shoestring budget, and my practical side won out. Our cake was chocolate, and lovely, and quite delicious -- but I never forgot the wedding cake of my dreams.

Today I am on the studio making, among other things, cake stands. Topsy cake stands to be exact. 

So, let's see how that topsy thing is workin' out...Not that good, tell the truth! My first effort looks more like one of those novelty mugs reading "I got smashed on Bourbon Street!" or where ever. Not what I had in mind.

In my enthusiasm, I started too wet, and lost the freshness: an occupational hazard of altered work. Of all people I ought to know that clay is all about timing! Not that this one is a lost cause, I'll still tinker around with it, add the plate part, see what happens. but it's time to step back, do something else (I'm thinking, get a whoopie pie. I saw some double-chocolate ones at the grocery yesterday, and all this talk of cake...), and come back to the second one once it has firmed up a bit. 

So, this sort of turned into a live-blog. Live-blogging the cake stands! I like it. Back later with some better results. 

Doesn't This Sound Yummy?

#1170 Temmoku
Cone 10
It will go amber/gold in salt firing, black in soda.

316 Kingman Feldspar (can use G-200 or Custer)
204 Silica
75 EPK
133 Whiting
71 Red Iron Oxide

And there are a whole bunch more at Wikiclay. Here's another:

#2311 Sandra Johnstone Pumpkin glaze C10

44 Kingman Potspar (try Custer of G200)
12 Whiting
10 Barium carb
10 Kaolin
3 Silica

Add: 1 Red Iron Oxide %
6 Rutile
2 Bentonite
*Base is in grams and doesn't total 100%

Ooops, though: barium. I don't keep barium in the studio; can't spare the neurons. What's that barium/ strontium substitution? Hmm, googling... Found it: .75 parts strontium in place of 1 part barium.

This one claims to be a shino for Soda/salt. I've never had good luck with that; I always get a washed out result. But wouldn't it be great! It's got Chris Gustin's name on it, which makes me more optimistic:

#2807 Gustin Shino (good liner, apply thin, particulary if you use it on bisque,or it will crawl).

45 Neph Sy
11 F4 soda spar
15 Spodumene
15 Ball Clay
10 Calcined kaolin
4 Soda ash

Oh, okay, one more. These are better than bedtime stories!

#3165 Amber Celadon C9-10 Dark treacle brown

(lighter on porcelain or white stoneware). You can use it very thin for reddish accents in soda.

36 Albany slip (try Alberta slip)
22 Custer spar
3 Gerstley borate
14 Wollastonite
8 Whiting
14 Flint

I always have a psyche myself up a bit to mix glazes, as I find it tedious. But I'm inspired now!

Blizzard Babies

It will be entirely consistent with my history with automobiles, if the hearse breaks down on the way to my funeral. I have dreadful car-karma, and it has been manifesting itself with a vengeance this winter. Two major blizzards, two concurrent breakdowns, plus a bum alternator and a minor accident to keep things interesting.

Lemons became lemonade during my most recent misfortune, however: my fuel pump quit in the midst of a terriific storm, but fortunately it did so just a couple blocks from Portland Pottery, where I am on the faculty, and where, also, I could not only use the phone to call a tow, and have a warm place to wait, but I could also get clay and use a wheel. And what else was there to do? So I made mugs, to fill a recent order from Phil at Bay View Company.

In related news, I've been noticing a used Ford Ranger for sale, that I drive by often in my travels. I asked after the cost and found that I almost afford it...and it might be worth to have automotive back up, given my history. 

Welcome, 2011: Goal-setting for January

The promise of the coming year has me quite giddy; setting goals seems too earthbound, too mundane for a year of such magnificent potential. Nevertheless, like all things, magnificence is achieved with baby steps, and baby steps are what monthly goal-setting is all about. So:

1) Speaking of mundane, the first of my goals has to be to pay the nice folks at Augusta Fuel for the propane I burned during the three more-or-less unsuccessful firings. The December checks from my consignment outlets should cover this, but until it is out of the way, I can't do any more firing. But I can:

2)Make enough pots to fill a bisque. I already have enough bisqueware to fill a glaze firing, but I want to do a glaze first, and see how even it fires to 08.

3)Mix up 3 test glazes. Just because I am still tweaking the kiln doesn't mean experimentation should stop.

4) Here's the dreary part: I (or more likely, Doug, if I ask him really nicely) need to get up on the shed roof and remove two layers of brick from the stack. Then I need to raise the bag walls by two layers, or more (haven't decided.)

