New potters stool

My new stool arrived today. I was in the back yard taking some dazzling photos of my #7mug test results (and I haven't even posted the photos of #6 yet-what a sly devil) and I heard this sound like a UPS truck. I thought- could it be? And it twas. Thanks again to Joy Tanner for sending me this link to Sheffield Pottery where I bought the stool. I still need to get my wheel up a little higher. When I bought it years ago I bought leg extensions for it, but I got the short ones because I thought, what kind of wacko would need 18" extensions on their wheel? I am opposed to putting it up on cinderblocks or such, so I need to figure something else less obstrusive out. So, up above is the stool in its' shortest position.

Here it is in its highest position

And here it is in its clever little potters position. All four legs are independently adjustable. Pretty cool huh?

Here is a little critter I saved from our patio drain. We have to remember to check once in a while because frogs and salamanders can get in, but can't seem to get out. We also just get a lot of frogs on our sunken patio, who, I think go hopping by and drop into the abyss and can't get out. They like to go under and behind our hot tub. I saved two today.

Yesterday was a sad day for the animal kingdom at my house. I found a little blue jay who had obviously been attacked by my cat Batman (I didn't see him do it, but I know it was him) and I held him for a little while but then decided to let what would happen, happen, and put him in the grass under the trees. Later I went to check on him and he was gone! I was excited for about 10 seconds when I turned around and saw a very dead blue jay behind me. Oh well.

I did save a grasshopper from my mystery glaze however. I have the cover off this 30 gallon can, which is 3/4 full, because I'm trying to dehydrate it so I can get rid of it. Little guy was stuck in the glaze on top, so I gently gave him a bath and sent him on his way. Daisy stepped on a frog the other day, and that wasn't pretty. But that's another story.

Ready for the firing

Here's my little test kiln with seven cups. I purchased the test kiln at the same time I bought my larger kiln. It has been a great investment allowing me to learn a lot quickly when I need to and since I so frequently change the direction I am working that seems to be much of the time. I have probably done more firings in it than I have in my larger kiln. I could have gone really tiny, like maybe 4 or 6 inches square or so like some Paragons I was looking at, but my thinking was that by going a little larger it could function as a real useable kiln for instance if I want to use it for lustres on a few pieces or some overglaze work or whatever. It is .8 cubic feet, about 11" wide by 13'" deep. The nice thing also is that I can program it to fire exactly the same pretty much as the larger kiln. And to boot, it's kind of cute.

I have my vent set up so I switch back and forth between the two kilns. The part of the hose where it attaches to the kiln is a more heavy duty, solid type metal which swivels at the joints making it easy to move to the other kiln, which is right next to it. I had to put in a few extra washers for air spacing when I mounted a coupling onto the test kiln because I think the vent draws a little too powerfully for this smaller kiln. I also keep a roll of heat tape nearby for patching holes in the hose. If you use a kiln vent I strongly suggest, if you do not already do so on a regular basis, that when you finish reading this that you go inspect your hose really well if it's been on for a while. I am on my second hose in two years and frequently find new holes where the heat and whatever have corroded the flexible hose. I just wrap a little heat tape around and good as new. Especially check near the kiln of course, but surprisingly I find them often up close to the blower motor where the hose connects there. I first discovered this after I had been smelling fumes really strongly for several firings and was kind of pissed about the blower not working well and then when I finally checked the hose there was probably a hole at least three inches wide. So, learn from my ignorance.

A sweet little android

This is my throwing area.
This is Lance Henrikesen.

A lot of you will probably immediately recognize him. He's an actor and has been in a bazillion movies. Check him out on line if you're curious or don't recognize him now and you will start to. Personally I will always think of him as the android from the movie Aliens. Not the first one with the bad android, but the second one with the good android. What you might not know however is that he is also been a potter for over 40 years. This photo is from an old mag of mine, ceramics monthly I think, can't remember the issue.

Some possible good news. I think my glaze disaster might not be as disasterous as I originally thought.

Peepholes, pots and clay goop

I bisque to cone 06. Cone 04 is for sissies. (juuust kidding)


Yesterday I took some steel wool to my wheelhead which had badly oxidised then gave it a bath. Pretty sweet?

Today my goal was small covered pots. A friend who gave me a massage said she wants a honey pot for payment. I threw 20 pots and lids, and then about 10 small tumblers and called it a day. I'm beat.

The same sweet wheel after 20 honey pots and 10 tumblers. It's like . . . why? what did I ever do to you? Yuck. I find this whole messy business a little grotesque, but it comes with the job.

Cones before and after

I thought this might be interesting for any non-potters who may be reading this. What you see in this photo are cones. Cones are used to visually determine what is known as heat work. What this means is that, it is not enough say, to say that I am firing to cone 6 so shut the kiln off at 2190 degress or so. There are variables that can affect the final temperature.

If you were to fire very slowly, you will most likely reach glaze maturity at a lower temperature, say 2184 degrees or if firing very rapidly, you might have to go to 2232 degrees to reach the same glaze maturity. It's not precise, there is no absolute temperature when your work is "done". This is where cones come in.

Cones are formulated to bend or melt at the same rate as your glazes. In the photo above (albeit backwards, I set mine facing the other direction in the kiln) the blue cone is cone 5, the pink cone is cone 6, and the orange cone is cone 7. So what happens is the kiln fires merrily along. As it approaches the point where cone 5 starts softening, I start paying attention.

I stop Seinfeld or whatever else I was doing and start watching what is going on in the kiln. (I have a computer on my kiln so I fire more or less on autopilot according to what I have programmed in, but I ALWAYS pay attention closely towards the end and am present in the end so I can manually shut the kiln down if necessary). Cone 5 is the warning cone. It means you are getting close to temperature. Cone 6 is the cone I am firing to. I want it to bend to at least 9:00, although for my taste, 8:00 or 7:00 is even better. Cone 7 is the witness cone or safety cone. You do not want this cone to bend too much. I like for cone 7 to just begin to get soft, because that tells me that cone 6 is fully mature, which means my glazes are fully mature.

It is a fine dance between the two sometimes. Cone 7 goes too much, and so do your glazes and then you have a runny mess on your shelves which will keep you out of your studio for months from the depression of it all . . . but I digress. The colored cones in the photo are what they look like before firing, and then they turn white during the firing. It is not a good idea to fire without cones. Lots of people do it. To save money, out of laziness because they don't want to make cone packs, whatever. There is no substitute for a visual cue to what is going on in your kiln. Use cones when you fire. Period.

My studio

The studio I now occupy is technically the third studio I have had. While still in college I took a small room and with lots of help, converted it into a moderately functioning studio. Unfortunately I never hooked my kiln (a used 7 cubic foot bought used) up, and had to transport all my greenware to school to fire--which is not fun. It would be the first of three times I have had a studio that I did not fully take advantage of, and after a while, we converted into a nice bathroom.

My second studio was a massive space, at least 800 square feet in an old defunct woolen mill, but after a year and a half or so there I had the brilliant idea of moving my studio to my home. This has it's advantages and disadvantages. It is wonderful to be so close to your work and not so wonderful to be close to so many distractions. It is in my basement and during the winter, even with a 220 volt space heater I installed, can be very cold and damp. My fingers are so cold sometimes I loose dexterity in them. I work in a down vest and a thermal shirt layered under another shirt. But I am very lucky to have this space and also sad that so much of the time since we created it I have not used it enough. There is the draw of a steady paycheck working at a "real" job outside always calling me, and I usually listen.



Notice the temperature on my kilns-it says 59 degrees. There must be some magic climate inside, because it feels much colder out here.