My ware shelves in the studio are finally brimming with sufficient pots for a bisque firing and what a motley crew they are. I’ve got a bunch of experimental new shapes (bowls and vases), lots of small hand built items (from my first few weeks of recovery), a few carved bowls, numerous underglaze (stroke and coat) color samples for my workshops and yes, the obligatory large bowls, playera plates and 10 mugs… My next glaze firing will include 5 more glazes tests (4 blues and 1 green, all based on the High Calcium Semimatte Base II). So, I’ve got plenty of horizontal and vertical test tiles/plates to fully take them through their paces. I DO love glaze testing! 🙂
This is the longest I’ve gone without firing since we finished setting up my studio last May. Though I’m excited to get back into a regular schedule of firings, I am also a bit anxious. Our low voltage issues have intensified now that we are in the dead of summer. In the past, I was in the habit of firing overnight, to reduce the potential impact on our neighbors’ electrical supply. However, the last two firings I did took longer than the previous ones had. We think this is because our voltage levels have been dropping dramatically in the evenings into the nights (especially on weekends, which is when I fired my last two firings). With the help of Nick’s careful charting of voltage levels, we will figure out the optimum time to fire (multimeters are a wonderful thing!). Someday soon I hope these damn electrical issues will be behind us! 😦
The motley crew!
Aug 9, 2010 at 11:18 am
good luck with the high calcium semimatte… it’s a workhorse. gotta love shelves of work waiting for the fire
Aug 9, 2010 at 1:34 pm
Thanks Jim! I’m exited to try out the new glazes. Yep, HCSM is a killer base.