I went to the fantastic senior cello recital of one of my friends, and during the reception I received a call from one of the ceramics professors. She sounded confused, wondering why a bunch of my hammers were on the ware shelves to go into the cone 10 kiln (very high-fire). I didn't have any my hammers glazed for that kind of kiln - I just did ( Read more... )

COME OOOOOOONNNNNNNNNN ( Read more... )

In the last post I was talking about how glazes can look completely different... case in point. This is the Pete's Cranberry that I mentioned - that can either be a rich red color (rare in glazes) or end up being a tan with blue accents. Either works, but it's an interesting comparison.
( cut for pictures! )

I guess I spent 12 hours doing ceramic stuff yesterday... I definitely didn't realize that much time had passed. :/
Most of the day was glazing all of the crap that I didn't get  done earlier in the year, and I will be firing my first solo kiln this coming Monday. Wheeeeee.

I did wax resist on some of the pieces (actually, I found out how cool it ( Read more... )

I participated in my first wood-firing (it was an anagama kiln, apparently). It was built way back in the 60s or so as a collaboration between the art and archeology departments, and is basically a long half-cylinder constructed of layers of fire brick, insulation and mud with a chimney made of firebricks at one end and an opening port at the other ( Read more... )

20 straight hours at a woodfiring kiln, stoking insanely hot flames, watching pyrometric cones melt and stacking wood that will become coals for the most important element of a wood-kiln glaze fire....

This has been one of the coolest experiences of my life.

And of course I didn't have my camera - I'm going to beg some images that Sam took (though ( Read more... )

I find this highly ironic.


( Read more... )