This Evening's Sunset

 

Turquoise

While firing the bisc in the gas kiln yesterday,I also fired a quick oxidised firing in the small electric kiln [to give the elements a protective coating,you remember] and got these barium matt vases.

Much to my Surprise

All three sinks survived their first brush with fire. I'm loading the bisc kiln again with the remaining 3 sinks and the rest of the pieces for the crystal glazes - there's some room left for a bit more throwing to fill it up...

That's Better

I finished loading the bisc,so now all that scary balancing business is out of sight. When I close the kiln door it looks even better.

Precarious Bisc

What do you think? There are 3 more sinks for a second bisc,and not many ways to load them with tall vases for company.I'll be moving round the studio with extra caution 'til this lot is fired...

Crystal Time is Here Again

I've been working for a couple of weeks now throwing porcelain pieces [and enjoying myself greatly],preparing mentally for the ups and downs of another round of crystal firing. I took out the old elements from the little electric kiln [the one in the picture] and replaced them with a shining new set; today,after a couple of bisc firings with the new elements,I mixed up a batch of my only 1250 degree/oxidised glaze from way back - a turquoise Barium matte that I only use for the occasional test-kiln-ful of hamsas,and glazed these 5 bottles for a cone 8 firing. I'm doing all this to try to get a protective oxidised coating on the new elements so that they won't fade so quickly when the crystal firing starts to form crystals inside the metal of the elements. Obscure practice,no?
I'm also hoping that my new gas kiln will fire fast enough [while staying in oxidation] to take some of the bigger crystal pieces [sinks and tall vases]. There's no controller on the gas kiln,so the whole firing has to be done manually - but that's how I did it for 20 years or so,until the gas kiln got too old,slow and clogged for the crystal firings.

Sydney Rosenstone at Work and Play

While firing the salt kiln yesterday,Sydney found time to throw a batch of bowls for a nearby restaurant [in Nimrod,I think] - a click on the title will whisk you there. My friend Alan is visiting from deepest Dorset,and Shelley and Netzer showed up - they're off to Australia in a few days. Tomorrow is my first day back at Tel Hai - we hope to open the kiln later in the afternoon. The firing went well,after the previous 2 which had been less than wonderful. I think the improvement came from a more open stack at the top of the kiln;Sydney thinks it's because of the 2 rows of brick we added to the chimney. Having made 2 changes,we'll never know which one did the trick [but I think it was the stacking...]. The whole firing took 8 hours,including 1 1/2 hrs salting,and cone 10 was half down by the end. I'm using the new salt clay from Potterycrafts,so have no idea how things will come out...

Sandy Brown

Once again,a click takes you there. Our third guest at the forthcoming Symposium. I'm sure that the limited number of tickets will go rapidly [I don't know if they're on sale yet],ve'dai le'mevin,as the old books say.
Happy Simchat Torah, Shabat Shalom.

Halima Cassel

Our second guest - a click on the title gets you to her site.

Guests- : Akira Satake

Not in the Succah-at the Tel Hai Symposium this Chanukah. We are lucky enough to have three very interesting guests this year,thanks as always to Ruth Corman and her Foundation,and the Israeli Ceramics Guild. Click on title to get to his site.

More Polo

A map of his travels. Looks like he passed through Jerusalem a couple of times.
Of course,he didn't discover porcelain [let alone invent it - God did that,as we're about to read at the beginning of Bereshit/Genesis]: the Chinese had been using it in various forms for a couple of thousand years,but kept quiet about it.
Where does the name porcelain come from? you ask. In my experience,not many people know this: it's named [maybe by Mr. Polo] after a little snail-like shell called porcellus - the shell is named for its pig's-tail-like curly shape,and the clay for the shell's white translucence. You are now a member of the select group who know the etymology of porcelain - spread the word!

Byways of History

Has anyone noticed that Marco Polo's dates [1254-1324] correspond pretty exactly to the maturation temperature range of porcelain,which he is given the credit for naming?