updates, etc.

Just did a glaze firing Thursday. I fired a couple of honey jars with the honey comb pattern- shown in the greenware state in this post. Sold one at the River City Farmer's Market yesterday and will probably take this one to the Riverside Artists Gallery tomorrow-

 Here's an update: Some time ago I talked about trying out drop frames and am finally following up on the results.  I had no problem with warping.  I dried the plates inside the frames until leather-hard, with the bottom sitting on a piece of drywall.  Once the plates were firm enough I sandwiched the frame between two pieces of drywall, flipped upside down, then removed the frame and flipped the plates back over (sandwiched again).  More careful drying, then bisque fired using a sprinkle of alumina hydrate on the shelves to help the plates move as they shrink a bit during the firing.  I don't know if I really needed to do that but was concerned about the expanse of flat bottoms on these plates.  I removed two of these plates from the kiln Friday- the smallest and largest.  The middle size didn't make this firing. I'm not so sure of my glaze and decoration choice- it's O.K. but now that I see it fired I can think of better choices.  Here's the small plate.  The largest  is at the bottom of a box I packed for the Farmer's market.

Another update:  Now that I understand the proper way to "soak" at the end of a firing I gave it a try.  As I mentioned
here, I had a crazing problem with a glaze I recently tried.  My results were better with the soaking, but not perfect.  Where there was crazing all through the glaze, now there are just a couple of small lines. I did a twenty minute soak.  I used a split shelf at the top, which meant my firing was very even.  Normally, with whole shelves, the bottom fires ahead of the top but as you can see, the cones from top and bottom are very similar:

What's selling- A little of everything at the market, but most popular were these Marietta tumblers:

People were buying for Christmas (already?), and some wanted something that said "Marietta, Ohio" without looking touristy.  I sold out of these at the market, but I believe I still have a few at the gallery.

 

And, I got the word from one the other artists at the gallery that my gingko planters have sold out. I will be making more. This is a picture of a couple of gingko planters I've made in the past:

stretching

What's going on....  If you've been looking for me at the farmer's market my absence these past few weeks is due to not having enough ware to stretch out to two places at once.  I joined The Riverside Artists Gallery and my stuff has relocated there.  I plan to eventually be in both places.  This maybe isn't the greatest timing since after the fire that wiped out most of my pots I've spent more time in development- testing and refining old and new glazes, than I have in production.  However, I have thought about joining the Gallery for a long time and think that taking this step might give me a well needed push.  Meanwhile, here's a sampling of the latest:



 The silver is left behind by the textured paper I pressed onto the bowl and will burn out in the bisque firing. Later, I'll highlight the texture with a black wash.



 

 

 Texture, texture, texture. 

 

These are bisque firing drop frame plates.  I fired them nesting together like this with a little alumina hydrate sprinkled on the kiln shelf. I was concerned about warping, but so far so good.  I need to investigate plate stackers for the kiln.  Wonder if they would work for this shape, though.

 

 Some black engobe brushed on then wiped off. 

 

 Sometimes I get out of the basement.

 

   Miss Billy visits the work table.