My 100th post coincided with one of the best firings I've ever had and now this is my 200th post and it will commemorate the 2nd worst firing I've had. The firing itself looked really good, the glazes were really nice, but...that whole putting salt on the shelves didn't work out too well for me this time. I've done this before several times in my old gas fired salt kiln. When I was firing glazed ware but wanted a little flash...just put a pinch or 2 of salt under the pot. That kiln had atmospheric burners, this one has forced draft. So my theory is that they blew all the salt off the shelves which then settled on the bottom couple shelves and did what you see below to about 40 pots. Eh, what can you do. I heard Sam Maloof say on the Craft in America series that rejection is good for the ego...to that I will add failure, these things happen I suppose.
I've seen a lot of weird stuff happen in kilns...but this is by far the most bizarre.
In case you were wondering, yes, the wadding did melt up into the foot of the pot.
The rest of the firing was pretty fantastic.
Gnarly shino with some ochre slip pours.
This was my favorite piece in this firing.
Pots that need a little grinding. Mostly it was just wadding stuck to the bottom of pots in the middle of the stack,easy fix. The top was practically salt-free.
If you're in the area come check out our seconds table...it'll have a few more pots on it next week.
Cheers!
5 comments:
Too bad you have extra work now with grinding and cleaning, but cheer up. I have seen some pretty rough looking pots come out of Mark Hewitt's kilns and have seen him do magic with a grinder. Hope it looks brighter tomorrow!
i'm not too bummed, most of the pots that were ruined were serving bowls...those can be made in a pinch. I've already ground most of the pots that needed it, they look alright. i'm just thankful i didn't put 25 hours of effort into preparing for the firing, like the wood kiln. to prep this kiln takes about 2 hours...max. gotta roll with the punches sometimes...
I guess a few grinders from a kiln every once in a while is a heathy reminder to do our happy dance when everything works out.
Love that shino.
I think I remember reading you are not a big fan of blue glazes but your BLUE piece is LOVELY! The waddding that cooked onto the bottom just looks like little barnacles from the sea :o) besides grinders are our friends! Your work is always beautiful, thanks for sharing and congrats on the big 200 I have learned many things from your posts.
i'm not a fan of most blues, they're just so bold and overpowering...you usually don't see the pot, just the blue. i do like the color blue though...i wanted a blue that was fluid like my green ash glaze and soft enough in color that it didn't compete for attention with the pot itself. this glaze is perfect for what i wanted, it also turns yellow where ash hits it in the wood kiln, pretty cool(see teapot in previous post.)
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