Yesterday flew by so fast and I didn't get anywhere near the work done I had hoped. I got 4 test glaze batches made, 3 of them sieved and each dipped on 3 different clay bodies. I was mixing the 4th one when John Britt called to say he had unloaded the cone 6 soda kiln, so I dropped everything, cleaned up and called Joy Tanner in case she wanted to come over, and headed over to John's studio to pick up the tiles. Here are all the tiles I had in the firing. I'm very encouraged by the results even though most of the flashing slips were on the dry side because there was no borax in the soda mix, which is needed at these lower temperature; but the flashing slips flashed beautifully. All in all I think it can work once we tweak the soda mix.
We'll get them re-fired - probably after the TRAC studio tour. That will give me more time to batch up more Cone 6 glaze tests.
By the time I got back from John's it was time to make dinner- London broil with red wine beef stock reduction, sauteed mushrooms w/shallots and sherry, salad and a baked potato with sour cream chive sauce for Jim.
After dinner I didn't have any more energy for the studio, so I called it a day, went through my soda recipe book to make a list of the test glazes I want to batch today and stayed up late to watch the Lakers win. They're now 3 to 2 in the NBA playoffs - one more win to clinch the western division.
Time for breakfast, then on to the studio. First job this morning is to rebuild the bag wall, then on to batching more test glazes. I'll probably load tomorrow because they've changed the forecast and Saturday is going to be the only non rainy day!
Till later,
June
looks like some interesting results
ReplyDeleteJune, I'm really interested in these tests. Thanks for sharing. If I go back to soda I'm going to do it in the cone 6 range. Very promising indeed.
ReplyDeleteI'm in the studio today if you want to come over and check them out - no need to call, just come.
ReplyDeleteBoth John and I forgot to add borax to the mix which is why they're dry; but after the tour we'll re-fire them and I'll be able to make more cone 6 glaze tests for that firing.
interesting indeed, i did a workshop at the jam with jack doherty all his work is porcelain and fired cone 6 soda mostly with copper deco...
ReplyDeleteI think we'll see a lot more cone 6 soda and cone 6 gas reduction in the future. It would be nice to have a shorter firing and get to bed before midnight! LOL
ReplyDeletei totally agree and am looking at changing my high fire glazes soon cone 6 just makes more sense..
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your tests with us... I'm a cone 6 enthusiast and have recently found high fired soda. I'm very excited about jumping tracks for a while.
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