"the artist has one function--to affirm and glorify life."
- w. edward brown

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

September studio time!

Lots of fun things happening in the studio...
Here's a few.

Getting ready for Fall sale... tumblers with designs. Not sure how I feel about them, but we'll see when they get glazed. Each is a set of four with the same design...

circles/bubbles/cells not sure...
i'm thinking green stain on the outside to fill in the incised lines,
with choy green glase on the inside and rim... maybe 1/4 inch down the outside.

Bees and flowers...
each tumbler has a different kind of flower.
Fish.
that's it.
just fish...
Altitude/terrain map.
I'm thinking red iron oxide on the outside
maybe black on the inside and rim...

As for tonight at guild, we had some fun doing a small low fire salt firing... here are some pictures of our set up and firing!!


stuff preped and ready to go
those bundles of newspapers are wrapped pieces that have salt and chemicals already burrito-ed together and I tried to isolate them for specific results... whatever those are!

all the pieces in the kiln, layered with paper, salt, and other stuff...

all covered up ready to fire!

just starting... you can see the flames all on the inside

our 'burritos' of salt, sawdust and other special things
that got thrown into the burning hot kiln
at various times during the firing...
yes those are tongs to assist in not burning ourselves.

the glowing arm of one of my guys in the kiln...
i promise that's what this is...
really.
i promise.

really hot... ready to shut down!

So that's it... that was my fun tonight. Tomorrow, after this baby has cooled, I'll unload it and see what surprises are in store. It might be scary surprises, because after all, a lot about this firing technique is chance and randomness! But it sure is fun!!




4 comments:

MLE said...

Yeah!!! So nice to see/hear from you! I'm so excited to see what things look like when you take them out. Have you tried this method before? Also, love the idea of "sets" of cups. I think people would want to buy them that way!

Gayle and Rob said...

So, a guys arm? Funny. I too am eager to see what the end results are like. I like the "terrain" tumblers best, but perhaps they are the most work, right? Thanks for posting, we like hearing from you.

Katie said...

Neat. What does salt do during the firing? And how long did it take you to learn how to do that?

Rynni said...

This is such a cool blog. I love looking at all of your pieces. :]