It’s Friday I’m in Love

I actually thought of the above song by The Cure from 1992 when I opened my kiln this morning. I am crazy about a new (for me) decorating method that uses fresh Salvia leaves pressed into newly thrown mugs. This group was the second set I’ve made, trying to perfect the technique of coloring the veins in the leaves with underglaze or oxides and then covering the leaves with wax before dipping the mugs in glaze. It is such a pretty and organic motif, and I will definitely be using it on some other objects.

Kiln Woes

I bought my Skutt kiln two years ago when my existing kiln would not fit through the door of my kiln room (originally the maid’s room up the back staircase). This poor girl lived in a 2.5 x 3.5 meter space with a window too high to see out of, and most likely a woodstove. When we were renovating all the windows, this frame had “jungfrukamaren” written in pencil on the edge. The door is 60 cm wide, and the only model I could find ANYWHERE was made in the US, and thankfully imported by one company in Sweden. It arrives in sections that can be assembled, and I was SO grateful.

It’s been great for the past two years, but started acting up recently (mostly underfiring) . The thermocouple looked, well, fried, so I put in a new one. I was so excited to check the three witness cones (one on each of the three shelves) after the first glaze firing this morning. The results made NO sense. The top of the kiln is usually the hottest, getting cooler towards the bottom. The hotter the temp, the more the cone bends. The cone that says “top” should be the most bent. These cones - I’d say are looking pretty random - and still firing too cool.

This is a mystery, and I will be working on it with the vendor, who provides great support.

Failure IS an option

The Återvinning Bucket for December

(I made six christmas tree wax melt warmers, and didn’t make enough holes for the candle flame to get enough oxygen - the tea light would not stay lit)

In English for now….

So many people ask what I do with all the pottery I’ve made over the years. The short answer is A) There really hasn’t been a lot because B) Most of it is failed experiments.

I look at You Tube videos of production potters (like Florian Gadsby - a machine) who can make 30 or more identical mugs in one day, use the same single clay type for years, or fire everything with their one “signature” glaze. I, on the other hand, can’t do the same thing twice. Part of that is poor note taking (GOT to get better at that), but the other is just uncontrolled curiosity. What if I mix this clay and that clay? Can I add my own lava chips? Can I really use glaze to “glue” the top and bottom of a cake stand together in the kiln? (Um, No.)

And then there are glazes…Glaze chemistry is a world unto itself, and I could nerd out for days discussing frits, opacifiers, oxides and fluxes. Glazy.org is God’s gift to glaze makers. Thank you from the bottom of my heart Derek Au. My workspace often looks more like a chem lab than a pottery studio.

This blog, at least for now, will probably be devoted to my latest adventures in potting…the motto being “You don’t know till you try…”