Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Multi tasking

I can't for the life of me figure out why I did this, but I glazed all of this stuff while I fired four Raku cycles that I had also glazed. That was after I got Wes off to school, washed three loads of clothes, cleaned the bathrooms, cut Gerry's hair, unloaded the bisque kiln, washed and sanded the pots and ate breakfast. Whew.......... I have got to get this under control, it was way too much and I am pooped!

and after the Raku cooled off I loaded a ^6 for later in the week.
This is my turquoise glaze fried to pieces, but it turned out better than I thought, after I got over the shock of seeing red instead of green.
This was hard to photograph but this was the block I used the graffito paper on, it is really nice.
Remember these little dishes? They have terra sig on them, burnished and then fired to 1800 with no glaze, they look like river stones
I fried the crap out of these bowls. I don't know what happened except that maybe the pyrometer wasn't keeping up with the temp climb. I love the bottoms of them but the tops are really bad.
Good news is I can re fire. Below is a before and after, the tray on the right looked the same as the bowl on the left and I re fired it, good as new. That's the thing I like about Raku, just keep putting it back in the fire until you like it or it explodes. Speaking of explosions I lost quite a bit today. The bisque, I think was ok, as I was glazing I saw no pin holes like last time, and there were none in the Raku. But, I lost all of the houses I had in there. I don't know why, they were built really well to withstand a Raku fire, but they all fell apart, bummer.
Tomorrow I have a staff development workshop with some art teachers, Thursday I teach my class at the Artscenter, so the ^6 will have to wait until Friday. I will have to get in one more Raku fire over the weekend and possibly one more bisque. Nothing like waiting until the last minute to get work out, sigh............ gotta go American Idol is on!! Bye :)

6 comments:

ang design said...

lovely stuff and sooo busy trace maybe the houses weren't quite dry?? and sometime the rapid temp climb is just too much for the wares..just slow it down a tad..

DirtKicker Pottery said...

Ha, You kill me.. "Just keep throwing in back in until you like it or until it blows up". Ahh I love it :)
You get more done in one day, than I do in an entire week!
- Cindy

cookingwithgas said...

The good the bad and the ...... you really are busy!
Some days I feel I am going 95 in a 55!

Tracey Broome said...

I can't drive 55 Meredith! I'm going 95 all the time too. Ang, the houses were way dry, had been made for a couple of weeks, scored, slipped coils at the seams, and I have made others that survived a Raku, these didn't even survive a bisque, don't get it.... yep, Cindy, if it's not right anyway what's the loss if you keep trying :)

Anonymous said...

a lot of different pieces came out great. i love the turquoise bowl on it's on plinth. i can't believe the multi tasking going on there. i am constantly looking for a reason to relax, although i rarely find one.

ang design said...

oh ok i'd just slow down the 1st 500 deg if they're not surviving a bisque I just realised i'm working in C what temp do you turn your kiln to high and how long do you take to get there?
I've slowed everything down recently with the large work and had all firings on lo or 1 1/2 overnight and they're only 300 deg C in the morning then up to 4 then hi after 550C.. the kiln dials go from LO up to 6 then HI ..even if your pieces seem dry they still have water in them.. hope this helps trace