Wednesday, January 25, 2012

The ride

Thank you all for crossing your fingers, toes and eyes for us while we unloaded the kiln today.
See previous post for reasons if you just logged in.
As we knew the kiln fired hot and here are some thoughts from the peanut gallery, us.
Since the kiln hung up and since it toolk longer to reach temperature the glazes in theory got a good soak at cone 8 and 9. Some of the glazes loved the soak and others were pushed to their limit and ran to the shelf. It is always funny to me, ha ha, that you can have 6 mugs on a shelf and one sticks to the shelf- then it becomes a set of 4 with a spare, right?
And then it is funny to me that a place in the kiln that you thought of as a good place to place a pot because it is usually cooler there gets hot as heck!
So with this all said- there were some very good pots, some okay pots and some real seconds, yep, the real deal.
So here we go:
Front:
 The top or crown shelf has 6 lamp bases on it, 2 of those had the ash hit the iron black and run just to the shelf hardly enough to worry about, they are fine. In this stack there were a few pots that almost hit the shelf but were good.
Middle stack:
This stack is always hotter and we try to take that in consideration. Bottom up, 3rd shelf mugs with brown and ash- 1 is stuck like a tick on a hound, as was this goblet shape on the bottom shelf back.
There were a few other ones here and there some that will take grinding and others will take a hammer...
The back shelf:
 Bottom up- Mug- black and wood ash, 3rd shelf- stuck like a pig in the mud. Above that just off center a wee ginger jar, cute as can be, stuck....grrrr. I hated to loose that one- but oh, well, so it is.
The goblet shape bottom front, yea, you got it. S.T.U.C.K.
But- for the most part it was a good firing despite the problems  that arose while firing.
In fact the spodumene galze loved being hotter and so did the iron red, when it did not hit the shelf.
Our iron black with the rutile wood ash top glaze...not so much. It was hotter than we like but it is fine.
There you go.
Thank you all for your support!
We will sort this all and send some out for sale.

And then back on the wheel for us we are working on deadlines.
Cheers,
M

16 comments:

Tracey Broome said...

tick on a hound? pig in the mud? Girllll, your southern is showing :)
It all looks good from where I sit, good job you two!

Dennis Allen said...

What other business puts so much work into a product and just rolls the dice at the end. Maybe farming? It's a risky business.

claydancer said...

This is a great looking load! Thanks for the comments on my blog. Yeah, I was thinking of a bake sale too. And then today I opened up my email and Kickstarter reconsidered and offered an apology plus a lovely compliment on my work on my blog. So I am in! They accepted my proposal. Woo Hoo! It pays to be a squeaky wheel:)

Shortstuff said...

Pretty. Do I see some purple tests?

Michèle Hastings said...

maybe it's something in the air here, our last kiln was a little too hot too. like you we had some glazes that loved the heat and few that ran off and stuck to the shelves. glad to hear you had some happy pots.

ang design said...

can i say stonking again??!! yey stonking great firing!!! woohooo groovy rutile hitting the mark as per usual you guys rock :))

cookingwithgas said...

Heck,yea Tracey! My roots "is" showing!
Dennis- we thought we wanted to be farmers but found a better way to lose money...
Claydancer- best of luck with your project.
Les- you do....don't tell?!
MH the ups and downs....
Ang! Thanks we think you are pretty rocking too!

Gary's third pottery blog said...

mmmmm, pretty! lucky it mostly turned out OK indeed :)

Unknown said...

Awesome turn out considering the angst of the firing! The lamps look lovely! Laughed out loud re) comment about 6 mugs turns into a set of 4 with a spare!!! Been there- done that ;)

Lori Buff said...

Sometimes you just have to consider a shelf stuck to the bottom of a pot as a design element.
I'm so glad it wasn't much worse, I think the survivors look beautiful.

cookingwithgas said...

hey- thanks cousin Gary!

cookingwithgas said...

I did look at the goblet shape stuck to the shelf and think it could be a very expensive coat hanger....
we are famous for the 4 and a spare around here....

smartcat said...

Or....if you are into prime numbers....a set of five. There's some luscious stuff in that kiln.

Julia said...

I love that - tick on a hound!! I laughed and laughed...

The colors are lovely, and the stuck pieces are heartbreaking. It's amazing how you both roll with the punches!

cookingwithgas said...

Hey smart cat- I do like prime numbers- thanks! set of 7 works well too- 6 and a spare.

Julia! You either roll or be roll over on- you know this better than most!

Amy said...

I use the mug that I purchased at your studio often. gorgeous! Glad you have deadlines coming up. As it should be... Wow- great results! How I am missing gas kiln firings. I'm soon to be in the only electric kiln world.