What's Taking So Long?!

Glazing and testing. That's what's taking so long!

I got my mugs fired, as you know, but then the problem of the right clear glaze came up. I called up Amaco, which manufactures my underglazes, and got the skinny on what they used for the clear they use on their high fire test tiles. It can't just be a regular clear because of the underglazes; the zinc in the glaze can react poorly with the colors and you end up with a milky or foggy layer. I found out they offer a dipping glaze and ordered it. And waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Finally I call them back. It turns out the raw materials are hard to get (thanks, Covid-19 and Delta) and they didn't know when they'd have the dry glaze mix available. I ordered from one of their distributors, but almost immediately got a call that they didn't have it. I found myself wondering why they didn't have it marked, "out-of-stock," but whatever, right? I finally found a gallon jug of the brush-able stuff and had it shipped. So now, of course, the quick dip has turned into painting several coats onto each piece, which is harder than it sounds. A second coat can start pulling up the first coat and the ceramist starts to strongly consider a nervous breakdown!

Meanwhile, I started the touch-up process on the things I'd already fired. When the clear finally arrived, I was good to go, but for one thing.

Underglazed ware, waiting for clear glaze. 

 

 

The glaze test.

Normally, I'd dive right in and take all my glazed stuff over to the nearby ceramics center for firing and damn the torpedoes, but I needed to test it first. The Supernatural-inspired mugs were a ton of work, and the thought of having all of them ruined makes me sick to my stomach. As much as I'd like to just forge ahead and hope the Kiln Gods are feeling happy today, I had to cave in to good sense and start a glaze test.  

 The original plan was to put one cup into their firing for testing, but since the ceramics center isn't doing an oxidation firing for another three weeks, I went ahead and decided to take a chance in my own kiln. I have too many people asking for these to keep them waiting! I started it this morning. You'll note the screen says it's eight hours and twenty minutes to complete the firing. It's likely to be the day after tomorrow before I can safely open the kiln at around 100°.

Non-ceramics folks won't know that having all of the pieces of your glaze firing working together is paramount to a successful firing. What that means is the clay body and the glaze body have to "fit" together; the technical term is "glaze fit." The glaze can't shrink in the cooling process faster than the clay it's being fired on, or you can get shivering or crazing in your glaze, which makes it unsafe. The clay body is my favorite 8-11 buff, which means it can be fired to vitrification (leak-proof) at cones 8 to 11. I decided to try this test at Cone 8, which is roughly 2320°. I figured since the glaze is primarily for cone 6, the closer I kept to that temperature, the better my results would be.

I'll let you know in a couple of days.

All hail the Kiln Gods! 

Almost There!

 

Y'all are probably wondering if I'm incapable of making anything but Supernatural drinking vessels, anymore, since that's all I seem to be posting, lately. The answer is, of course, yes! But there are a multitude of these to finish before my Sunday morning kiln-loading deadline.

Because "Assbutt" is classier in this font, that's why!

Throwing. A little drying. Trimming. A little drying. Pulling the handle. Attaching the handle. A little more drying so the handle can firm up properly. Carving the design and text. 

Then on to underglazing, sometimes with one color on the interior of the mug (three coats) and another on the outside (three coats) and then matching the inlay color with the interior when painting in the carved part of the design (three coats). And then they get to dry the rest of the way until they're what potters call "bone dry." Pretty important for them to be as dry as they can be before firing, otherwise they'll "explode" in the kiln as soon as the temperature hits 212°, the boiling point of water. The steam coming out of a damp piece will cause that area or areas to "explode."

Those are just the initial stages they need to go through before the first (bisque) firing. After that 24-hour firing cycle (slow up, hold target temperature, then slow cooling), they come out get all the dust blown off or washed off and are allowed to dry completely before the clear glaze is applied, either by brushing (again, the magical three coats) or by dipping.

It's time-consuming, of course. And it's honestly satisfying for me to know I'm making for a fandom which will appreciate all the time and effort. It's satisfying to know that no one else is dumb enough to put all this blood, sweat, and tears into a cup.

