Out of the Firing!

 
And into the fire!

I have been pushing my Skutt kiln to live up to its workhorse reputation by firing day after day, nonstop, for the past four or five firings. As soon as it cools down enough to open, everything gets emptied and the next load goes in!

Case in point: these pieces were unloaded this morning and my large jack-o'-lantern and one of the jars are in their glaze firing right now. The jar is a second firing because the purple over the black wasn't very apparent, and while I don't really think slapping another coat of the lavender over the obsidian on a red clay body will make a huge difference for the good, I don't think it will hurt it any. We'll see! It's all mad scientist experimentation.

The two above are a good example of that experimentation. I wanted to see if the "Ice" celadon would give a contrast to the clay body and the glaze, or whether the translucency of the glaze would cause the color to wash out. Turns out it was the latter, but even so, these turned out well! I'm just going back to the drawing board to find a lighter, bluer, glaze to contrast with this chocolate clay body.

However, the celadons I used on light clay bodies were predictably wonderful! The True Celadon glaze never disappoints! (Long-time followers with amazing memories might remember I used it on this carved porcelain punch bowl set.) I used it on two of the carved tumblers and I never cease to love the way it pools in the low spots and accentuates the dimensionality of carved pieces!

 

The bat cup, while it didn't turn out quite how I expected, still maintained a spooky vibe. I plan to play with the next one and see if I can get better results.

I took the opportunity to play with stoneware glaze combinations on the new clay body, too. I love how you can combine Deep Firebrick with Indigo Float and get this gorgeous and vibrant combo!

On the Frog's Breath jar, that versatile True Celadon over a red clay body. It's a really nifty green!

And I *love* how these guys turned out! They remind me of the old, sepia-toned photos from way back when!

 Alright! Back to making!