Kiln is loaded.

Kiln is loaded.   We had a very warm week up to today, and are expecting some snow again.  Change of temperature, means some wind.  I will fire on Friday.

Lose some and gain some...

Trimming and attaching handles to pitchers. As I trimmed while water spray on my hand, I could see the ware getting drying in front of me. I had bisque firing yesterday, and the studio is very warm just from spring-like sun. It was very dry... I brushed the wax around the handle to slow  drying and covered them with plastic before I left.



Good news is the berry bowl I trimmed the day before looks ready for the bisque.



Lose some and gain some...

Satisfactory kiln opening

Opened the kiln today. Still having the oxidation on the bottom shelves, but the rests of kiln are good.

The reduction agent reduced the rutile blue glaze, but pitted very badly. I may apply too much. Need further testing.



I am starting to catch the glaze bug. There was a test pieces for the celadon blue glaze, which does not craze, but got yellow-ish color. I sorta like the result, though. I used 1% of black iron oxide. I will try with 1% red iron oxide next time, and apply more thickly.

New alarm clock

They are my TV stars, growing up. Left is the Ultraman, came from planet M78 to save the earth, and the right is the Balten Seigin (Alien). This TV series first aired in 1966.

Kiln is loaded, and ready to fire tomorrow.

Night after

Last night, we had great turnout, and people enjoyed our building to offer. It was pleasant surprise to me. Last time I opened the studio, I, being in 4th floor, had 2 people while people downstairs got close to 50 people. This time, Crocus Clay Works organized the great event, and there were flow of people moving the floor to floor. Thank you very much for coming, and hope to hold the same event in the future.

Today, I waxed the bottom of pottery for glazing. If you do not wax or wipe off the glaze from the bottom of the pottery, it will melt and stuck to the kiln shelf during the firing. I use the sponge brush for this. I buy a large volume when they come on the sale, like 10 cents each. With this, my hand is pretty much wax free during the process. Wax, of course, repels the glaze on the area covered with, unwanted glaze is easily wiped off with wet sponge.



I am experimenting a silicon carbide in this kiln. I have one area of kiln got oxidation. I read somewhere that the silicon carbide is the reduction agent, and helps the reduction. I mixed the silicon carbide with slip of clay, and

brushed on the side and interior of the bowl. I will glaze this bowl normally, and place it the area of oxidation.



I will glaze next two days.

Hidden Hungerford, Tomorrow 3/6 5-9PM

We had the walk-through of participating studios yesterday. It was fun, and I did not know so many great studios in the same building, from paintings, photography, quilt, to stained glass. It was like walking the galleries in SOHO.

My studio was messiest of all, so I decided to clean up a bit today, and placed some shelves on my drying racks.

If you are in Rochester area, please stop by. It is worth the trip!

TV watching in studio

The studio is almost full of bisque and ready-to bisque wares. I hope to do at couple firings next two weeks. Outside is 17F degrees today, but the sun was getting quite strong. I enjoyed the sun! During the winter in Rochester, NY, it tends to be gloomy, and the sun is rare commodity.

I have been watching TV show, Lidia’s Italy. It opened my eyes on the Italian cooking, very simple but complicated taste and textures. I never thought the shape of pasta for the texture. She cooks up the spaghetti sauce while cooking pasta! This is tonight spaghetti, pancetta (Italian bacon) with tomato sauce. Took me less than 20 minutes and was very good. The other day, I tried the cauliflower and squash in tomato sauce. That was super good.

We use this pasta bowl a lot at home, from pasta to curry.