December's Chill

I never like having to wait to fire pots.  When your pieces are ready, and you have enough to fill your kiln, it is too hard to wait! I mean, for me, one of the most satisfying aspects to being a potter is getting to see them finished.

This month is, as usual, the busiest time of the year.  Several important things kept me busy with school, and, well, the pots couldn't get fired. When I do a firing, it takes a full 24 hours including candling, firing, and a back firing slow cool, so, I guess it just kept being put off.

Anyway, here are some from the group of 34 that I chose to share....

Here is a shohin sized oval in a shimmering green glaze-

This primitive style pot below could be used for kusamono, (in Japanese this means 'grass thing'  I actually made a smaller one too, in the same style..

This medium sized oval below has very subtle glaze that is very sensitive to temperature and atmosphere. Even the slightest amount of reduction gives the copper a pinkish cast.  The crystals come out in the firing down slow cool...

This last pot uses a thin application of a glaze that promotes blue crystals from copper.  I put in some throwing rings to hold the glaze and highlight some texture...

and oh the firing...

For my potheads...

I had a bit of a time evening out the top and bottom of the kiln. The bottom was at least a full cone's cooler than the top.  Usually, when I fire in reduction, I just close up the top damper, with my eye on my oxyprobe, to put in a little more heat down lower in the kiln.  That worked o.k. for a while, but it was complicated because I still wanted to keep a somewhat oxidizing atmosphere throughout the firing. I opened up the bottom peeps and that helped too, but by the time the cool down started the top was already ^8 at 3:00 (my end target). So, when I tried a final soak with the top port slightly covered (oxyprobe reading .02-.03) there was not enough wiggle room in temps to allow the bottom ^8 to fall.

I suppose I could have stayed up longer to find the sweet spot which would have allowed the bottom to come up, but it was getting quite late, and I wanted to start the slow cool. 

Well thanks for taking time for let me ramble. I am just glad to finally get this load done and fired so I can have them ready for the KAWA Joy of Bonsai convention next month. Come and see me!

Now, does anyone wish to place bets on how long it will take me to get this load priced and updated on my website?