I opened the kiln for a quick peek yesterday afternoon and it looked to be a successful firing.
You have no idea how pleased I am to be able to type those words internet.
I used three new glazes, I made a further two glazes using very old glaze ingredients. I didn’t have time to take notes whilst I was glazing, as I was way behind schedule and I fired to a lower temperature than normal.
In short I was leaving myself open to any number of ceramic disasters.
But the Kiln Gods were smiling on me and I am reasonably pleased with some of the work that came out of the kiln.
The glaze I used on these slipcast cups is one formulated by ceramist Ruth Langman and it is a clear gloss glaze that fires well across the mid range to higher range of stoneware temperatures. I programmed the kiln to fire to 1250 degrees centigrade but cone 9 was well down so I think the kiln is firing 20 degrees higher than the temperature gauge is telling me. I added one and a half percent of cobalt carbonate to the RL glaze and this is the result.
*Ruth Langman clear.
silica ————————— 31
Kaolin—————————10
Neophyline syenite ———-30
gerstley borate —————21
wollastonite ——————–8
I added 1.5% Cobalt Carbonate to make this blue.
I used a combination of three glazes on these plates WCC Black, WCC Green and RL blue
Ben’s WCC Base glaze
Potash Feldspar –30
Silica —————33
Whiting ————-17
Kaolin —————15
To make a black glaze add 5% Iron Oxide, 2% Cobalt oxide 2%Manganese dioxide
To make green add 4.5% copper oxide.
Here are the glazes on my slipcast cups.
I haven’t made a lot of blue work before. I have used blue as a highlight on my ceramic cups but I have steered away from blue because, because? Actually I am not really sure why I have avoided blue glazes.
Maybe because blue can be so overpowering and my environmental plates are all earthy tones suited to reduction firings.
But I think I might have to follow this lot of work up with some more blue things.
Now for a WEDDING update.
The preparations for the wedding are all on track. My grand son Isaac is recovering from his virus and I am recovering from the fright he gave me. My back is mostly better and my infection has cleared up.I didn’t fire as many plates as I would have liked due to the unexpected trip to the hospital. But I have five plates for my daughter’s wedding present that I am very pleased with, some serving platters that turned out very well (photos later) and a lovely large salad bowl.
I am now feeling quite excited about the wedding rather than stressed. Veronica and I tested the livestream channel on Tuesday and we will both put live stream links up on our blogs on Saturday morning so that you can watch the wedding either here on my blog or over on Veronica’s blog, Sleepless Nights
And now internet I am off up to the local hall to fill my trailer up with folding chairs so that we all have somewhere to sit on Saturday (squeee)
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They are just beautiful, though I really like your more usual earth tones as well. I am thinking that a wedding with this much care and devotion will be wonderful. And am sending my good wishes through the ether.
And, just to be a pain in the butt, detailed instructions for acquiring your linky thing please. Pretty please.
Thank you EC 🙂 as for the Sunday Selections do you mind terribly if I change my mind?
Of course not. Your meme, your decision. And if you change it back again that is fine too.
I am not stressed at all now, so I reckon this weeks Sunday Selections will be a Gala Wedding Edition. 🙂
Hi Kim they are all stunning. I would buy some of those slip ware pots if they were for sale. Glad to hear the wedding preparations are on track. Cheers Jane
Thanks Jane and the slip cast cups are available for sale. If you are in Hobart you can buy them at the Off Centre Gallery, downstairs in the Salamanca Arts Centre, Salamanca place. Or you can email me and we can work something out. 🙂 The large cups are $25 and the smaller ones are $20.
The blue colors are gorgeous! I’m happy to hear you are all starting to feel better, and things are on-track. I’ll get to work figuring out what time I should look for the live stream in my East coast US time zone. Wishing all of you a beautiful day on Saturday.
it is ten past 11 in the morning now Janet, if that helps you with your calculations. and the time stamp on this comment is out by an hour
And it’s 8 pm on Wednesday here. We are 16 hours behind you. What time is the wedding? Pretty exciting times!
The Wedding is at 12.30 pm on Saturday afternoon.
Yay!! I absolutely love, love, love the cobalt blue. So cheery!
I thought you might like it C, it is the same blue that you have in those pots of yours.
The blue is divine!
So excited about the wedding, and very very glad Isaac is better 🙂
xx
I’m so glad that most of the worries/infections/viruses have cleared up in time for the wedding 🙂
I LOVE LOVE LOVE all your blue work! I’m so happy for you it all turned out so well!
But most of all I’m glad you’re all feeling better. This is all so exciting!
The blue has turned out really well! I love everything you have pictured here and I’m looking forward to seeing pictures of your plates and platters in use. In the third picture, I really like that greeny grey cup on the right, is that what you call green? It’s nice. I also like the super shiny black one on the left next to the blue.
Your glosses have turned out really well.
I’ll be busy myself on Saturday, so I’ll miss the live feed, but I’ll be looking on Sunday to see your photos!
that blue is gorgeous … makes a trip to Hobart very tempting! best wishes for Saturday, too. you and Veronica (as far as Twitter lets me see) have a beautiful relationship. xt
Amazing, wonderful colors! i think you should certainly try more blue. I love the first photo. What a color!!!
Glad to hear Isaac is recovering. Love the blue glaze, but love the shape of the vessels even more. They look so tactile, there’s something lovely about holding a cup or bowl that feels just right.
I tell you what, you are one talented mamma jamma 🙂
I think I might have to be seeing you about a new, lovely set of mugs sometime! They’re gorgeous Kim 🙂
Oh my god Kim, they are beautiful, stunning, just stunning. You are truly incredibly talented.
Oh I like BLUE Pots , and yours are so so nice . SO nice , (I repeat because it is soo true) ! Bravo Kim !