Merrie Boerner on sun 7 oct 01
Hi Friends,
We unloaded the "Mother" yesterday and were very pleased, and relieved !
We had not flattened cone 10 in one corner, so I was afraid we might have
less flashing on the clay bodies....not so. I'd say there were about 20
items that were not up to par (clay body wise), but....out of about 380
pots, that's not too bad.....and, we got plenty of ash : )
Some girls from Mobile, AL used MEL'S ORANGE on a few pots. It was a
smooth, satin orange....not like a Halloween pumpkin, but like the kind you
cook with. Then, there were tiny darker crystals in it. It didn't run off
the pots. I like it.
I had used some colorful glazes on several pots and they were
impressive. My oribe is a mixture of green with red or red with
green....crowd pleasers ! I also used a rutile blue glaze named "teadust"
and another rutile blue that was named "Angel Eyes", but we thought that was
too sissy for wood firing, so we re-named it "Kick Ass Blue".....nice. My
temoku turned dark, shinny black, breaking white where ash lit. These pots
should brighten up my "shino/earthtone/brown" booth !
We discourage putting trays in the kiln, because they take up so much
room, but....being MY kiln,,...and needing some gifts....I made 6 trays by
placing slabs down into small Styrofoam meat trays. Once bisqued, I glazed
them, but left two spots in the center UNglazed. There, I wadded two small
shot cups and placed them on the tray. This way, I used up the kiln space
with 3 items. The wadding made some nice marks, and ...with a bottle of
sake, the tray and two shot cups will make nice gifts.
My kiln has a huge fire box. When woodfirers come to help with my
firing, they usually think that at the end, to raise temp, you only stoke
small sticks. Mother needs more ! We had let the wood burn down to the
grate, and were putting in enough wood to bring up the temp for a short
while, but not hold it up for the next stoke. This is why we couldn't get
down cone ten in the back left corner. Some day I will learn to be more
aggressive......or some day the visitors will realize that they must take
orders from me, no matter how politely I say, "Stoke!" I don't know which
will come first, but it WILL happen during my next firing !
Sorry for no funny stories today....I'm preoccupied with the news
again.....but, I will tell you this.....
I'M IN LOVE WITH TONY !!!!
BLAIR !!!! lol He has such control of the English language, and,
unlike me....he uses complete sentences AND gathers his thoughts before he
opens his mouth ! Powerful man !
Yall take it easy out there,
Merrie in Mississippi
Les Crimp on sun 7 oct 01
Merrie -
great stuff about the firing. I am wondering if your "Kick-ass Blue"' is in
any way similar to one we use here that we call "Backyard Blue". Just a
thought.
I don't know aboout being in LOVE with Tony but I warned him a while back
that I am a Tony Stalker. I really badly want to get the inside on the
Shino's and take some lessons from him but it hasn't worked yet. It will!
Les Crimp on that Island in the Pacific.
lcrimp@home.com
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