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| Bisqued and ready to glaze |
Oops...thought I could skip a preheat period with a bisque firing since the
work looked and felt dry, but I was wrong. Certainly should have known
better! After hearing popping in the kiln as it was heating up, I turned
it off, suspicious of pieces exploding; that was confirmed in the
morning when I opened the kiln for a look. Unloaded it, discarded blown
pieces, vacuumed the kiln thoroughly, reloaded, and included a preheat period,
which should have been done in the first place. With all the rain we've
had during the past month, all unfired clay is probably holding moisture that needs to be released prior to 212 degrees.
Fortunately, I had stayed with the kiln and recognized those popping
sounds early on. Lesson relearned!!
Mostly porcelain and a variety of forms:
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| Covered dishes and bowls |
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| Mugs and tumblers |
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| Carving with clay |
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| Self-contained water system |
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Liking the Cink for washing bats, tools and other items. The water is circulated, filtered, and comes back through the faucet for use again. Doubt I'll try to save what's collected in the settling bucket, but this does prevent getting clay in the septic system.
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| More mugs and small bowls |
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| Northwest corner of glaze room |
Have not mixed any glazes yet, but it's now time to prepare materials for decorating and glazing pieces. Must remember to put kiln wash on the new shelves before doing a glaze firing
Had things pretty well cleaned up this week, so thought it a good time to take studio photos. The tile floors are washed and most surfaces wiped down. Buckets have clay drying out for wedging. Don't know where the time is going, but I'm sure not getting into the studio as much as I had anticipated.
Doing other good things though, so it's OK. | |  |
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| Kiln -- still gleaming |
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| Survivors -- ready for restart |
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| Looks like some sunshine out there! |
On Saturday I went to Willow Creek Studio for a wood burning lesson
with Scott Thompson. Was fun and I'll undoubtedly experiment with more
of that. Once again picked up some ideas to carry over to pottery, plus
burned this bear on a piece of spruce.
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| Wood burning -- my first bear. |
Happy Birthday, Sara! It was nice to have you, Hunter and Steve with us over the weekend to share in your special day. Nice to have the garage floor painting underway, too. Looking good!
During the past week we closed on the sale of our Anchorage home and turned in the stray dog that had taken up residency with us. Hope there will be an adoption.
It's still raining. Grass seed is still bagged and there's a weather alert until late afternoon tomorrow. Those with property on the rivers are taking a hard hit and will need lots of help to restore, replace, and recover. The good news is that sunshine is forecast for Tuesday. Let's hope that happens!
So, what forms should I throw next? Plan to be in the studio in the coming week. Soon I'll update what's at WillowAK Pottery on Facebook. Will let you know when that happens. Necklaces will be included. Meanwhile, it would be nice if someone posted a comment so I can see if this blog is working as I intend. Thanks.
For you Facebookers: check out WillowAK Pottery and also Willow Creek Studio Alaska. Supporting local farmers, laborers, businesses and artists is a good thing. :-)