5) Glaze firing prior to the end of the month. Shooting for...Let's say the 21st.

I haven't yet completed my annual navel-gazing, during which I plan strategy for Fine Mess Pottery for the next annum. I don't expect it to reveal any surprises, as my path seems clear. That in itself is a good feeling.

Goodbye, 2010

...You were a most amazing year. Not an easy one, by any stretch, but a good one all the same. Well, except December. December kind of sucked, but it's nearly over.

Since my Harrowing Highway Incident, I have had a change of outlook; not unlike Scrooge after his spirit visitation. Mine came too late for Christmas but I am nevertheless feeling quite festive, on account of being alive. Belatedly in the holiday spirit, I am full of ideas for next year, including this great gift idea: a bouquet of chocolate dipped pretzel rods, in a handmade mug.  I ain't just whistling "Jingle Bells;" I went and bought the ingredients and made some up, for photos.

Here's the recipe:

10 ounces pretzel sticks (Pretzel RODS)
12 ounces milk chocolate chips (or melting disks)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)
candy sprinkles (optional)
miniature M&M's chocolate candies (optional)
mini Reese's pieces (optional)
chopped peanuts (optional)
 
Directions:

Prep Time: 30 mins

Total Time: 33 mins
1) Melt milk chocolate chips in double boiler or in microwave (be careful not to burn in the micro).
2) If you are using the white chocolate, wait until later before melting unless you can keep it over warm water.
3) Dip each pretzel rod about 2/3 of the way up in chocolate.
4) Lay on wax paper lined baking sheets, lining up the rods but leave a bit of space between them.
5) Allow to set a little, but not completely dry (while waiting, make sure your white chocolate is ready).
6) Dip a fork into the white chocolate and drizzle over the milk chocolate by gently swishing the fork back and forth over the rods but not touching them.
7) Place your sprinkles or candies on a paper plate and roll each pretzel rod in desired topping (or just sprinkle on).
8)Lay back on wax paper to set completely.
9) Tie up with a bow and give in a handmade mug!

Two things: I had better luck after I added a little bit of vegetable shortening to the chocolate, for a smoother coat. I later read that some people add parafin wax for the same purpose, and because it makes the chocolate harden better - important if the gift has to travel any distance, like, say, out of your kitchen. Kind of like adding CMC gum to glaze, for a stronger dry coat. 

Oh -- the photo at the top is not mine. My first efforts were too ugly. The ones in the photo came from this Etsy seller. 

My annual week of reflection has been postponed until next week, due to car, travel, and work issues, but never fear, reflect I will. It's worked so well so far!

Back at the Wheel!

It's been weeks since I threw anything, outside of class demos. The long months during which I had no means to fire left me with plenty of greenware (now mostly bisqueware) so I am not making out of any need for inventory, but, blessedly, creative impulse. Throwing, altering, and assembling remain my favorite aspects of the ceramic cycle, although I am gaining an interest in more active glazing: brushing, trailing and using resists rather than plunking it in a bucket an hoping for the best. (I still do my fair share of plunking, as well!)

There's something very soothing about throwing and assembly, though. After creeping, creeping for months, ever-closer to the goal of a functioning kiln, it's nice to get that feeling of completion in seconds. The kiln-tweaking will continue, but I am on a sort of enforced hiatus, as I need to pay for the propane I've used getting this far, before I can fire again. I am hoping for another shot in January.  

By my own long tradition, I start back at the wheel with a board of mugs. Ah, mugs! Quick and endlessly variable, and if one doesn't work out, wedge it up and start again. 

Heaven. 

More Pots from the Firing

They aren't this blurriy, in real life. My photo set-up relies on natural light, and on a snowy day in December, that is a scarce commodity. It amazes me that they can be blurry even though I am using a remote shutter control: literally nothing at all is moving. Anyway, here they are.
Online sale here!

Exhibits A & B

Let me turn your attention to Exhibit A: it ran, yes, but the dominant glaze flaw here is crawling, caused by a cool bisque. This casserole was at the top of the kiln during the bisque firing.

And now, look to Exhibit B: A rutile blue glaze that has historically been stable to ▲11, fully down; in this case it ran like a mad bastard, in the bottom of the load. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we are looking at ▲12 or more.

Incidentally, I like both of these pots, though they will need some grinding, and so must necessarily be seconds. The flaws do not compromise the function in any way, so these will be bargains at half price: $22 each. 

