Back to the Wheel

Strawberry hedgehog

I'm disappointed and not with my latest firing. Very disappointed that several of the pieces bloated despite a slow bisque firing to Cone 04. Disappointed that the glazes ran too much and sealed several pieces to the kiln shelf or the catch plates and really damaged the bottoms of otherwise nice work. But, I am pleased with the glaze combinations on this clay (Sedona red). Just need to play around with glaze density and firing temperature. The glaze fire was set for Cone 6 with a ten minute hold and appears to have gone to Cone 7. I'll reduce to Cone 5 next time. Not sure what happened with the bloating. The bad pieces were all on the bottom shelf which wasn't overloaded, but maybe the air circulation was inadequate to allow all the gases to escape since this clay has more organics to burn out. I'll try increasing the venting next time. So I have a lot more yard art. Bob says it's a good thing we're going to have two yards, the smart ass.  So, it's back to the wheel for me, and we'd better get serious about finding a place in Washington with a really big yard.