I had to make a batch of slab plates after the fall wood kiln firing, because every one of my slabs cracked in that firing. Turns out the clay I used was high in silica, and didn’t agree with the long wood kiln firing. The silica turned into cristabolite, and all pots made with that clay experienced shivering, or cracking, no matter what glaze they were paired with, and across a range of temperatures.
Forward a few weeks, and I’m frantically trying to get some replacement plates fired because this weekend is the fall open studio event, followed by an exhibition in Nagasaki during the first week of Dec.
For the most part this firing went well, aside from the fact that I exploded my large platter. Drat.
Sploded plate. Miraculously it is in one piece (sort of).
The exceptions to the one piece thing…
oval slab plates, a few with small cracks
Square slab plates
small slabs with 4 types of ash glazes intermixing
Today is the first load of bisque aimed at the fall firing of the wood kiln. About 28 ware boards worth of pots, I really tried to get as much packed in as possible, to maximize the gas used.
I don’t pack glaze firings very tight because I want the calories getting around to everything, but for bisque I’m not too picky.
700C – 750C is my usual peak temp, I like the ware to be very absorbent for glazing, however the resulting ware is quite fragile and needs careful handling.
This time around there are quite a few slab plates of various shapes and sizes, which I am a bit worried will crack. These are stacked on spacers, then more spacers between stacked plates, because I don’t want to take any chances with cracking. The rest of everything is pretty safe, so packed and stacked without too much thought other than to get as much in as possible.
This is the top level about one third finished. Pinched sake bottles at the back are for a sushi restaurant order, and are smaller than I usually make (about 200ml volume). The standard measure for sake is in ‘go'(合) which is 180ml.
Here it is all packed and ready to roll into the kiln. You can see slab plates, tea cups, small thrown plates, a couple of ice buckets, and some mugs at the rear top.
All ready to go. I had to remove the roof thermocouple to get the car in. Replaced it after battening down the hatches…
Most of the shelves now freed up from loading. Now to fill them up again!
These last 2 weeks I have been getting over my fear and loathing of slabs, because I have finally figured out how to keep them from cracking during drying. So, lots of slab plates for starters, then a customer came in who wanted even more in different sizes for his sushi restaurant. This is good high end restaurant, and there is a very high chance of repeat business.
Anyway, I had been using someone else’s risers for my plates, but since I needed my own anyway, I spent a few hours today mixing up some fireclay and press molded my own risers. Below are pictures of the very simple process. These risers will be used during drying and also during firing to support corners and edges. The fire clay is very rough and easy to grind off if the glaze runs and sticks to it.
Riser jig. I just press in a clay coil then trim lengthwise with a wire.Risers sitting on plaster to stiffen.Risers before cuttingAfter cutting, about 360 risers.
Here are some of the plates that have been made so far:
Slabs cut and laid to rest/stiffen for a night.Stiffened slabs cut to match template.Finished and supported with risers.Natural stone texture.Four sided slab plates, 22cm x 15cm.Square slab plates, 25cm squareThrown/stretched slab ‘Abalone’ platesMore slab plates, this time much more flat, so that picking up sushi is easy.
I’ve spent the better part of the last week working on a wedding gift order. In Japan, the guests give the marrying couple cash, and the couple gives their guests presents.
Here are the yunomi and small plates for the bride. The yunomi were altered, carved, then given a slip deco, the plates given iron brush deco ( irises with grass and birds), and they are all going in the bisque this weekend.
freshly thrown cupsaltered from the inside, 5 pointsvarious stages of drying and carvingtrimming tools: band steel and pine rib, sharpenedfaceting with wooden knifefaceting finishedcarved detailcarved cupsfinished slipping the cupsslipped cups, closer up.
brush deco detailkiln dogplate deco finished!
There is a small artist show at the house and garden of another potter here in town. I have a small space there for the next 3 days. Quite to my surprise, there were many guests on the first day, and I even made some sales, though I wasn(t really expecting to.
more of my stuff.some of my stuffsome of my little plates, and Haniwa dolls from another potter.Outside at the show, nice weather for spending some time in the garden
Here are some of the things that will go into the Feb. firing. Small plates that will be about 12cm fired, and some larger plates about 24cm fired. Clay body is Karatsu white from Hara san and Kishidake clay 50/50, with pulverized sandstone and weathered Shirakawa porcelain stone wedged in.