So, nine up top, twelve at bottom...what's a poor potter to do? I had a good suggestion, from my dear friend Paul Mahoney of Friendship River Pottery: adjust the bag wall. I am thinking to raise it two rows or more, forcing the flame (and soda) upward before it can find its way out the flue.

I also plan on making better use of the passive dampers next time around.

Keep those cards & letters coming!

The Good, The Bad, and The Refires

...and a handful of Wows. I'm not greedy; a handful of wows is all it takes to make me happy.

Hoping for the best while expecting the worst has become my secret default posture when it comes to the never-ending story of this kiln; so I was pleasantly surprised when I cracked the door around noon, and peering in, was greeted by a pot that didn't suck. Right there! In my kiln! How did that happen?

My hopes dipped when I removed the first big block; things were looking pretty dry in there. But wait! There's another non-sucking pot! And while there were a couple on that first layer that had cracked or crawled, even the unsatisfactory pots mostly didn't suck out loud; they were just dry, due, I suppose, to this being the first firing. I nearly doubled what would be a standard application of soda, but it looks like maybe I should have tripled it. Some pots, too, would have benefited from a solid cone 10, instead of the barely-nodding version we reached, but most on that first layer were just a little dry.

Now cautiously optimistic, I took a break to allow more cooling (mixed up some pizza dough in the bread maker -- Doug is a cham-PEEN pizza chef.) The first layer out, I removed another brick to reveal the next. Still some dry refires, but not as dry, not as many. ..and some really nice pots! Onward, next layer.

Bingo. This layer clearly didn't fail to reach temperature. In fact, when I get to the bottom, these pots look more like Cone 11+ than 9 or 10. I wish I had put cone packs in the lower part of the kiln -- didn't think of it until too late. This is useful information, though: I am dealing with a different problem than I thought. My troubles are not twofold -- slow firing and failure to reach -- but only one: uneven firing. The bottom probably reached temp hours before I shut it off. judging by the running on the few pieces glazed on the outside. Top cool, bottom hot...what do ya make of that? 

I'd love to take more photos, but it is going on 4 pm -- "dark o'clock" here in Maine. More tomorrow. 

Hooray!

...It worked! 

Well, more or less. At 5 am, with ▲10 beginning to bend, the burners began to lose pressure. I feel pretty confident that it was enough, as most of my glazes will go at ▲9, and these had the additional nudge of 5 lbs of baking soda and soda ash; plus a 1/2 pound of salt for good measure. 

So, good news and bad: the good news: well obviously. Also, the kiln appeared to be pretty even and easy to keep in a deep or light reduction. The bad news: this was a crazy-long firing, 15 hours, and in the end the cone did not entirely fall. (It still might have done; the gauges read that the burners were losing pressure, but the difference was undetectable just by observing the flames.) 15 hours is unacceptable, of course, but it now just seems like a matter of tweaking. Another foot or two on the stack, and proceed more quickly in the early bit of the firing, or...any other suggstions?

I plan to spend most of today in bed, reading The Physics of Superheroes. Unloading will be Saturday, photos Sunday, if all goes well.  

Take Two

The propane guy is here, and you know what that means: today is the day I light the kiln and try again to complete a soda firing. I am far more anxious this time, for obvious reasons: if it doesn't work, I am out of ideas of what to try next and probably out of commission until March or so, after I get some of these expenses paid down. 

Anyway. Those are bad-luck thoughts! Start the first burner, brew up the rainforest nut, and we're off.

Reach For the Sky

As of yesterday, the stack towers around 15.5 feet -- about 13.5 feet of interior height, which is the part that matters as far as heat dynamics are concerned. Doug built the upper four feet of the thing, with me just handing up bricks, due to my not-quite-paralyzing fear of heights.

I am nerving myself up to try firing again on Thursday. I am waiting for a propane delivery: not that I necessarily think I will need it, but I'd hate to see nine starting to go and then...What the hell?...Out of fuel! So for the first (yes, I'm still calling it the first: I never unloaded the pots!) firing I'd like to start with full tanks.

I am not sure how being fired to 05, then cooled completely, then refired, will affect the outcome. The pots from this firing will carry a big "Results not typical" asterisk, but I am of course hoping for the best.

For all my unsinkable optimism, the expense is starting to disquiet me. Brick, wool, propane...I was supposed to be done by now, and selling the fruits this Christmas season. But no matter: there is no going back, and nothing to do but just do it 'til it's done. Damn the torpedoes -- full speed ahead!