Noticed some problems in the last firings regarding evenness of temp. I think I’ve always had them, but just recently started to take notice of them as something that needed fixing. I’d noticed that temp from top to bottom was more than a cone in difference, with the top back even hotter. I tried raising the bottom shelves a bit to get more draft moving through. This resulted in a couple of firings that were mostly throw aways. Temp was all over the place, not just top and bottom, but front to back as well. (I was getting pretty fed up at this point)

After asking around (my mentor as well as some very nice folks at the Claycraft email list), the general concensus was that I needed to reduce draft in the rear so the heat would come up front. The idea being that the kiln gets hotter where the flame flows. This ran contrary to how I’d understood this issue in the past (I was thinking in terms of heat alone, not in terms of heat as a by product of the flame, perhaps because I’ve never fired a wood kiln. In a gas kiln it is nigh impossible to view the flame movement in the kiln) but since my way of thinking wasn’t resulting in solutions to the problem, trying something new was a no brainer, especially considering the experience of the advisers in question.

I reconfigured the shelf setting configuration so that it was now divided front/back, rather than left/right. (The manufacturer set the shelves up in left/right pairs when they installed the kiln and I never thought to change.) In addition, I lowered the back pair about a centimeter lower than the front, and layed some old posts sideways between the shelf and the car at the back and sides.


I loaded the kiln leaving less space between levels on the rear setting, and packed things in a bit tighter. In front, I packed more openly and left more headroom above the ware on each level. The results were great. For the first time ever, I fired with less than one cone difference from top to bottom, and the back was actually a bit cooler than the front. A little tweaking should bring it up to match the front.

With the exception of some experiments in the top rear, just about everything is a keeper. This was my best firing ever in terms of results of firing process.

Here are the first mugs I have ever attempted. Don’t know why I waited so long. I’m looking forward to seeing how much they deform from the weight of the handles during firing. If I want chosen garatsu, then I can’t put them on those nifty little angled discs specifically made for handled cups, because the glaze will all run at an angle. I may try one that way anyway just to see what it looks like. Call it ‘windblown’chosen garatsu, or somesuch.
The handles are all altered from a rat tail of clay. The clay was way too open even after I added ball clay to the already plastic (comparatively)handbuilding karatsu claybody I buy from Hara Toudo. Tried to pull the handles with a little water, and got huge cracks after the second pull or so. So… I laid the rat tail on the table, flattened it a bit and shaped it with my fingers, sort of a handle pulling exercise while stuck to the table, so no cracking. The first to the last I made that day are all here in the pictures. You can probably tell which are which. : )
The next batch of cups I made with some white clay from Seto which was the medium (fine, medium, rough)roughness from that particular company. Handles pulled beautifully, even with all that grog. Sometimes I wish the karatsu clays were a bit more user friendly. The Seto clay mugs are not pictured here but I’ll put them up as soon as they get bisqued.

Had the neighborhood men’s group (called ‘Sanyamachi’)over for boy’s night out and decided to do it in the studio so I wouldn’t have to clean the house, and tell people they couldn’t smoke. Worked out well except I had a lot of cleaning to do in the studio to make enough space. Anyway, here it is clean, with pictures as evidence. My cousin-in-law got me a nice section of bamboo, which I made into a tool and tonbo holder, and hung it next to the electric wheel. The big tree trunk standing there is not actually load bearing yet. I’ve just got it standing there to dry. When it does dry, I’ll use it in that place under the beam to support the 2nd story floor above. It’s some sort of ungodly heavy hardwood related to oak. Once it’s in, I’ll be able to remove the tension rod suspending the 2nd floor from the roof beam, and the space upstairs will be completely open.

Where people get their shells has come up in email conversations a few times, and I just thought I’d share my new favorite place to get shells. It’s in Kashima, Saga, on the edge of the Ariake Sea. Nearly the whole pile is ‘akagai’ shells, which I think are called cockles in English. I’m able to get them ranging in size from 1cm all the way up to about 10cm across.
You can see in the pictures here how unbelievably huge this pile is. I heard that they sell them bulk for people who crush them and use them in various ways. I drove up, and there were 3 workmen taking it easy over their lunch break. I asked them if this was the place I could by shells, and they said ‘How many?’ I said, ‘Oh, about one or two container’s worth (a container being a plastic orange container about the size of a 21″ computer monitor)’. They said, ‘Oh, just take what you want. No charge.’ Great! I’ll have to take them something in the way of thanks next time I pass that way.
Notice the size of the hill. That’s a 2 story building next to it, and a suspension bridge in the distance. Must be at least 4 stories high.

This is the diamond fiber pad I’ve been talking about. It’s about 3cm thick and fairly rigid, with just a little bit of spring. The machine is an off brand knife sharpener with the guide and water trough removed. At first I removed the stone and tried to put the fiber pad in its place, but realized it would just be easier to fit the pad over the stone. Much easier for switching back and forth.

I decided I needed something like this after I bought the pad and used it attached to my elec. wheel. Lots of dust in the studio, so I started hauling my wheel outside after every firing, which got old real fast.

They have machines here made specifically for polishing feet and butts which start at just over $700. They are essentially what you see here except with a steel cover, and probably a more powerful motor. The polishing media is the same. I spent about $50 for the sharpener, and about $50 for the fiber pad.

Here are some of the guinomi from the same firing. These are the guinomi you’ve seen in the previous recent posts. The hand dug, hand processed clays came out really wonderfully, interacting with the glazes in ways I had not expected. I had worried a little that they might bloat or sag in the firing, but they handled the heat well. I should not have worried, since the Sari area of Saga where this clay came from is the same area as the oldest Karatsu kilns. Here are a couple of the Sari clay cups glazed in Chosen Garatsu style. The lighter one has some ball clay mixed in to make it more workable. The redder one had some ‘store bought’ Karatsu Red mixed in. Both really turned out to have some nice texture for the glaze to run over. Notice all of the little ‘ishihaze’ where the chunks of silica ruptured the surface of the clay.

Next is a cup glazed in just Madara glaze which is usually white. It reacted very differently over this clay. I suspect the large amount of clay slip (since I threw very soft) I left on the surface after throwing the cups melted together with my ash based Madara glaze to produce a different glaze altogether. I really like this look because it reminds me of the old undecorated Karatsu ware. The clay in this cup is 100% Sari clay, and you can see it in the rough bottom.