glowBugs

After a morning spent in the gardens, it was back to throwing lids, trimming the second half of yesterday's batch, and relaxing into the late afternoon with a stiff drink while I blocked in another go at a new "glowBugs" motif; (small g, big B, because they're cool like that... it's their backside that counts.)


This has been a fun tangent brought on by the work of an artist 3000 miles away, Dan Finnegan. Out of the blue he handed me this mug this spring and I've played with it like a kid with a strange cool bug. Amazed fascination.

I'm drawn to the notion that we can use carved and bisque stamps to create sprigs that can be used to build a surface rhythm on a form. This is a subtle visual feature that really adds to the form, but it's really something for the hands to enjoy.
I made a bunch of carved sprigg stamps this spring and now they are making good use as glowbugs...

Nice.

Yesterdays lot is now up-sidedown and drying... not a skull or bone in the lot and I'm starting to find that a bit disturbing.

Oh well, we'll take care of that tomorrow.

What Do You Do With 4lbs?

Like most of us, I work in series. I wedge'em up and line'em up and throw as many as I can effectively shepherd through the process while managing the drying. Lots of fun in a 104 degree studio.
While it's this hot, lots of small work simply dries too fast even with a wet box to slow the drying down and the studio has gotten a bit full of biggins over the past 2 weeks.
So it's time to think in 4 pound lumps...
What do you do with 4 pounds?

Seasonal Recycling

Every year, just before the beginning of summer, I spend a few weeks recycling a few 100 pounds of studio slop into clay for a spot of R&D.

Now while this process of recycling takes 5 or 6 weeks just to turn all of the buckets of slop into usable clay... clay that's a bit too touchy for small delicate work but weird and wonderful enough to use learning to play "big".
(Take special notice of the small "b". The studio kiln's new "Half Pint" status limits in-house fired wares to 18"... soooooo, 18 inches is this summers limit.) Luckily... when I dream, this is the size perfect for Crown Pots!

Ahhhh! A Glorious mess!

This time I needed to see how a few small ideas would scale-up while. I thought this might be a good time to get a handle on how long it takes to push a small series of (8) ten pound canisters through the studio. This included wedging everything, cutting a fresh new library of stencils, throwing, trimming, blocking in, and finishing the greenware.

Actually...

Even with a plan and practice, it took a fair amount of time to shepherd the batch of greenware through to bone dry. This ended up averaging about 4 hours spent working on each piece.

It's not exactly a walk to Egypt...
but I can live with that... it is an investment of time.
And I like what I see...

Cone 10 Helmer Flashing Wash

30% Soda Ash
70% Helmers Kaolin (it's suggested to try substituting different earthenware clays, ball clays, or kaolin clays into the recipe.
try: Cedar Heights Redart, EPK, Newman Red, and Ravenscrag Slip

Apply very thinly by spraying, dipping, or brushing onto bomedry ware or onto bisque. Over application of this glaze will chalk-up the surface.

The shot above shows the effects of the flashing wash being hit directly by flame and soda...
The shot below is on a canister in a cooler section of the soda kiln. A nice varied and toasty matte surface.

This recipe is from page 58 of 2005's June/July/August Ceramics Monthly.


The Helmer flashing wash on a small canister that was sitting in a sweet spot in the 2009 kiln.

Cone 10 Iron MicroDot

This is a special note: A few customers have asked about the small dark markings found on the center of the bases of some of the work coming out of the studio over the past year.
That would be my filing system to keep my cone 6 clay out of cone 10 kilns.
I've been developing strategies that allow me play in both worlds of cone 6 electric and cone 10 atmospheric firings. To pull this off, I absolutely must keep the two bisque clay collections separated...

So...

To keep from creating ceramic puddles in cone 10 kilns, something which is defiantly not an "Oops... sorry" any kiln owner ever wants to hear, all cone 10 work gets a iron micro dot on the base as it's made... no dot... no go. Work simply can't get into a cone 10 kiln without the dot.

Period