Final Salt Fire Post

Here's what greeted us when the kiln was opened.  Actually, "us" is not correct.  I wasn't there when the door was opened.  I didn't get there until after all the pieces had been unloaded.  In fact, one of the potters was already packed up and gone before I could get free from work.  I would have really liked to see her pots.

Of all the things that I fired, I think this bowl may be my favorite.  The inside is so cool!  The bowl is now sitting on my kitchen counter holding the remnants of the Halloween candy.

It probably will not go to the Carolina Pottery Festival next week.

Mugs.....

More mugs....


I was pretty pleased with all the mugs this time around.  Decided to keep one of each for myself.

These turned out great too.  There were originally three of these (think canister set) but one broke before it even made it to the bisque fire.  I was disappointed at the time.  Seeing how they turned out makes me even more disappointed.

Here's the coolest of all the pitchers.  It's part of a cream and sugar set.












I also made several utensil holder/vase things.  This is one of the more interesting ones.


The glaze on this is the same glaze as on the pitcher, the canisters, the blue rimmed mugs, and the rim of the bowl above.  Isn't it interesting how different it looks on each piece?

Salt Fire!

The salt fire that I've mentioned several times over the past few months is happening this weekend.  Ron got it started last night and began adding the salt sometime today.  Here is a video that he took that shows how he adds the salt.



Pretty cool!  Or maybe cool isn't the right word...

When I unpacked all the pieces on Thursday night to begin getting them ready for glazing and firing, I was surprised to find that I had more than I needed for my part of the kiln.

This is what 42 pots looks like.  Better to have too many and be able to choose the "best" ones than too few and have to let the other potters see all the wompy and otherwise ugly pots.  "Wompy" may be a word that I made up (or maybe I've heard it somewhere).  It means slightly off center and out of round.

On Saturday morning I went over to Ron Philbeck's and started glazing pots.  I was too busy to get many pictures of the process.  Below is the canister set with the glaze applied waiting for wadding.  

In a salt fire, the salt reacts with the clay to make the finish on each piece.  All exposed surfaces will react, so alumina hydrate wadding is used to keep pieces from sticking to the shelves and to keep lids from sticking to pots. In the picture below, Allen is gluing wadding on the bottoms of these bowls with Elmer's glue.  The glue holds the wadding in place while it is handled and loaded and then burns away.  I don't understand all the chemistry involved, but the alumina does not react with the salt so there is no finish on the pot every place it is in contact with a piece of wadding.  The bottom line is that since the pot is not in contact with the shelves and the lids are not in contact with the pots, nothing sticks that shouldn't stick.  

(Thanks to Allen Griffin for this picture from the June firing.)  

Once everything was outside, Ron started loading.  He'd figure out what size pieces he needed and we'd take turns handing him things.  

 
And here's a shot of the full kiln.  We are going back over on Wednesday to unload.  I can't wait.  

Cue Dramatic Music

I'm excited to announce that my pottery will be for sale in Shelby at Dragonfly Wine Market!

Those of you who are relatively local may be aware that Dragonfly is moving to a larger location in uptown Shelby.  On Monday they will open on Warren St. next to RollOver.  In addition to selling the wine and craft beers they normally carry, they are going to have a wine bar, and a much larger space for a gallery for local artists.  I dropped off a box of pottery this afternoon.  After a few days, I'll go take a some pictures once they've had a chance to get set up and settled in the new space.

Big thanks to Jamie and Jane for this opportunity!  I'm very excited.

Five Steps Back

Every feel like you take one step forward and then five steps back?  I do.  Thursday evening was like that for me.  After being really tired all week, I kind of hit a wall on Thursday afternoon and realized that I really needed to get some rest.

Even after hitting that wall, I tried to go make pottery.  After all, I am still several pieces short of the 30 piece goal that I have for the Oct 27 salt fire.  I knew that there were going to be some things going on over the weekend that would require my attendance and reduce the amount of studio time I'd get.

After much struggle, I finally managed to make the parts of two cream and sugar sets.  Lids were the issue for me.  I bet it took 6 or 7 tries before I got two things that might work out for lids to the sugar bowls.  Below is a picture of the lids that didn't make it.  I was so frustrated!  

Feeling the Pressure

After taking about a month off, I made it back to the studio last week.  It's so much easier if I can work at pottery with some consistency.  Alas, that is not my life at the moment, so I take what time I can squeeze out of everything  else.  I was able to be there Thursday night, a few hours Friday afternoon, and then my "normal" hours on Saturday morning.  My low back was tired and a little bit sore, but I was pleased overall with what I managed to do.

If these all make it, I'll only need 4 or 5 more pieces to get the 30 I need for the next trip to Ron's for a salt fire.  Definitely do-able!

Just Take a Picture of Your Pottery Shelves

My friend Heather who lives in California is visiting her parents in Flat Rock, NC this weekend.  We've been texting back and forth trying to figure out how we were going to squeeze in some time for a visit between all her family obligations and my family and community obligations.  We've settled on the Joneses making the run up to Flat Rock this afternoon, but Heather also wanted to look at some of the pottery that I've been making.  She asked me to take a picture of the "pottery shelves" in the basement so she could tell me what to bring.  I did...

...but I just don't know how helpful that will be.  What a mess!  

Trying Again

One more time on the canister set.  This time a little larger...6, 4.5, and a little over 3 pounds for the jars.

Parts thrown on Friday afternoon.  

 

Trimmed and assembled on Saturday morning.  

We shall see if I can get them done without breaking one (or more).