Wednesday, June 12, 2013

you know

You know, some days all the stars line up, and, there is just that picture perfect moon hanging in the sky.
The one that you could hang your hat on if you could just toss it right at the lower tip of the moon.
Then there are those times that even walking can be an issue.
Must move feet in order to get across the yard to the kiln in order to remove the bricks that are the door.

This kiln load just did not ring like a Christmas morning to either of us.
There are some good pots in there.
There are some middle of the road pots in there.
It's fine, it's good, it's pulled out and placed on the boards.
Then you look back and see one of those pots that the glaze just crawled away.
Well, more like it slither right off the pot.
And, you know that glaze had to go somewhere.

(Even the camera did not want to look at this pot.)

This is why we have washed shelves boys and girls.
Yes, it has to go somewhere and even as big a mess as it made, it popped right off the wash.

Once we took this out of the kiln my brain went numb and what pictures I took were a mess.
There will not be too much to show you until we separate some of the better pots out of the herd.

This was just a peek.

Looks good from here....















Here is the front stack.
There were several issues while we were glazing that did come back to haunt us later.
One was were are having an issue with our black glaze.
Again?
Yes, again.
We think we figured out what to do about it, but that did not happen until well into the glazing. Like, almost done glazing.
This was causing the top glaze, that we use, to want to peel away from the base glaze.
Not everywhere.
But, there were pots that it just jumped off of.
(go ahead and jump!......) (jump!)

What we did is add some muriatic acid to the glaze.
(use a mask and, or, open the windows when you do this.)
This reacted with the glaze and stopped the sliding, pulling away action that we were having.
Mark explained it to me, why it works, how it works and the next thing I know my brain just exploded.
I told him to just tell me if it works and I can use it,don't tell me why.
It's hard being me.
It is like my car. 
I know where the key goes, I know where the oil goes, if you have to explain why it goes my mind just wanders off and starts replaying something mindless that I read on the internet or watched on the Neatflicks last night.
You can tell I am in for the simple things.

 
Here are 2 of the tall pasta jars.
They are lovely.
They have trick lids.
We did not plan on them having trick lids, but sometimes that happens.
Do you need a jar with a trick lid?
We have them.
Pretty and tricky.
Pretty tricky.

Okay, I am going to place myself in suspended animation until tomorrow.
All things look better in the light of day.
M

 




11 comments:

Tracey Broome said...

Well, I'm not there of course, but i see some pretty nice looking pots on that front stack from where I sit here at my computer!
The sun'll come out tomorrow, betcha bottom dollar :-)

Michèle Hastings said...

Sometimes you need another day to realize that it wasn't so bad.
Muriatic acid became my friend last year, it's almost like magic.

smalltownme said...

You know, it all looks pretty good to a lay person (or non-clay person?).

DirtKicker Pottery said...

I know all about tricky lids.
Sorry this kiln load had some bloopers.

Linda Starr said...

thank goodness for shelf wash and acid. Those pasta jars are super.

Angels' Roost said...

This SOOOOO me!

"It's hard being me.
It is like my car.
I know where the key goes, I know where the oil goes, if you have to explain why it goes my mind just wanders off and starts replaying something mindless that I read on the internet or watched on the Neatflicks last night.
You can tell I am in for the simple things."

Patricia Griffin Ceramics said...

Things will look better in the light of day! Actually, in your pics, things look pretty good already! (Sorry about the glaze problems, though. It's a bitch to work so hard and then have those issues... If it were easy, everybody would be making pots though, right?!)

Barbara Rogers said...

Thanks for sharing the agony and the ecstacy (however spelled) of kiln openings. I don't do production pots, but know how those feeling are valid. Glad you've got a solution to the black glaze!

Dennis Allen said...

If you don't have a tight lid every now and then, you're making them too loose.

cookingwithgas said...

there are some quiet good pots in there.
It is just that the bad boys are so loud.

Unknown said...

Ha! I can relate to your mind wandering while things are explained~ me too! Just tell me if it works, I don't need to understand why ;) That said, I have not heard of muriatic acid before and I've has some issues with jumping glazes too. Must find it! Ahh, the saga of opening a kiln...the highs, the lows, and the ehh's... I hear ya!