Dave Finkelnburg on thu 21 dec 00
>OK, so I'm convinced and fascinated by this business of single firing.
Jeremy,
You ask about single-firing schedules. My schedule is very similar at
cone 6 oxidation or cone 10 reduction. I fire about 150 degrees F/hour,
more or less, slower if I have really heavy pieces, perhaps a little faster
if I'm firing light ware and an open clay body and I'm in a hurry. In
either case once I get to around cone 06 I kick the heat up and fire at 300
degrees F/hour, more or less. At cone 06 I figure the clay has sintered
enough and the volatiles have been calcined off so that the glaze surface
works as on bisque or biscuit ware. There's no point in firing slow from
that point on unless one needs it because of thick ware or to achieve some
particular glaze surface.
For reduction firing, I do body reduction and glaze reduction somewhat
conservatively. I know how to get black coring. I learned the hard way!
:-(
It's a big waste of fuel and doesn't do a thing for the glazes, in my biased opinion. Otherwise the firing isn't much different than with twice-fired ware from cone 06 on.
I would suggest that if you want to try this, spend some extra time and single-fire a few pieces along with your regular ware. It will slow your firing down, but you can experiment without having to test an entire kiln load. At least that's how I tested the water, so to speak, with single-firing. I found it a good way to gain confidence with the process.
Good firing!
Dave Finkelnburg
Idaho Fire Pottery
Jeremy McLeod on thu 21 dec 00
OK, so I'm convinced and fascinated by this business of single firing.
Would folks please address the kinds of firing schedules that help
assure success, both for ^6 electric annd ^10 gas reduction processes?
In a related vein, what is the story about single-firing and the
current practices in raku firing?
Yes, I'm relatively new at playing with this much fire and
have lots of basic questions.
Jeremy McLeod
| |
|
