I rebuilt the bag wall yesterday morning, vacuumed the kiln, and got some soda ash dried in the electric kiln. Over watering studio plants caused the water to seep into a nearby 50 lb bag of soda ash. What a mess! This is what the bag looked like after I took a hammer and chisel to it to get enough material for a couple of firings, dried to 600F in the bisque kiln.
This firing, I plan to use the Gail Nichols Soda ash, Sodium bicarb,whiting and water mix. It calls for light soda ash, so I had to get it dry, otherwise it won't harden to a plaster like consistency, trapping water, which is what makes her method work.
If I can get the tests done that I want this morning, I'll start loading the kiln this afternoon. This titanium hip of mine is very sore after days all the standing on the studio's concrete floor all week, so I'm not going to push it. The plan is to fire Sunday.
No cooking tonight. It's seafood buffet at the Inn at Little Switzerland, and home to watch the Lakers. If they win tonight, they'll be in the final. Orlando lost last night; but they're still ahead - only one more win to clinch the eastern division.
Till later,
June
June, you might want to think about a restaurant mat for your standing. I use one in the shop and it does help. They have them at Asheville Showcase.
ReplyDeleteThanks Ron I'll look into it. I had planned to check out a restaurant supply place for other items, the next time I go to Asheville. The place I need it the most is at my scale, between my raw materials bins; but some I've seen on the Internet are wider than the width I have between those bins.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your firing!
ReplyDelete