it's up there....

This has to be one of the most frustrating commissions I have worked on ... it's up there... hey all have their challenges but this one has it on multiple levels...

Having said that I'm back to the wheel a few remakes to be done and i feel I have a handle on the glaze now, just pouring in its future applications...no dipping, no swishing nice smooth edges to rim and def. no layering... brushing works quite nicely too..

 Just a little hot maybe on the second firing of these platters the glaze has bubbled a bit but its smooth and the surface feels much nicer..
It is a wealth of knowledge gained on every firing and i'm thinking the extra heat work has helped a lot and that the max temp doesn't need to be reached on the second firing so they can go in with my standard clear glaze next time...

Well it's stinking hot out there today 42C today....and the studio is hot hot hot.

my pots form the wkd are under plastic wet towels and more plastic...they certainly are getting the treatment out there...

And last tuesday Anna and I headed up to Murray Bridge Regional Gallery to take some work in I took some lil birdie pieces and some of my landscape wall tiles....I have a few of those that still need their wall hanging systems attached and a rather large one i'd like to fire higher too...its looking a bit pink to me, you know the underdone look.. 

So the River Murray is looking dirty as ever and very wet!!

The river bank marker has the flood levels from previous years the last one i remember was in the 70's. We are at the tail end of the River and generally the garbage end...where the mouth washes out to sea at Goolwa the silt builds up and over the past years of drought it was thought it would block off totally..... never did though!!

I could go into the whole why are we growing rice and cotton that needs so much water in a country as dry as ours but I shall resist!!

And why are we still waiting for the government to sort out a fair share of the water for the states???

Anyhoo thats enough of that... Anna and I had a lovely lunch in the cafe here at the river all be it a little more expensive than we were looking for but it was a great setting and really super service..

engarde...

    

A little sloppy slip trailing action from yesterday on the spare plates... I'd made a few plates for another commission for a 50th birthday pressie... thankfully Frankie Valli did short songs !!! Yes that really is all the lyrics to ' I love you Baby' ..... I really wanted to write in the horn section part :P i resisted the urge!! 

and my boy engarde as per usual...there's always something creeping out there you just have to watch out!!

                                                   

1,2,3...

shelf 1

Notes for me the top shelf was good colour although i think the green was good on this one anyway, clay body is bennets sw

shelf 2

This one had the satin white wash brushed over and was unsuccessful in changing the appearance of the glaze...still pinholes even fired at 20 deg over in kiln #2 the clay body is the clayworks LGH

shelf 3

shelf 3 had the white satin at normal strength it pitted and was a little lava-ish in appearance

however the refire of the soda fired shinos were lovely

The wax resist was good but the black satin too thick.. needs a wash for this process..

 and the cups a little wonky but cute anyway and check out the green satin glaze another incarnation quite pastel in appearance... these were swished around in the remainder of the glaze in the bucket, then turned around and swished again on the handle side with some double dipping overlay...the result is a very smooth finish and elongated mugs again overfired for the clay body... at c7 1200 on dial kiln2 which is approx 30 deg over the reading...

it's all in the details..

 And the firing goes on, I've documented the glaze applications and just for a visual sake where these are in the kiln..so we shall see I'm firing up today back to the original glaze profile with the black satin which I've used for a while, so here's hoping the problem will be solved this time!

And lil birdie came out of the kiln on saturday,         

                                                     all excellent results!! yey!!

 And some Giraffe jewellery all my nieces      

                                                       idea...thanks Lauren

 So onto Stirling Market Sunday a beautiful 32d C which is around 29C in Stirling language a lovely breeze for most of the day and brilliant shade from the Maple trees..so here goes the days saga we arrived at our usual setup time to find a little green car parked in our designated spot...The Market is held in Druid Ave Stirling and is blocked off for the days market about 7am unfortunately for some of us it means peeps who leave their cars in there overnight not considering the market the next day they are stuck in the spot all day!!!

and lucky for Rose, my market buddy and myself the apple guy didn't come yesterday as he had no fruit...so his spot was vacant and there you have it how we arrived at a lovely corner spot a little hazardous with its sloping site and bits to fall over where the bitumen has broken away.... the end result of the day, 3 breakages but no injuries :))

some of my tiles under the tree

Rose setting up

the corner spot

Bruce with his stick!!

the offending vehicle

stuck!!!

Roses jewellery stand

a lil crackle action

Obligatory artsy shot

It really was a gorgeous day, totally exhausting as i hadn't slept much the night before...but lovely and there you have it ...We were successful in getting a spot for this year again and the start of a brand new year at the stirling market 2011 and thanks to Ceramics Australia a new membership for me and complete with insurance yey!!! and 3 magazines this year cant wait to get my issue i hope it's the last one i saw at the pug mill last week it has some great content..



Oh and footnote....the lady who's car it was snuck up at the end of the day while we were packing up hopped into her car and drove off!!! not a word, windows tightly up, not a wave nothing.....

H is moving!!!

A while ago Hannah mentioned moving workshop spaces and well that's a task all by itself and getting reorganised too.... Well H being the planner that she is presented us with a challenge and well you put something like this in front of me and i'm off!!

So i printed up Hannah's plans and set to cutting out all the bits thats go together and reshuffling how the space could work...but not being there it's a different story i'm sure... I just love the way a mini Hannah cut out was also provided..

Thanks H :) happy moving and sorting out your new space, you'll be at home in no time!!

Ooh and here it be Hannah just posted some new pics..

the evidence...

Well here they be, pre bisque and post bisque!! on peters recommendation I put some of those beige shinos into a bisque kiln..this firing being more successful that the previous trial...

And wammo there you have it instant colour!!

Not the same result you would expect from a lovely reduction firing but there it is the evidence that you can refire in a bisque kiln and get different results :)) happy jan....

the swirls have it...

 This week is looking like a sort it out and gets things finished week!! With the large platters i'm testing a white satin c6 over the top of the green satin glaze that came out almost black and pushing the firing a bit higher another 20 deg to see what happens with this glaze combo..

and the monster cups got some slip trail action very thin 'black' lines, nothing like a nice swirl line...i'd run out of black powdered stain so did the old red iron oxide, cobalt carb, copper equal parts blend slip....it will prob turn out brown but that's ok the green satin glaze is going over these......should be noice

and more beige shino's getting the bisque action to see if some colour can be added by firing them in the same kiln with the raw pots..

thick was of white satin and thin wash of white satin glaze...