Raku Tuesday...

Tuesdays are warming up! Thankful for some warmer weather, spring has been kind so far. We've re design our firing nights and kiln setup, so much so that the results are really starting to show. Some lovely surfaces, subtle and strong. The lustres are really working nicely with the pots from last week showing strong reduction and some covered with shiny copper surface.

So some more details, the kiln 'little rocket' has been quite the trooper, the air holes required for wood firing have been filled with old bits of kiln shelf. Inside the firebox we use a small piece of kiln shelf to deflect the flame. The burner itself has a fab new stand made out of bits of metal from the garage stash ;) we raised it to the height of the fire box and angle slightly so it hits the small pice of shelf in the back of the firebox. The flue is a bit large for gas firing so we damp that with a kiln brick on top and adjust for temperature climb. The reduction tins are getting a bit filthy so wet newspaper goes inside the lid which stops unknowns dropping down on the work and helps to seal the lid too. We also are using wet towels to cover the tins and stop any escaping smoke.

And that is the journey so far my friends, more adjustments are sure to come and we are about to make a bigger kiln so that will change everything again. :D :D :D

Ash Glazing...

It's been a while since I did some new Ash Glaze tests and with a break in regular making, SALA seemed like as good a time as any. So with a gas firing pending for Mugs Day in Stirling, I set to mixing up some simple variations with materials at hand... the smoothest piece is the most complex glaze derived from a Phil Rogers recipe I had scribbled down in one of my journals... So there are 4 samples here which I then applied to some larger vase like forms... The clay is a mixture of stoneware bodies with a fine grog addition and a ball clay slip brushed on at leather hard stage, during which some surface texture was added by drawing into the clay with a pencil. 

The glazes are simple combos of feldspar and clay and ash straight out of the fireplace, no washing or sieving of the ash and no colourants added, the green colour is straight from the natural ash. The wood burnt would have been local fruit tree, plum, apple and some redwood plus some pine.

So there you have it...now to mix them again and test again!

Thanks for dropping by and reading notes from my glaze journal July 2017...

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Ang Walford Ceramics_Pit Firing videos...

Hello!...May brings us into pit firing and raku season! It's the time of year that open air fires are permitted and due to the nature of both pit firing and raku ( we wood fire both) the season is declared open!!

Hers's a few pics from the firing. The big burn for 2017 🔥 goodbye pot sculpture and hello amazing pots that came out of the pit…
The big pot sculpture frame is something I made in 2000 and only had time to make and fire one large pot in the college kilns. So it seemed a fitting time to send her off into the fire this month as my studio is filling rapidly and space is of a premium. 

Anyhoo, video links below will take you to facebook live links. So follow me on facebook for the next ones...I also do Periscope live vids from the studio, you can follow me there too! Find the App in your store or watch on periscope TV You can also type in periscope.tv/angwalford 

Seeya round!

It's Pit Firing Day_ live video

The results_ live video... see the video here

hot chocolate marble ware...

Working with my local terracotta / red earthenware body and firing up to a toasty warm red colour! So this is the new series based on the gas fired version of Hot Chocolate wares.

The last kiln load experienced a shattered cone in the kiln sitter - see clay buddies on facebook for some excellent first hand chat on what's happened...see below






Other than than little experiment there's been some larger scale vases happening and slipping them is a fun task!! more results this week as I figure out he pin holing thing that hasn't happened before, this time I soaked the kiln for an hour, lets see if that did it!!

And very soon a new web shop will be happening... keep your eyes peeled for that!!
Ciao for now ;)

In Studio...

Hi all, it's been a while...

here's a little something I prepared earlier!!