trim & deco vid

saturday clubbing

pondering the tile tests




paper clay tiles in frames

so far....

                

 are we there yet??

oh mr hart what a mess!!

 
 

                 

   

ta daaa!!

    

haha.. just kidding, while firing the new tests today i spent a fair amount of time tidying up my gear and some good cleaning out of my cupboard space..

I'm looking forward to seeing how the new red table tile tests come out, one of them is totally random i found on the net well why not at this stage! a full on recipe including frit for enhancing bright colours, which i have added to the other new combo tests too..

on the make list today - more paper clay tiles and a couple of plates that are a remake after a bisque disaster that cracked right through that's never happened before but the plate was very flat and a small lump on the kiln shelve could have been the culprit..

Oh and i found the self timer on my phone cam can you tell??? for franci too many pics of me...

not so simply red....

hmmmm, can anyone say still testing.....go on say it with me, I'm testing some colours right now...

now that that's out!!... no really it's not that frustrating just disappointing, getting the right red for the table tiles...the last batch just came out too chalky, so back to the scales to weigh again.. I'm backing off the clay to 3-5% and repeating the test in glaze as well, the 90/10 red to brown colourants looks close to me so fingers crossed eh...

anyhoo, more piccies from the kiln filler plates range of the white rabbit and the knaves knees plus a vertical form for deco purposes only, i do like the idea that the piece can be rotated with all 4 sides being different. Should look good with a big bunch of flowers in it...

ash glaze cone 7

for paul, the only tests or glazes i had were from cone 7 to cone 9 this is a page from my journal at college in large scale form..

i think playing with percentages and low fire frits may work, test test test...... :)

tiles in 3d

the owl and the pussycat... & the knaves knees, off with your head..

saturday at the workshop while i watched a couple of kilns had a go at washing with oxides on the thick sided tiles..

after another CC meet at the worlds end pub we discussed space for the greenhill galleries and now it seems i'll need a fair few more tiles so i've readjusted the idea to cover the rustic paper clay tiles and some detailed drawings on my stoneware clay..

thinking about doing some layering as well with text from lewis carrolls 'alice in wonderland'...

I've made another batch of the thick paper clay tiles and will test more with other clay too... it's all coming together in pieces so should be interesting with the heavy textures combined with very smooth surfaces...keep ya posted..

the 2nd batch of red tests tiles should be out soon so i'll know if i've cracked that job soon too..

the table is just waiting now for final construction, i'll be sooooooo happy when its done it's been a really long and testing process.....cheers for now..

tea for 10

a couple of doodles from the weekend....just thinking out illustration position on wrap around tiles..

i was highly inspired by AJ's glass work and intend to incorporate more pieces for some 'pages' a composite piece perhaps... i'll be testing today...

layer upon layer

here's the results of saturdays firing, some great layering in glazes and  some lovely details like iron flecks and salts from the shino..

I gave up around 12.30am sunday as the day was a long one and possibly another hour or more was needed to reach c10 and a a result the chuns didn't reach anywhere near what they should be. .

so there will be some refiring for those pieces and surprise surprise mugs!! i don't usually do the mug but all that teapot making must have sparked a burst of muggage  energy.....and much bigger handles after getting a doug fitch and a ron philbeck in my hands....

well the firing was long and perhaps the alterations to the flue affected the firing or maybe just running low on gas, we did start later than usual as kevin wanted to check the gas lines, thanks so much for all your assistance kevin.. you da man! 

and the dark celedon and shino came out a treat, the perfect purples even showed some colour, the barrels again distorted so i need to address that in the making or glazing stage to fire them together.. 

overall good results and filled every space available even the walls again and lovely results down there.. and the mortar and pestles look yum..

my day in 5 mins.

for my brother... the perpetual stirrer, cheers man all went well and i didn't appear on the news...hehehe