karatsu

Chosen Karatsu 11/17/2020

bottle

Today I want to post the results and thoughts about the latest CG firing. This firing was more successful than the CG firing in March, but I’ve uncovered some other problems, namely uneven reduction. My first thoughts on troubleshooting this are:
1. possible leaking kiln door fiber seal?
2. open the shelf placement to promote more air circulation?
3. Check the burners on the over reducing side, and possibly adjust secondary air?
4. look inside the car to see if any airways are obstructed?

Next, a look at the before/afters, with special attention to the thickness and trimming of the rice straw ash glaze:

Next, the keepers:

Thoughts:

-The glaze thickness was about right, and the interior glaze thickness was about perfect.

-The firing was too hot in the top half of the kiln, resulting in most of the loss. Also, over-reduced areas exacerbated this issue.

-Perhaps both glazes are a bit too runny at cone 11 and need adjustment.

-The middle and upper rear right was VERY over reduced, this needs looking into. Multiple possible causes.

– Use shells on the feet even when not in doubt about drips. Much of the loss in this firing could have been avoided if there had been something between the bisquits and the pots.

Social Distance Walking

I’m lucky in that I can walk out my door and head up the hill for a walk, and I rarely encounter anyone else.

Today, I was passed by one car and was otherwise completely alone. It was a beautiful spring day after a day of rain and the mountain was lush. Several times on my way up I could smell the wild boars that must have been lurking nearby quietly. I don’t worry about them. The only time I ever see one is when they jump up to run away when I get too close on the road.

The road is roped off now, because of a landslide that damaged the road higher up, but it’s no problem for walkers to go through.

The hill slid out from under, taking half the road with it.
Another area where a slide has taken down some trees.
Some other sights from the walk. The view from the mountain, some thistles at the side of the road, a slide which has exposed some clay, and a cantankerous snake.

A very nice walk, and a nice clay discovery, I’ll be heading up again from the other side in my car to get some for pots and glaze.

Gallery

Cool Color

This last firing of the gas kiln I used draw rings to get a better idea of when certain glazes matured. I’ve known this for a while, but was struck again at how colorless and boring the colors of the glaze and clay were when yanked and doused in a bucket of water. So colorless, in fact, that two different glazes appeared to be virtually identical when crash cooled. The sandstone body, also, is an uninteresting greyish white.

left: sandstone/ash 7/3 right: high silica ash / oak ash/ spar 6/4/3

Here are those same glazes after firing for 16 hours and cooling slowly in the kiln for 36 hours. (first two pics are same glaze and body as the ring on the left, above. Second two pics same as the ring on the right.)

nor
sandstone/ash

Notice a difference? Not only in the quality of the glaze surface, which is distinctly more blue with patches of sugary white, but also with the clay body color development?

nor

The changes in this glaze are even more pronounced. No longer a colorless clear, but a soft creamy white translucent.

Last is a black glaze which was a featureless glossy black on the test ring, but which given time, developed into a rich black/brown with some crystal growth.

So, with that in mind, I wonder how nice these glazes and clay body would look after a 96 hour cooling period in the wood kiln?

On an aside, here is one of five toggle buttons I made and fired in a saggar with rice husks and cockle shells. Same body as the cups above 70/30 sandstone/Izumiyama porcelain. Approx. 6cm

Pigment:Glaze Notes

Yesterday’s firing was my first gas firing of this glaze, body, and pigment, and first ever primarily porcelain firing.

This piece’s specs:

Porc:Sandstone body 6:4

Taishu:Ash glaze 7:3 @ 40°

Gosu:Oni-ita pigment 6:4 (7:3)?

Orton cone 7.5 light reduction

Pigment blacker than expected, too thick or maybe not enough reduction?

Body is not vitrified completely at this temp, but pure Izumiyama probably would be. Good for teaware and tableware, but for restaurant use should probably be fired higher.

Busy busy

The first abalone dish dried successfully, so today I started making more. I also started a small run of shiboridashi teapots. These are always good sellers, because they are easy to use and clean, with no hard to reach holes or metal sieves to collect grime. 



I always carve the grooves as early as possible, because as the clay gets harder, it becomes difficult to carve without tear out. Then I put the lids on, so that they dry evenly without warping, and after trimming they will go into the kiln to be fired together, to avoid any warping. 

Loading has begun

Loading of the first chamber began this morning. 
The stack starts at the bottom from back to front. This part of the firing process is very important because it determines where the fire and heat will go during the firing. A bad stack means you will have poor circulation and you’ve doomed the firing even before you’ve lit the fire. 

The bottom of the stack is pretty much done, and the ware from 9 ware boards got stacked in there, which is about 80 pots give or take a few.