I've commented before in these pages that I'm passionate about everyday things being beautiful as well as functional. When you use them, they should, to quote Marie Kondo, "spark joy." For me, there's more joy in a handmade item than in something generic, made by a corporation for practical purposes, only. Yes, there are mass-market mugs with pithy sayings on them, and yes, they have their place, certainly! Even I have a few. (Somewhere in storage, I still have a mug from Klagenfurt, Austria, which I visited with my grandmother way back when. It always reminds me of her!)

 

But even so, I prefer the handmade.

Months of work, waiting to get packed!

Next is the very complex and nervous work of packing all these babies into bins to take to the ceramics place.

Nervous because they're at a point where knocking them the wrong way will cause an irreparable break, like the one below.

There's just no method I've been able to find which will reliably repair bone-dry clay and keep it together through all the processes so it can be a durable, functional piece. 

So into the trash this one went! Normally I'd throw it into my slop bucket and reconstitute it, but I had already underglazed it, and I can't mix the underglaze with the clay.

The good news is, there's still plenty to go to the studio!

But back to "complex and nervous."

 

Loading the bins is complex because packing unfired ceramics is actually a game of Tetris. If you have large bowls to pack, everything around them must be far enough away to not chip or break the rims, even when the intervening space is occupied by bubble wrap. If you have underglazed clay pieces, they should be put it with other items the same color so there's no cross-contamination with other colors or unglazed ware.

I use smaller bins because unfired ware is heavy and I can better manage them on my own, both for this purpose and for shows.

I started packing last Sunday, because the process always takes me longer than I think it will, and I really hate stressing myself out at the last minute! There's nothing like having a deadline and realizing, too late, that you need another bin or two and there's no time left to go buy them!

Well, alright, kids! I have another layer of underglaze to put on before I start inlaying, so that's all for now!

Wish me luck! 

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Spring is in full swing, and has been racing by so fast that we're almost to the Summer Equinox! Where did the time go?

I took a break from my usual clay-obsessed Saturday mornings to go on a hike with a friend and took my Grace along. It was a perfect day to harvest some white sage for smudge sticks, since it's still pretty cool in the mornings, and the 80 degree 9:00 AMs are still about a month away. I was really proud of what a good girl she was! It was her first time wearing a backpack, but she adapted like an old pro!

After we got back an my friend headed out to do her errands, I got back to my clay. Unfortunately, the first big pot I had made was simply not right. If I know something I make isn't up to my standards, I'll destroy it rather than take it all the way to completion. My work goes out into the world and speaks about me when I'm not there, and I won't allow inferior things to represent me!

So back to the beginning I went.

Piece by piece, a new pot was grown! And of course, I had help from my studio assistant!

It took most of the day, as you can't just throw and attach. The clay has to set up in between, and although I use a torch to speed things up, I'm still cautious about how much heat I put on each section.

I am really pleased with the final form! I have more I plan to do with it, but the basics are done!

I got a few other things thrown and they're all in various states of completion. I can't wait to see how they turn out!

Meanwhile, my garden is doing really well. I planted a couple of ornamentals in the little shade garden and they're starting to bloom! I know it's silly, but just looking at them makes me smile.

And in between all of this, I'm trying to get more jewelry in the ShellHawk's Creations Etsy Store!

I'm always amazed that people say they're bored! I mean, wow! There's always so much to create!

More WIPs

 

The potential of these bowls is something like that of the beckoning of a clean, white, page. Basic black, painted over with wax resist, and then the fun starts!

I've been running across a lot of Triple Goddess/Triple Moon imagery, lately, and thought it was a hint from the universe to start playing with the design, so I started with this bowl, gently carving off the black underglaze to begin the design.

The purpose of the wax resist over the top of the black underglaze is to allow me to inlay another color into the sgraffito without messing up the black. In this case, that's a white underglaze. After three coats of the white, it's time to take a damp sponge and wipe away the extra white underglaze so the lines stay clean.

And then? Let that little guy dry and wait for the first firing!

I have more of these to do, and many more pieces to make before I can ask to rent the kiln from the clay center for both the bisque and the glaze firing. This bowl will be bisqued, then covered with a high-fire clear glaze, as it's made from a stoneware clay.

The one above is going to be more work, but I'm looking forward to all the details!