Another tacky chicken

Here's my lovely, French, tacky chicken. I've had her for over forty years - purchased her at a French boutique, Pierre Deux, in Greenwich village around 1970. She protects this little corner of our dining room, next to the antique French Armoire purchased there, around the same time.

It rained again last night and looks like we may get more today, so no need to hand water. I'm going to get a pretty full studio day - first one since we moved in to this new house 4 1/2 months ago!

I couldn't find the metal pieces at Lowes, that  I need for the wind screen for the Olympic kiln. The only pieces they had were very expensive steel and even the small sizes were heavier than what I want. So I either need to get our handyman to get me a sheet of metal roofing and cut that for me. We can't fit one of those large, sheets of metal roofing, in our car and he can load it on his truck.The other option is to see if there's a scrap metal place in the county and check out what they have.

My studio "to do" list for today, is to continue with the earthenware tests. There are a couple of already weighed out test  glazes, so I'll just be mixing and sieving them and getting them on to bisqued, slipped tiles. I'll also be brushing underglazes on the already bisqued, slipped tiles; but I'll hold off glazing them till I see how the initial glaze tests are fired.

I'll probably load the tiny electric test kiln with the clear glazes which are ready to go; and fire them to cone 03. I figure I'm going to fire these hotter and hotter to see just how far I can take these bodies and glazes. My big concern with earthenware is the leaking issue; and since I love making functional ware, it's something I need to deal with. The water absorption rate on these earthenware bodies at the lowest firing temperatures is way to high and a disaster waiting to happen when using liquids in a not, well fitted glaze. I'm hoping that I won't have to make clay because I sold my clay mixer and it's certainly not something I want to do at my age; and at this stage of my life, I'm not planning to make enough pots to warrant having someone make me a ton of clay!