Hello everyone we had a lovely long rumbly thunderstorm yesterday and I decided to trust to the universe and fire the electric kiln in the middle of a storm; Because deadlines. Luckily for me the power did not go out at all and the kiln fired without any hiccups.
I noticed that the last time I fired the kiln to bisque, cone 07 was barely tipping so that means the kiln only hit about 973 C instead of 1000 C. For the non-potters, cones are those little pointy things you can see in the photo below. They are designed to melt at very specific temperature and as kilns often have cool spots, similar to a kitchen oven, cones are placed in the bottom, middle and top of the kiln to measure the temperature differences.
I did the tongue test on the ware as I unpacked the bisque and the work had been fired well enough but the disparity in the temperature from what the cones are saying to what the temperature gauge says is a bit of a worry.
So in this glost firing I have put cones everywhere to see what is going on inside the kiln.
I am heading off to Melbourne on Thursday for a ceramic adventure. There is an exhibition I want to see at Mossgreen gallery
And then afterwards I am going to visit the Melaleuca Ceramic and Art studio, which just looks fabulous. It should be a lovely day.
Friday I am going to absorb some more of Melbourne’s fabulous energy, it really is my favourite city and then I get to CATCH A TRAIN. Yes it is worthy of all caps locks because I adore trains, I once caught a train from Melbourne to Adelaide just for the adventure of the journey, though the adventure palls after eleven hours of sitting down.
So yes a train to Ballan to see my friend Truly, to check out her super tidy studio and then to head off to St Andrews Markets on the Saturday, where I will be flogging off some of my work rather cheaply.
I have been preparing spoons, especially for this mainland jaunt. The red of the iron wash will fade to a sandstoney colour and the white will change to a deep shiny blue. Because magic, because alchemy, because of the transformative powers of high temperatures on silica and other stuff.
I might have some other bits and pieces with me, like skull beads.
But I will be travelling light and so I am not going to bring a lot of work with me to sell, as the point of this trip is to do a bit of networking at Warrandyte on the Sunday. Where I will magically transform from Kim the ordinary everyday mudslinger to Kim the President of the Tasmanian Ceramics Association (da da da dunnn) Hopefully I will be able to hatch some Trans Tasman plots for world domination via mud.
Or I will just buy lots of ceramics from all the gorgeous potters that are going to be on the banks of the Warrandyte River.
Now I am off out the door to go and teach at the first Clay Club of 2014. There are still a couple of places left for either an adult or a child in this no pressure handbuilding just for FUN class. Clay Club is held every second Sunday at 10 am in the Tasmanian Ceramics Association’s studio in a old classroom in G block at Cosgrove high school in Glenorchy. It is heaps of fun and the children extend my artistic practice is ways I never dreamed possible.
If you would like to join in just,
Add your name and URL to the Mr Linky below.
Using the “Sunday Ceramics” title and photo I provided is OPTIONAL it is up to you.
Then PLEASE
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Thanks for that lesson in cones. Very interesting! I had some experience in my 20’s of the cones that come out of bongs, but I’ve never known what the kiln version were.
If I lived in Tasmania
AND I had extra money
AND I thought I could hold it together in a class setting so that I didn’t sort of collapse like the last claymaking class I went to
I sure would come to yours.
I had a similar experience Sue at about the same age 🙂 but I did not like what it did to my head. Maybe later on I will set up a virtual class and you can do some clay work that way .
A virtual class would be wonderful!
I kinda like what it did to my head in terms of dreaming and experiencing what relaxation feels like. But ultimately that’s where it stayed – in my head. A hundred creative ideas without leaving the couch and actually DOING any of them. It’s a thief like that
Hope you have a great time on the mainland. If I make it out to Warrandyte I will see if I can spot you in the crowd!
If it is hot I will be wearing odd crocs, one red one blue. Or I can just msg you my mobile number and you can send me a txt and we can meet for a coffee.
I would come to your class if I lived in Tassie.
I love that elephant!! He’s just so….alive.
Enjoy your trips, which is a silly thing to say really, because I know you will.
Thank you River I will enjoy myself and there is a blog post coming soon about that elephant.
a busy week coming up for you… sounds wonderful – bring us back lots of pics please 🙂
I will try Anna, it will mostly be of pots because I don’t like photographing people much.
I’m taking at your word to post anytime! Better late than never!
Cool, and I am glad you left a comment otherwise I probably wouldn’t have noticed you there until later 🙂