Sunday, March 21, 2010

Little Boxes


I made some boxes today and had this song in my head the whole time. Glued some of my bones and coral to this altar that I smoke fired, kinda cool. Don't like cone 6 and I knew this.... the firing was fine, easy, no pinholes except for one cup that I knew was going to have them. But the glazes I used were some from the Artscenter, boring, predictable, the firing was predictable, ho hum, yawn. I did try one commercial glaze that Laura gave me but I put it on too thick and it was yellow instead of brown and looked really bad. Didn't really feel like snapping a bunch of pics, putting them on my computer and then downloading to blogger, so you just have to trust me that there was nothing there interesting or useful for you to see:) It was a useful firing in that it answered some questions for me, taught me a little more about my kiln and no great loss as there were only about 15 pieces in there that were made for testing.
In my head with the Little Boxes song, were thoughts of shinos once again. I think I am getting this kiln figured out and maybe I should try a ^9 shino firing with some cups. I just love shinos and think of them frequently. For now, I gotta get some Shakori inventory going. Working next week on that.

9 comments:

cookingwithgas said...

HI TB!
Great piece there- I love the look and items that accent the piece.
It is always a learning lesson.
We all learn some thing each time we fire.
Now if I could get that ADD under control.......

Tracey Broome said...

I know what you mean,Meredith, I get distracted every other hour of my day!
You can just look at my work and wonder what is disconnected in my brain:) Glad you like the altar, it really smells though, leaving it out to air a bit.

Laura Farrow said...

the shrine rocks! you know, there are some awesome shinos out there for cone 6 if you haven't given up on cone 6 yet.

Hollis Engley said...

I do love the altar, Tracey. It reminds me of similar steel and glass altars found all over Greece, usually at the roadside. Often there are photos inside, candles, offerings of one kind or another. Having lived in New Mexico, where there are lots of crosses at the roadside to mark the highway deaths of loved ones, I thought that was what I was seeing. But apparently that's not true in Greece. Very cool stuff, Tracey. And I can dig up some cone 9 Shino recipes for you. But why not just go to 10?

Tracey Broome said...

Not totally giving up on cone 6 if I can find a glaze I like. It's an easy fire. Anyone know any ^6 shino recipes?

Judy Shreve said...

Love the spirit box! You do that work so well!

Are you thinking of ^6 reduction? You know John Britt has researched ^6R quite a bit & has come up with some amazing shinos at that temp. He did an article on it in Ceramics Monthly -- I think it was last October. If you can't find it I'll look for my copy.

Tracey Broome said...

Hollis, when I worked at CM we fired to ^9 with good results. This prissy Olympic Kiln I have is a bit shy at ^10 I think, plus there is the shelf thing! however, I remembered that I had some old heavy duty rectangular shelves that might just work. Just thinking that this kiln isn't going to last long with ^10, I really don't think it was made for it. Judy, I did see the Britt article, didn't really like the results in the photos, but that's been awhile, my tastes change daily so I should take another look. Anyway, I have been thinking about what I truly like in my work, I know I love the Raku and smoke stuff, but I keep coming back to the shinos. You know, I like all the things that are a tough sale!

Linda Starr said...

Beautiful piece, love the incorporation of the coral and bones. I run along the same lines as you collecting discarded elements and using them with clay. You would have been in heaven along with me when I picked through the side yard of the RV wheel repair place in Texas for remnant metals. I think pit and barrel firings are wonderful and I have a lot of ideas on how to take these to the next level, that said I think shinos and Cone 6 reduction is worth exploring too, oh so much to explore.

Tracey Broome said...

Linda, when you get settled in, go to Sanibel Island near Ft. Meyers and hunt for shells. I have never seen so many, you have to wear shoes to walk on the shore.