Thursday

Hi folks
We're coming to the end of the make. In fact we're not making any more - it'll take us all our time to finish what we have on the shelves. Everything we can fire in time will go through the bisc kiln, the rest will be raw fired. I haven't done that in a long time. Mastering raw glazing will free me from the scale restrictions of the electric kiln, so that I can make some much bigger pieces.

Getting the glaze on to raw pots is a lot more challenging than it is on bisc - there's so much of it that is about timing. I glaze mine when they're leather hard. It's critical not to touch the slip too early as it's easily marked or smudged - if they dry too much, they crack.

I glazed the big baluster jug today which was tricky as it has a lot of fragile applied decoration - it was a relief to get that done. It's going to be fired right in the hot spot, where the flame comes in to the kiln chamber. I'm hoping it will provide the most dramatic effect, hopefully earthy and reminiscent of old medieval pottery - it's an experiment, it'll either work or not, there'll be no middle ground. Wood firing is all about taking chances......and making seconds.



I really do keep meaning to take some still photographs, here's another film

Happy Good Friday everybody