Here are some of the keepers, few as they are. They are the ones that have little or no iron decoration. The kairagi glaze, though crawly, is very silky smooth to the touch. There is a warmth to it that is lacking in the madara and ame glazes, I guess because they melt so completely.

The tokkuri is about 17″ tall. The yunomi form was one I experimented with for the first time, and I really like it. I think it could really look good with a little more tweaking. The inside of the yunomi is glazed with ame yu underneath, with kairagi yu over the top. Creates what is called ‘jakatsu’ (snake skin). Because the ame yu melts well even at cone6, the kairagi layed down and melded with it nicely, even though it had peeled most severely over the ame yu to begin with.

The previous post as well as this post show the smaller work with equal disastrous results. On the smaller pieces, the kairagi glaze was applied correctly, but anywhere it went over brushwork, it just peeled back.

I’ve gone back and applied the kairagi glaze again to a few pieces to test refiring them. Because the clay body is fired, there is much less crawling after application of the kairagi glaze. My expectation is that after the refire, the pieces will look more like E-Shino work, and will be smooth enough to be used as they were intended.

My iron pigment was collected from the side of a dam. The iron bearing water left a deposit of iron on the concrete about 1cm thick. I scraped it off, bisqued to get rid of the algae, slime, and vermin, and worked it in a mortar to smooth it out. Not enough though, or so it would seem.

My ball mill came in today. I ordered one to process my iron pigment, smooth it out so that I never have this experience again. I also added a bit of ball clay to the pigment. It’s not a true ball mill per se, but a frame with a wheel that can be mounted to most shimpo wheels, to turn the wheel into a ball mill drive. I have my kickwheel to use, so milling some of my found materials won’t make my work ‘grind’ to a halt. : ) I really want a stamp mill, and am in the process of designing one. I’ll post pics of the shimpo driven ball mill later, once it’s installed.

Here are the largest pieces, the big tsubo is 20in. tall and weighs about 7 pounds fired.
Well, the glaze crawled right off of the underglaze iron, and in some cases the grey slip, in a dramatic way. The large pieces were difficult to glaze, so ended up with much of the glaze too thick, which is why the crawling is so severe. The bottom right of the smaller tsubo picture shows what the glaze should look like when it’s applied and fired correctly. Very nice to the touch as well.

Here are some pics of the pots that will be going into the fire in the next few days. The style is E-Garatsu and Kairagi, and a combination of the two. E-Garatsu is a clear glazed pot with underglaze iron brush decoration. Kairagi is a crawly translucent glaze which resembles the bark of a tree. The kanji for ‘Kairagi’ means literally ‘plum bark’.

These pots have been decorated with a dark slip which is just a type of clay I dig up and add water to. It has a very high melting temp, so it can be used under glazes without too much fear of everything running. At 1200, it just gets crusty and crawls slightly. At 13oo it melts but doesn’t run.

The larger vases are coil and paddle, the tea bowls and plates are wheel thrown and altered. After the grey slip is applied and dry, I go back and add the iron brushwork.

The loft is finally finished (minus the handrail)! Must think of something to cover the fusebox with though…
I’ll build a removeable light staircase to make access easier. Removable so the area won’t be taxed as living space by the city inspectors.